The Pops are driving me Nuts! And then there's that Hum.

[sherchlojo]

I have a Yamaha receiver with a DVD recorder, VCR, digital cable box, and turntable connected to it. There are several inputs that are unused. Whenever I select an input that has nothing connected to it, there is a pop in the right front speaker. This is very irritating. Is this normal or have I introduced some sort of interference with my connections? Has anybody else had this problem? There is another problem with the turntable input. When I awitch to the turntable, there is a hum. The hum is similar to what you hear when you need to ground the turntable. However, the turntable is digital and does not have a ground wire. When I unplug the turntable jacks, the hum gets louder. I have been reading about ground loops and wonder if this is a version of one. I have been changing connections and re-routing wires but to no avail. Can anyone tell me how I might locate the source of the interference? I think the pops and the hum might be related. I would be most grateful for any advice or hints you might give me to help solve this mystery.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

That's a tough one. Here's a couple of ways to narrow it down to a component (if it's a component).

I'd try disconnecting the cable box completely from the tv, wall, and receiver. Now try switching inputs on the receiver. If it still pops and hums, then you know it's not the cable box (usually seems to be the culprit). Next, disconnect the turn table from the wall and receiver. Test the receiver again. If that's not it, then try the DVD recorder by unplugging it from the wall and receiver. Finally, if you have a sub, disconnect it from the wall and receiver. Try switching the inputs again. If nothing improves, my guess is it's either your receiver, or your electrical wiring in your house. You may benefit from an inexpensive power conditioner. Some other items in the house that could cause interference are reostats (dimmers for lighting and fans), A/C units; washers, dryers or large electrical appliances kicking on, and even living near an airport - believe it or not. I had a 60 cycle hum with a powered sub I bought. I called the company and they sent me a new amp and it corrected the problem. It's most likely more than your wiring.

 

[sherchlojo]

The Pops are driving me Nuts! And then there's that Hum

Thanks, Buckeyefan 1, I tried unplugging each component from the receiver, but I didn't think about also disconnecting the component from the surge protector. I have a line conditioner,but It didn't do anything to help the hum problem. The presence of the line conditioner certainly improved the AM reception on my tuner. Before I got the line conditioner, I had a lot of background noise whenever I listened to AM radio. I will follow your advice and start checking each component. If the problem can be isolated to one component, then fixing it may be easy, (I hope.)