Outlaw Audio 7700, 7500 Potential Ground Loops in a Complex A/V System, Ground Loop Diagram

Owner’s Manual

A Few Words About Hum and Noise

Potential Ground Loops in a Complex A/V System

Suggestion #1:

cal and expensive. In some cases, the use of an approved AC Power Isolation Transformer of sufficient capacity may solve this problem.

To determine if a cable TV connection is responsible for the hum, first turn all components off. Disconnect the cable TV feed to your system at the first place where it connects to your components. Alternatively, disconnect the cable TV wire where it is connected at the wall outlet. Turn your system back on, and listen if the hum has disappeared. If removing the cable TV feed has eliminated the hum, you will need to insert a Ground Loop Isolator before reconnecting the cable TV feed, or contact your cable TV operator to see if they can better isolate your cable feed.

Suggestion #2:

Turn off all components in your system, and then disconnect the input cables at the amplifier. Turn the amplifier back on, and see if the hum is still present. If the hum disappears, the fault may be in the input cables used. Try replacing them with cables that have better shielding, and make certain that the input cables are not running on top of any AC power cords. Change the cables one at a time to determine if one, or all cables is responsive. If the hum disappears when the input cables are disconnected, but returns after the cables are changed and the system re-connected, the problem may be caused by your processor, receiver or preamplifier.

Suggestion #3:

Ground loop problems may also be caused by poor grounding of the electrical system in your home, particularly when there are multiple components with three-prong, grounded power cords. Try unplugging these components one at a time, and see if one or all of them is causing the problem. The ultimate solu- tion to this type of problem is to re-wire your house with an isolated, star type grounding configuration. We recognize, however, that this may be impracti-

Ground Loop Diagram

Warning: if you suspect that the grounding system in your home’s electrical wiring is causing the hum problem, it is important that you do not make any changes to the wiring yourself. Only a licensed electrician should make any changes to household wiring, and they must be made in full compliance with all local building, safety and electrical codes.

Suggestion #4:

Hum may also be caused by faulty earth grounds in your home’s electrical system. In the past, cold water pipes were often used for the earth ground, so it is important to make sure that your ground connection is still valid and has not become loose or corroded. The cold water pipe method may no longer be valid in some locations due to requirements that the water meter be isolated from the water mains with a length of PVC pipe, thus interrupting the ground circuit. The safest, and most reliable, approach may be to provide your own ground. This can be accomplished by having a licensed electrician drive at least five feet of copper-jacketed steel grounding rod into the earth, and using that for your grounding connection.

Suggestion #5:

If you have hum in your video display device (bars that roll up through image at 12-14 second intervals), this may be related to hum you also experience in your audio system. The previous suggestion tips may help with this also. If not, try isolating the ground in the projectors video signal cable with a base-band video isolation transformer, such as the Jensen VB-1BB.

If the hum persists after all of the above suggestions have been tried, contact the Outlaw Audio customer service department for assistance.

Cable Feed Coax Cable

A/V

Cables

60Hz AC

Ground Loop

Main House

Grounding

Set-top Box

60Hz AC

Ground Loop

AC Line

AC Ground

AC Line

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