Something like that:
Cheers Blythe. I’ll have a look at that. Quick update though on what I’ve done this evening.
I have grounded the streamer to the Naim, and also grounded the S2 Box to the Naim as well.
Turned it on. Still loud hum
I thought by doing that I would have earthed, but obviously not.
I’ll try the wire to the plug thing and have a look at the Amazon thing.
Been frustrating me all day. I like the sound of the Naim but every single time the track has changed in the quiet part the hum is audible and it’s doing my head in now haha
This partly creates the ground loop as the rca connections are doing the same.
The streamer etc need to be grounded to mains earth.
The easiest way (avoiding diy) to achieve this is with a mains block that has an earth terminal on it.
Sorry mate, another question…
What “single wire” is okay to use for this? Is speaker cable okay to use? Or does it need to be an earth wire? Like with the yellow and green casing? As all I have at the moment is speaker cable.
Next thing to say is that the Naim is plugged into a wall socket.
The Phono Box S2 is plugged into a extension cable from that same wall socket.
The streamer is plugged into that same extension cable too.
The turntable is plugged into a separate wall socket
If doing the single wire to a UK 3 pin plug are you saying I need wire from screw in the streamer to UK plug and plug that into the extension cable?
Then would I need to use wire from screw/or even ground on the Phono Box to UK plug then plug that into extension cable too?
Then lastly would I even need to do this for the TT itself as well?
Cheers mate
Where did you buy the NAIT? Was it new, from a dealer? If so, contact the dealer. First of all, I’d exchange the amp. That should eliminate a bad amp. If the noise it still there with a new amp then start the tedious process of mitigating the ground issue. You can waste a lot of your time chasing an issue that isn’t there.
What happens if you unplug the phono box from the wall and plug the streamer directly into the wall?
The Nait is really designed to be paired with a Naim CD player or Naim streamer. When I had a Nait with Squeezebox Touch, it did this. I ran a simple fairly thin cheap wire from a phono plug on back of Nait (wired to earth/neg on phono) to earth pin on a uk mains plug. Plugged in to same socket as the Nait. Please make sure you are confident with what you are doing even though done correctly no mains power is involved.
Any piece of wire with do, so yes, speaker cable is fine.
As long as the cable is connected to a casing screw of your streamer and earth, it should work.
The other end, if attached to the earth pin of a plug can plug into a wall socket or extension lead like your other equipment.
Try the streamer on its own and if adding the earth wire has cured the hum, then consider connecting your turntable.
I believe your phono stage is most likely to be the item that needs the earthing. Try it.
As mentioned, “ground loop isolators” may also cure your hum. They’re available cheaply to try.
And if the OP is using a MM, it’s possible they may prefer the XS’s built in phono stage anyway.
But this is a side issue.
If you are not confident with electricity and earthing solutions you really need to ask your dealer to look at this. If I bought at full price from a dealer I would expect his/ her advice and help to be included.
Be easier to know where you are, different wiring, house wiring, rules, earthing, consumer units etc etc
Get the dealer to sort it.
Martin
Your streamer and phono stage are not earthed, they are double insulated instead so do not require a safety earth. So you should not add any additional earth wire to them, just connect them normally to the mains socket.
The Naim amp is ideally designed to work with a source that is earthed, not double insulated. The additional ground wire as suggested above should hopefully solve this.
Also check that your mains socket is properly earthed. If you are in UK the lack of an earth in a domestic wiring circuit would be a safety issue that should be corrected ASAP. In some countries, some mains circuits are installed without a safety earth, which makes correct grounding of a Naim system more difficult.
Morning guys, thanks for all your help so far. I live in the UK. Dealer was Sevenoaks, so most of you/if not all of you will know who they are. I am going to give them a call this morning, however I just wanted to share with you my test so far this morning.
So I have decided to unplug the lot and start again. Doing one by one. Here is what I have found.
Naim XS3 Amp
Naim amp connected to nothing, but switched on - nothing. No hum, or anything. Silent. Unless I really crank up the volume I can hear a slight hiss, but thats it, and I will never listen to it that loud anyway where the volume was. It was like 65% or something on the dial.
Pro-Ject Phono Box S2
When connected up was very loud on my Phono button on the amp, even though the S2 is actually plugged into the CD Line In of the Naim, it is the Phono selection that is really loud, which is what I believe is bleeding into the other inputs. I have tried this with the S2 Box plugged in to an extension cable, and also tried it directly in the wall socket as well. It does not matter if the S2 box is physically on/off, it happens. Another thing I noticed is that when I have the S2 Box off (but plugged into wall with switch turned “ON” but S2 Box switch is set to “OFF” - and keeping RCA Cables plugged into back of the S2 Box - I can just slightly touch the ends of the Chord C-Line Cables on to the Naim RCA inputs, and there is the noise
Pioneer N-30AE Streamer
Exactly the same as above. Very loud on the Phono selection on the amp, even though this time the streamer is actually plugged into the Stream Line In on the back of the amp. Again, happens when streamer is physically off or on. Wall socket or Extension. Same as above too, whereby - keeping the RCA cables plugged into the streamer - I can just lightly touch the ends of the RCA Cable on to the gold bit of the RCA plug at back of amp and its happening.
I am going to call Sevenoaks and see what they say. Although it might sound easy to a lot of people, I am really not wanting to mess about with electrics and start creating earth sockets to things as I really dont know what I am doing to be honest. I never thought I would have this issue as it has never happened before
I expect Sevenoaks will be able to help, being long established Naim dealers.
The best solution they might be able to offer would be to but a Naim streamer that uses the Naim grounding arrangement for the whole system, but that of course is going to be expensive!
Have a look at this thread from ~12 posts down…
OH MY GOD I’VE DONE IT!!! FINALLY !!!
So I called Sevenoaks. They told to call Naim to speak to them direct so I did. Spoke to a great guy called Duncan. He was like yep - you need to ground the whole system. He said about the wiring in Naim products and the noise I hear is basically due to the fact that the other components, along with the amp, need grounding altogether. He said all I need to do is to get a plug - strip it. Put some wire at the earth point in the plug. Take that same wire and wrap the other end around the gold outer ring of an unused Line In input (in my instance I chose the phono as I do like the sound of my S2) - get some electrical tape to keep that in place.
Well, it has just taken me 10 minutes to do the whole thing. Ive switched it on and hey presto ! The humming is gone !! I cant smell burning which is a good sign, the house is still standing too which is even better, and all I need now is to get a new plug for my bedside lamp ! ![]()
Thanks all for your help ! We are back in business !!
Great help from Naim and Duncan. Glad you got it sorted.
Former Naim & Focal employee commenting: a NAIT will almost always hum if it is not grounded by a source unit. It has been a while but I believe it’s the input stage that is floating (?). Here are two images from yesteryear (Not to worry, the blades of the AC connector are not connected):
Instead of relying on tape holding the wire to an rca socket, the XS3 has a dedicated ground post on the back.
Loosen that off, wrap the wire round and then tighten up again.
…you can’t be serious…!!!
Very sound suggestion…the dealer just passed apparently…box shifter!
Top marks to Duncan at Naim support, for the resolution.
I have found him to be excellent when I have sought his advice.



