MoFi UltraDeck / StudioDeck Owners and those interested
- Thread starter AnthonyI
- Start date
Static Shock
Member
Agree , likely the reason for the reports of damage .
Yeah I've been using blu tac on about 8 years with no issues. Soundsmith actually recommends it.
Hello all, I am a brand new turntable enthusiast and just bought my first deck! I was so excited to set it up and happy to join this thread as there is so much for my to read over everyone comments that it will keep me very busy and informed on things to assist with my new table. I set everything up the way I think I was supposed to set it up but unfortunately there is a fairly loud noticeable hum/buzz when everything is hooked up an nothing is playing. Is there any way to get rid of it or is my set up just not ideal for this turntable life?
Equipment
Turntable: Ultradeck Turntable
Cartridge: Mastertracker Cartridge
Amp: Emotiva XPA-5 Gen 3 (Mains & Surround)
Phono: Mofi Ultraphono
Interconnects: Blue Jeans LC-1
Receiver: Denon x4400H
Speakers: 4 Elac UB5, Elac UC5, Elac 4 Dolby Atoms Modules
Speaker Cables: Audioquest X2
Equipment
Turntable: Ultradeck Turntable
Cartridge: Mastertracker Cartridge
Amp: Emotiva XPA-5 Gen 3 (Mains & Surround)
Phono: Mofi Ultraphono
Interconnects: Blue Jeans LC-1
Receiver: Denon x4400H
Speakers: 4 Elac UB5, Elac UC5, Elac 4 Dolby Atoms Modules
Speaker Cables: Audioquest X2
The first question I’d have when hunting hum is how is the turntable grounded?
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
Static Shock
Member
Just to be clear, the hum occurs when all the equipment is hocked up and on , but not playing ? Have you rechecked all your connections to ensure they are all tight. Like Joe Mac has asked , details regarding your TT grounding or any other grounding in place would be helpful at this point.
It's grounded with the grounding wire that came with the turntable to the phono stage and another grounding wire from the phono stage to the AVR. The phono stage has another grounding with from it to the AVR that I got from Blue Jeans.
To be honest I can hear the hum when everything is hooked up but the turntable isn't even on. The phono stage is always on as there is no on/off button on it, once its plugged in it stays on. I turn my AVR on and there's no hum but once I select the Phono input I can hear a hum with the phono stage on and the turntable off. I've already spent more money than I initially thought I would on a turntable set up and would rather not spend more money to get rid of the hum but I saw this device and considered it.
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a.co
The first thing I’d do is take out the second grounding wire. It’s not necessary, the phono stage doesn’t need to be grounded, and see what happens. Too many grounds in a system can also cause hum.
If that doesn’t work I’d maybe second try and ground the table directly to the amp rather than the phono stage.
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Also I use two of those in my system, and they’re fantastic, but I don’t think they are the solution to the issue you are having. I can’t see that the grounding of the power cable into the turntables motor is adding hum to the system in that way. It certainly wouldn’t be my first port of call troubleshooting anyway. It’s also not a solution to the phono stage because that’s using a wall wart for power so shouldn’t have a power supply grounding hum issue and has nowhere to insert one of these anyway.
Where I’ve used them in my system is to solve grounding issues with components designed in countries with different electrical systems having issues with grounding here. My European designed Chinese built power amp, American designed and built pre amp and Chinese designed and built cd transport didn’t like that each was being grounded to electrical earth because of how our plugs work. Using these to safely lift the ground on the cd transport and power amp, letting the preamp ground the system sorted that issue.
Ah I see. Yeah I'm still learning but thanks for that. I didn't think about trying to ground the turntable to the amp but it's worth a shot! I'll have to pick one up on Amazon.
Also I figured out part of the problem thanks to a YouTube video. I had my phono stage connected to the phono input of my AVR. My AVR already has an internal phono stage in it for MM carts so it was causing a lot of noise. I switched the wires to the CD input and it's much more tolerable but still audible although very low and mild it becomes more noticeable at 60 dB and above
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
Did you try removing the second ground wire? Generally just grounding the turntable to the phono is sufficient.
Also I noticed I'm getting what seems to be RF interference from Spectrum internet cables hanging around in the area. They aren't in use of as I have a new cable provider so I wonder if that energy that's no longer going into a device is just feeding its energy waves through the air into my devices
Hey! Just not sure from your reply if you took me up correctly because you shouldn’t need to buy anything extra than you have.
My first suggestion is remove the ground wire between the phono and amp and see if that solves it. My second suggestion if that doesn’t work is to ground the turntable to the amp. In this instance there would be no other ground wires than the one going from the turntable to the amplifier.
You’re basically grounding the tonearm on the turntable to the chassis of another component. With grounds too many is very much as bad as not enough.
Static Shock
Member
I also only have a ground between my TT and my CJ preamp which has a phono stage and no other grounds . I suggest you follow the suggestions of Joe Mac and Kvetcha and start with only one ground from the TT trying the options suggested . I know in my CJ it has a hole in a post for the ground and it has a habit of coming loose and causing ground issues . Make sure you have solid connections . I have also had a broken ground wire in the past which also caused problems . One way to test this is to just get a separate thin insulted wire and remove the existing ground cable and test a new one as they are easy to make Often the grounds come incorporated into the phono cable .
Yes only one ground is needed. If there’s still noise I’d experiment with what I was grounding to. I used to always ground to my amps because the ground lug on my phono stage is really fat and I’ve never had a spade satisfactory go around it and so using it always brought hum. Since I moved to the pre/power with no ground lugs I’ve used a more exotic grinding solution but I’m not recommending it because it’s a massive level of overkill.
About 4 years ago when I got the conditioner and the couple of linear power supplies I also got a bundle that was one of fhese cables
Groundhog+ by iFi audio - Ground Loop Isolator for Audio Systems
No more humdrum The Groundhog+ adds a missing earth/ground and cuts hum and buzz dead. It comes with several adapters to cover every device on the market, no matter what its age. Plus, due to popular demand, we've added an extra cable so it now works with our very own AC iPurifier.
ifi-audio.com
Grounding my turntable into one of these in line AC purifiers
AC iPurifier by iFi audio - Mains Audio Noise Eliminator
Clean up 'dirty' power with the iFi AC iPurifier The iFi audio AC iPurifier is a multi-talented noise buster. It actively cleans up dirty mains power, detects polarity and ground/earth connections plus prevents ground loops.
ifi-audio.com
I knew you’d be here for the overkill
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I've tried just grounding the turntable to the phono and just grounding the phono to the AVR but there is still a hum.
