Hum from my speakers

[grovers7200]

I have my hard drive hooked to my nad 370 amp and when listening there is a very noticable hum when volume is down or in between songs?? Is this a grounding problem?? My speakers are at 15 cerwin vegas.. Thank you..

 

[Adam]

Question for you - how do you have the hard drive connected to the amp? Laptop, desktop, other?

 

[grovers7200]

Thanks all I have is a cord form radio shack that is one plug from out of harddrive audio and has left and right ends on the other???

 

[Adam]

Gotcha. I'm just curious - what hard drive are you using?

As for the ground loop, I would expect the hum to exist when you play audio from any source - not just from the hard drive. I might have that wrong, so I hope someone chimes in if I am. So, do you hear the hum if you select another input source on the NAD, or do you only hear the hum when you have the hard drive input selected?

 

[grovers7200]

Thanks I have a dell tower and the hum is only present when using the pc to listen to cd's or internet radio. I have it hooked to the cd input on the amp should this be changed??? Other inputs like direct tv and my tuner do not do this?? Thanks

 

[Adam]

Thanks I have a dell tower and the hum is only present when using the pc to listen to cd's or internet radio. I have it hooked to the cd input on the amp should this be changed??? Other inputs like direct tv and my tuner do not do this?? Thanks

So, you are using a desktop and not just plugging straight from a hard drive.

The CD input should be just fine. You could always try a different input to check if the input itself is the problem.

Does the Dell have a sound card, or just onboard sound on the mother board? Onboard sound gets better all the time, but I still think that sound cards are superior for analog audio. I used to get a hum of sorts from my HP (this was back in 2003), but that all went away when I installed a Creative sound card.

Also, you could adjust how you have the volume working. Perhaps turn the volume level on the computer down a bit (requiring you to turn the volume on the amp up a bit) and see if that helps with the hum that you hear.

 

[grovers7200]

Thank you I will give that a shot today, and as for soundcards I have zero clue but will research as all this is very interesting.. Thanks again

 

[TLS Guy]

Thank you I will give that a shot today, and as for soundcards I have zero clue but will research as all this is very interesting.. Thanks again

It IS a ground loop. Your computer either uses a different ground from the rest of the system, or more likely, your computer is connected to a cable or phone system for Internet access, and that is the source of the potential between grounds.

Disconnect your computer from the Internet by pulling out the cable. If that stops it, that is your answer. Then you need to isolate that ground.

If that does not work, then lift the computer ground with a cheater plug and see if that stops it. Please report back.

 

[grovers7200]

Killed two birds with one stone purchased a new pc and fixed everything..Thanks