Supernait 3 Speaker Hum

Hi-Fi Corner
1

Hi all,

My Supernait 3 has an audible speaker hum that just won’t go away. When no music is playing, I can hear it from 7 feet away (my listening position).

I’ve checked this forum’s archive for solutions, tried them, but the hum persists. I’ve tried a copper wire from the ground screw on the SN3 to the housing of an empty Din socket with no success.

If it helps, this is my current set up:

-NDX2 connected to the SN3 by DIN and 3.5 mm cable for system automation;

  • Rega Aria connected to SN3 by RCA (Aria grounded to turntable);
  • Sony Bravia TV connected by digital optical to NDX2;
    -Sony Blu-ray player connected to TV by HDMI
    -I live in Canada
  • I had a dedicated 120 volt, 20 amp breaker installed into which all the above equipment is plugged.

Could the Naca5 speaker cable (9-10 years old) be responsible for the hum? Before incurring this expense, I wonder if changing speaker cable would help?

Do you think this iFi product would help my cause? It’s called the GND Defender. Wondering if anybody has any experience with it.

Just want the hum to go away.

2

The blockers won’t deal with speaker hum I dont think. They are for filtering out DC from the mains that causes transformer hum.

Yours appears to be a grounding or earthing issue.

3

The DC blocker blocker blocks DC.

But the GND Defender is designed to eliminate ground loop.

4

Ah ok.

5

Have you tried eliminating sources? I bet it’s caused by the turntable. Turntable to phone might need a ground wire too.

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6

Thanks @Ardbeg10y I did eliminate sources but the hum persists. And the turntable is grounded to the Aria. That’s why I suspect it may be my speaker cable or (hopefully not) a problem with the SN3.

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7

Does it hum with nothing connected? Unlikely to be the cables but they may be acting as an aerial and picking up something

8

Having read across a ‘few threads’ on similar topics now…

Does removing the 3.5mm ‘automation’ cable (followed by a power on/power off cycle, perhaps with a 5 minute downtime between), make any difference.

My mind kind of keeps going to the fact that you are most likely using a ‘stereo’ 3.5mm cable (due to easy availability), and that maybe a mono one is needed.

No need to invest much effort into going any further with those checks…
My awareness as to what retails regarding 3.5mm cables is they are generally ‘cheap’ affairs (and likely the source of RF pickup etc). whilst it SHOULD be isolated and unable to alter the sound… hifi can be a tricky beast to tame sometimes.

I use iFi products, and one of them has an ability to run an extra EARTH sink from the top of it… (it plugs into power boards, ideally with more of them also on the powerboard in ways’ that allow seperating equipment from effecting each other), but the real benefit, when I have read across multiple audio portals on the net, is in using the ability to increase the EARTH capability of your Earth sink.

(I left one at a mates place, who lives in a top floor apartment in a building with HORRIBLE power wiring; with the intent he would build a little ‘earth garden’ to link that iFi power ‘plug’ to)

9

@Hifi-dog @whitedragem Thank you for your replies. Sometimes, the simpler solutions elude me. I will try the SN3 with nothing connected including my 3.55 mm tonight.

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10

Which way is the ground switch set on the NDX2?

11

No. Will not be the cables.
No. Changing them will not help.

IMO. YMMV

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