Possible grounding issues?

I had a crazy problem with interference that was driving me crazy.My Crack is connected to a modded Squeezebox2. I have the SB2 connected to a wireless Ethernet adapter so that I can avoid any RF interference.  When I would power on the crack with my SB2 off I would hear a crackling sound every once in while. It was driving me nuts because everything sounded great. When I would turn the SB2 on the crackling would be much worse. I tried the Crack with my sons setup and it was dead quiet. So I knew that he Crack was good. Come to find out that the Ethernet adapter was to close to the Crack and SB2. Once I moved it away the Crack and SB2 were dead quiet.

It just goes to show that there are outside influences that can cause problems with the overall sound.
 
I tried a jumper going from one channel to ground, but will try both tomorrow. Doing just one, the crackle was just as bad as before.

I'm using Crack>Audioengine D1>Computer. I'm also going to bring the Crack into another room to see if the problem is isolated.
 
Just tried it from my turntable, and now I'm really confused. One channel is playing in my headphones thru the amp (left channel), and I can hear some (maybe the other channel) being played out my turntable? It's low but definitely there. I'm pretty much a layman in that area, so I don't even know. Anywho, there was still a noise with the TT plugged in. A tracking buzz, kind of like the record spinning.
 
The stylus in the groove can be microphonic.  And it might not be.  That is without any amplification on it can make sound.  Some TT setups don't do this.  Is this what you mean?  

So now with your TT you are missing a channel, right?  Is the crackle there?  You mention a "tracking buzz" can you describe this?  That sounds like a buzz caused by a grounding issue that is not that uncommon with first time TT setups.  Often it is a loose or missing grounding wire.

To help the helpers you need to continue to answer the questions that are asked.
 
I put my ear up to it, and I'm thinking it is microphonics. I guess I've never heard it before since I always have my headphones on, not to mention I found it weird that is the audible song, just very quiet.


With my TT playing, I can't hear a single pop or crackle, even on quiet passages. If I raise the arm up, about 2 seconds later it starts that tracking buzz, a "tickatickatickaticka" that sounds like the motor perhaps?


Thank you so much for your help by the way, I can't explain how much I appreciate it.
 
mosshorn said:
I put my ear up to it, and I'm thinking it is microphonics. I guess I've never heard it before since I always have my headphones on, not to mention I found it weird that is the audible song, just very quiet.
Click to expand...

That makes sense.  I can't hear it across the room but with one ear piece not working the dead ear should hear it.

mosshorn said:
With my TT playing, I can't hear a single pop or crackle, even on quiet passages. If I raise the arm up, about 2 seconds later it starts that tracking buzz, a "tickatickatickaticka" that sounds like the motor perhaps?
Click to expand...

That says the pop/crackle is not the Crack, per se.  It is either the source or an interaction between the Crack and the source as a number of posters have suggested.

The buzz is as I mentioned in reply #25 "caused by a grounding issue that is not that uncommon with first time TT setups."

But to find the source of the problems you need to answer all the questions asked.  What we have now is that the sound from the TT is microphonic.  The pop/crackle is not happening in the TT setup.

Another question that comes up is the "tickatickatickaticka" noise.  Does it go away if the table is turned off?  How about if you invert the AC plug for the TT?  That is, take it out, rotate it 180 degrees and put it back in the socket.  Ground loop problems can be minimized this way.
 
When I turned the TT off, it stopped that noise. I'll try inverting the plug when I get home in a few hours, in class right now (love 1 o clock classes this semester)
 
This also says that the Crack is not the problem.  It is a problem, but the Crack is innocent.  It could be the table/ground/motor.  There are a number of problems. 

We should get one problem fixed at a time rather than jumping around. 
 
Well some excellent news, but still not an answer. I used an RCA to 3.5mm connection with my phone to see if it was causing any of the same issues that my other two devices have been doing (crackling in the DAC, one channel on my TT), and it had both channels, but one was EXTREMELY quiet (the same one on the TT). Perplexed, I flipped it over.....to notice I had my jumper cable down there from the prior troubleshooting! I took it off and both channels came in loud and clear, and no tracking noise from my TT. Dead quiet too. So I'm figuring it's something to do with my DAC, I'm going to try a couple more things and report back with results:


-Change USB cables for the DAC
-move setup closer to computer
-see if running from 3.5mm on computer to RCA on amp resolves anything


EDIT:

From this move, I found out the culprit (at least as far as I can tell) is my own computer (or the sound card I have in, or something else inside it). I swapped everything over, and ran my dac through both USB and optical to see if anything changed. Nothing. So then I unplugged that, and set my RCA to 3.5mm up. Still produced the same noise! It should be noted also that when my DAC is plugged in exclusively to USB (not usb power/optical input) that a clicking noise is also heard.

