Miller & Kreisel Subwoofer 60Hz hum

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I would check the caps on the power supply. They are rather large electrolytic capacitors that will look like they burst and/or leaking. When these die, the caps ground and the sub will make a loud buzzing sound. If you are handy with a soldering iron you can replace them yourself. Replace them with the same voltage or a little bigger and same with the size.

If the cap. says 16v 4700pF on it, for example, a 20v 5300pF or a 16v 6200mF cap. will work for this application.

When it only hums when you turn On the stereo, check the cable and connections .

When it hums, even without anything connected to it, then it needs repair

if you short a sub it will hum try connecting it to a working speaker (no amplifier) if you have access to rear of sub check for wire only needs to be the size of a hair arcing out the speaker, i have a sub that does that on only one output (left rear) its actually the stereo causing it to hum..

Disconnect the input and see if it hums in the absence of an audio source. A bad audio cable shield or unwisely-routed audio cables will allow entrance of unwanted signals from external power sources, magnetic fields, even dimmer-controlled track lights. Sometimes, simply reversing the orientation of the ac power plug can eliminate humming.

Hi, The Ground Rules Of all the annoyances that can afflict any audio/video home theater or even a simple stereo installation, the notorious "ground loop" may well be the most difficult and persistent one to track down and eliminate. A "ground loop" is caused by the difference in electrical potential at different grounding points in an audio/video system. (All the grounds in an A/V system should ideally be at "0" potential.) A ground loop typically adds a loud low-frequency hum or buzz as soon as you plug in any of various audio or video components, including subwoofers, cable-TV outboard boxes, satellite-TV feeds, TV displays, amplifiers, A/V receivers or turntables. The buzz/hum is a byproduct of the multiple power supply cables and a ground voltage differential within your system and its network of interconnecting cables.

Here are some methods to help you get rid of ground loops. Try these first and don't waste money on a power "conditioner" which, in most cases, won't help. (There is no need to "condition" the AC power for your system. Your receiver or amplifier already has a power supply with its own filters and transformers. No further filtering is normally required.)

If you get your system up and running and hear an audible buzz or hum, the first culprit to look at is either the powered subwoofer or your cable-TV or satellite-box feed at the entry point to your system.

First, the subwoofer: unplug the coaxial cable that connects to your powered subwoofer to see if the ground-loop hum disappears. If it does, it's likely coming in through your cable/satellite TV feed.

Reconnect your subwoofer's coaxial cable from the subwoofer input to your receiver's subwoofer output and disconnect the cable-TV feed (or satellite feed) from your outboard set-top cable box or satellite tuner. Be sure and disconnect the cable before any splitters. Now see if the hum/buzz from your subwoofer stops.

If that eliminates the hum, you can install one of these inexpensive in-line ground isolators from Parts Express or Bass Home. Note that these transformer-based ground isolators will work fine with analog cable-TV feeds, but depending on their design they may interfere with or block reception of HDTV signals via a digital cable or satellite dish feed.

Install the ground isolator between the cable-TV feed and the input of your outboard cable-TV box or satellite tuner (or the TV display's antenna or cable input if you have a set with a built-in TV tuner or a cable-card ready set). In many cases, the ground isolator will "break" the loop and remove the annoying hum or buzz by isolating the TV-cable ground.

If a hum remains with the TV cable completely disconnected from your system, or you don't want to risk degrading reception of HD signals from a cable or satellite system, then you may have to add a ground isolator like this Radio Shack Model 270-054 between the line-level coaxial subwoofer cable from your A/V receiver and the line-level input jack on your powered subwoofer.

In all cases, if your subwoofer has a ground-lift screw like some of Axiom's subwoofers, try first removing the screw (or replacing it) to see if it increases or eliminates the hum. It may or may not make a difference.

If you do not have easy access to the aforementioned ground isolators, here are a few more tips:

Try plugging the subwoofer into a different AC outlet in the room, one that isn't supplying power to your components (A/V receiver, TV, cable box, etc.). That might fix it.

Try reversing the AC plug for your A/V receiver or the powered subwoofer. If it's a 3-wire plug or a polarized plug, which has one prong wider than the other, you won't be able to reverse the plug. For safety, do not use a "cheater plug" to bypass the 3-wire plug.

With the power OFF, reverse the AC plugs one by one of any other components that have a standard 2-prong AC plug that isn't polarized. Each time you reverse a plug, turn on the system with the attached component and your subwoofer and see if the hum disappears. In some cases, reversing one or more plugs will eliminate the hum.

If you have a turntable, try connecting a separate ground wire to a chassis screw on your preamp or receiver and see if the hum disappears. If you already have a turntable ground wire, try removing it from the preamp. One or the other may eliminate the hum.

Finally, here is another solution that worked well for a member of our message boards who decided to discard his ground-loop isolator on his subwoofer: "I took off the ground-loop isolator I'd been using and connected a plain 14-gauge wire to chassis screws on the sub and the receiver then powered everything on. Although hum was still there, it was far lower than before. Next I unscrewed the ground-loop screw on the back of the sub and that took care of the hum completely."

Almost certainly sounds like an earth loop to me, but can be caused by a poorly made transformer or phase shifts on the mains supply. Visit some power conditioner web-sites like Isotek or Isol-8 (or google "earth loop") where there's plenty of advice on how to reduce/eliminate earth loops and other causes of mains-induced hum (transformer problems etc).

Hum on the speakers usually indicates that there is a DC voltage on the speaker line. DC voltage on the output lines would be caused by a shorted output transistor.


Have a nice day...

you have a ground loop issue you could purchase a ground loop isolator, jensen makes them for about 40 bucks.I have discovered that if you have cable tv, unplug the incoming cable in your cable box and see if hum disappears.

jd40,
Sounds like a grounding issue. The first two places to look into is the powered subwoofer and antenna. During your last test, did you leave the FM antenna and subwoofer connected? Many times the hum is directly related to the antenna and/or the subwoofer and to how they are grounded; creating a ground loop through the receivers ground on the outlet. If the antenna is grounded to the dwellings wiring, hum is inevitable and sometime you can get a ground loop hum from how or how & where the subwoofer is grounded. Try taking them completely out of the loop.

Also try taking it further back to the basics, start with the receiver plugged into a known good grounded outlet with no surge or line conditioner in the loop and nothing connected to the receiver, nothing. Use one speaker and different wire to test each speaker output while in tuner and any other mode but phono. With no signal, you will either get nothing (no hum or static) or just static in the tuner mode. No hum is a good sign. Some systems will mute the speakers if no signal is connected to eliminate the static from being produced through the speakers but a ground loop hum will most likely still be produced even in mute. If you get a hum when nothing is connected to the receiver, try looking into getting a better grounded outlet, even maybe to a different dwelling.

-Chris

Sounds like you have a bad connection somewhere. Make sure all of your connections are secure. If theres anything that is a little loose you'll get that hum. You might also try replacing your cable too. If it became pinched somewhere it could cause that problem

-Captain Jake

make sure you have the speaker connection right if you do then it is a ground problem try plugging it in a different outlet