Why are all of my new speakers humming with my new home theater system?

Question

I heard it may be a ground loop causing the problem from one or more devices (ex. cable box, dvd player, transmitter). I don't believe it is coming from the cable box because it was still humming after I unplugged it. All of the devices are plugged into a Monster Cable Power circuit breaker which is connected to the wall. I shouldn't expect it to be an electical problem after spending over a hundred dollars on a circuit breaker. We paid the Geek Squad to install our sound and our television from Best Buy. The installer blamed the humming on the television, but after switching through two other Sony XBRs, the humming was still there. Shouldn't the Geek Squad be able to fix this problem or tell us how to fix this problem since we are paying them to be the home theater specialists? Please tell me what I need to do so I can tell them how do their work correctly. Thank you

Answer 1

check all of your audio jacks, (switch them) one for one,,,. also check your a/c leads , if you have any removable ones..(iec) change them , i bet this is your problem..

Answer 2

ground noise can come from induction directly on to the speaker cables.

More than likely that is the culprit. disconnect each one and see which speaker is getting the induction. Also make sure your sub is plugged into a power center as well.

You also need to contact the store and complain about the shoddy install.

Answer 3

It's a common problem, that's called 60 cycle hum. They need to install some resistors.

Answer 4

First - disconnect the main CATV coax coming into your CATV box. If the hum goes away - call the cable company and ask them to come out and ground the cable outside your house.

Second - if you have a self-powered subwoofer, try disconnecting the RCA cable between your receiver and the sub. If the hum goes away, order a "Subwoofer" cable with little arrows showing the signal direction.  This cable also breaks the shield wire on one side and this stops the hum.

Third - as has been suggested, make sure the speaker wires are not bundled with AC power cords.

These are usually the top 3 reasons you have hum in your system.

Answer 5

Edit---

Let me rephrase the first line here.

Let me replace "If it is only the sub then follow the suggestions above"

With

"In addition to the above"

Try this:

Go to the hardware store and pick up a little yellow or red electrical outlet checker. It has 3 little lights on it that indicate if the outlet is wired correctly. You just go around your house form outlet to outlet and plug it in. It is about the size of a little candy bar.

Could be one or more of your outlets is wired incorrectly. It could also be another outlet in the house. All it takes is one incorrectly wired outlet to induce noise into the circuit. Especially if the device has a motor in it like a fridge.

A power strip (no matter how good it is) will not correct this problem. Go through your house and check all the outlets and have each one corrected accordingly. The device costs about 6 bucks and you can plug it in and check it yourself. No need to pay an electrician for this part of it. If all your outlets indicate they are connected correctly then look into your interconnect cables. Use good quality cables and make sure that all the outputs go into an input. If you have inputs going into inputs and outputs going to outputs you will have alot of issues.

If the device tells you you have incorrect wired outlets then correct them (if your comfotable with doing so) or call an electrician in to fix it for you. Try your system out. If you still have a problem then contact a custom home electronics installer to get you going.

Answer 6

well for one the geek squad needs to stick to computers...and they really do not need to be doing that....it sounds like to me that it may be a ground loop problem..try moving the reciever it'self to a different area like away from cable boxes...and especially away from televisions....let me know if this works for you

Answer 7

It's may not be the best solution, but for now you should simply turn down the volume on the physical speakers, not just the television. The humming should stop, but you may not be able to get the volume as loud as you want.