So now that I've taken the DAC out of the picture, the grounding issue is out (at least I believe the TT/phone resolved this) , and the DAC isn't the issue (resolved by bypassing the DAC itself). I'll try going through a laptop that's plugged in, just to see if I can localize it to my PC individually. If it is that, what would my options be?

Once again, thank everybody for being so helpful.

EDIT 2:

So I finally isolated (as far as I can tell) where the noise is coming from: a ground loop from my amp through my dac to my computer, in particular my power supply. I'm thinking of picking up a ground loop isolator from radio shack (most affordable option at the moment) before class tomorrow to see if that helps. I've heard horror stories of severely degraded performance, but also heard they don't affect the sound at all. Anyone have any experience with these?
 
Yesh, it may very well eliminate some or all "hum" but also the bass, and probably more, with it.  I tried one years ago in car audio installation.  A member here recently tried one as well.  Seems they havent changed much if at all over the years.  Keeping working on a real solution.  The ground loop isolator is probably going to be a bandaid, and not a good one. 

link to recent thread in Seduction forum ... http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,2491.0.html
 
Worse come to worst I might try one of those cheater plugs, it's worth a shot, as long as it doesn't burn my house down at least :P

Just tried something else with very unenjoyable results. I thought "hey, what if I isolated the noise by plugging the dac usb power in via an external source, since its data is run via toslink?


Called up Audioengine, guy was like "sure, that would work"

SO I decided to experiment using my phone's charger as the usb psu. Plugged it in, light turned on, no issues. Turn my Crack on, everything seems fine. Plug in headphones and start playing a track, and I'm noticing there's no sound. I adjust the volume pot and touch the metal....

.....and apparently that usb power was still coming, because I got quite the shock (the creepy chill one) coming from my amp. Safe to say, I promptly turned everything off and dismissed that idea. Maybe running a lower current power supply would work (it's specced to 200mA, this one is 700mA, same voltage reading though)
 
Do you have an electrical out let polarity tester?  Do you know if your outlets are wired correctly?  That's certainly not a safe assumption these days.

-- Jim
 
No, but I can ask around to see if someone does. the usb power was plugged in a power strip, so maybe inverting the way it was plugged in would produce a difference?

Also, I'm giving a usb isolator a thought. Since it's just for the power, and not for audio, I don't "think" it would affect quality like a rca based ground loop isolator would.
 
I don't think that will help -- sounds like you may have your house wiring backwards -- hot and neutral reversed -- a unsafe situation no matter what and really not good with audio gear.

Those power supplies are also typically isolated because of the internal transformer, and something just sounds very wrong.

The outlet testers can be had at rat shack or harbor freight for probably $5 or so -- the little gizmos that plug into an outlet and have lights on them to indicate if there is a problem or not.  Every audio person should have one.

HTH,

Jim
 
If I can't find anybody with one, I'll pick one up today or tomorrow :) Thanks for that idea, if it brings anything to light I'll let you know!
 
The 700ma shouldnt matter as long as the voltage it correct.  The device only draws the current that it needs.  Yep, something isnt right if you are getting shocked by touching the chassis plate.  Definitely check the wiring suggested.  Home Depot and Lowes also sells the simple plug in testers.  Ive seen them at Walmart as well.
 
Thank you so much for the help all! That truly sounds like the culprit, but is there any way to alleviate this situation other than messing with the house's electrical? I don't know if I'll be able to change that.
 
So I figured out the issue (well 99% of it, I hear a very tiny tiny bit left.)

If anyone has these issues:

tighten the screws in your PC. After checking everything as good, I tightened every screw I could find. This allowed for a better ground, and the problem is almost entirely gone (I'll check for more screws tomorrow). Thank you so much for everyone that has helped, I cannot believe how much of a difference this made to my music :)
 
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