Question Rega RP3 hum. Help please

AncientSpectre

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Hi guys, how are you? I hope everyone is safe.
I am having a horrible hum with my turntable. Please check the link below where I posted the video with the problem so you can have an idea.

As you can see, the hum disappears when the tonearm is moved to the center of the table. So far, I haven’t been able to figure it out.
The turntable is a Rega RP3 with the Rega TTPSU and. An Exact cartridge. The phono preamp is a Musical Fidelity MX-VYNL.
Any thoughts? Does someone know how to fix this issue ?
Thank you 🙏
 
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Have you got the table stacked above an amp? If so try moving the amp or table and see if the hum changes or disappears.
 
Could be an Earth hum. Try touching the centre (or tone arm) and something earthed at same time to see if it disappears
 
I had this almost exactly with my P2. Turned out to be two things that combined to make the loud hum.
1. As lamppost said, the position of the amp. Pick up the deck and move it vertically if possible to see if the hum lessens. If it does then in all likelihood you've got your answer.
2. I also had a lamp plugged in to the same extension bar as my kit. Once I unplugged the lamp the hum disappeared. I found this by unplugging everything in turn.
 
I have a Rega RP3 which is not fitted with its own earth lead, instead earthing through one of its channel grounds. This suffered badly with hum. As my amp has no phono input I use a separate phono pre amp. To cure my hum, I connected a phono earth lead (bought on ebay) to the phono preamp earthing post. The other end was then connected to the earth pin of a regular 3 pin plug (no other wires connected). This was then plugged in to an extension lead which also had the amp and phono amp plugged in and bingo - silence!

I believe another forum member has done the same with similar results and it is perfectly safe as long as only the earth lead is connected to the earth pin in the plug.
 
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First of all, I really want to thank you guys to take the time to give advices and suggestions, really appreciated. Unfortunately, the problem is still there 😭.

I tried to lift the turntable up vertically (actually far from the system) and still does the same. Even in the air, the hum disappears when the tonearm is moved to the center. 🤔

I don’t have any lamp connected to the same outlet. There’s one, but connected to another plug, very far away. I Unplugged it too but I have the same result.
About the phono earth lead, I can’t use it because the RCA cables coming from the turntable are already connected from inside.

I found the suggestion from RugbyAl pretty logical, I decided to make a cable like he told me (only ground connected, see photo) and connected it from the phono preamp ground post to the outlet.
Unfortunately, I still have the hum 😞

Do you guys think that It is worth taking apart the tonearm to check connections inside? For me, it’s curious that only when you move the tonearm to the center, the hum goes. Maybe when the arm is moved, some cables make contact inside? Or something like that?
 

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Have you spoken to your Rega dealer about the problem? Does your amp have a phono input you could try? Stab in the dark but do you use Powerline Ethernet adaptors?

It could also be the cartridge, maybe ask your dealer to fit a Nagaoka MP-110 and see if the problem goes away.
 
Have you spoken to your Rega dealer about the problem? Does your amp have a phono input you could try? Stab in the dark but do you use Powerline Ethernet adaptors?

It could also be the cartridge, maybe ask your dealer to fit a Nagaoka MP-110 and see if the problem goes away.

Hi Lampost. Yes, the amplifier has a phono input. But I don’t use it because I have a much better phono preamp. I spent more than 1000 dollars with the Musical Fidelity phono preamp.
But I could try to connect the turntable to the integrated phono input of the amplifier as you suggested. I have nothing to loose anyways 😉
I will try that tomorrow when I get home.
Thank you
 
every turntable ever made has a separate earth wire to connect to phono stage / amp
rega do it different
 
I tried to plug to the phono input of the amplifier and still have the same hum 😡

I discovered something though. I though it was when the tonearm was moved to the center that made the hum disappear. But I turn the turntable (see photo) and the hum disappears too. I am more confused now 🤷‍♂️
any ideas?
 

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one of the many design faults on regas fault is not with your amplifier
have you another turntable
any turntable , any price , any make connects like this L+R + earth/ground
non-ground turntable will cause hum/noise

1/ or build a simple star ground to earth outside. All you need is a terminal strip, some thick bare copper wire and a copper rod that your stick in the ground outside. Run the wire through the hole where your cable line goes in the floor to outside and attach it to the rod (that is buried in the ground) with a clamp. Attach the other end (inside) of the copper wire to a terminal strip (screw it down) and then ground all your components (amp/pre, TT) to the terminal strip Remove all other ground connections to the components, this will prevent ground loops.

2/ connect to a grounding earth plug on the wall







.
DenonCP41.png
 
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I tried to plug to the phono input of the amplifier and still have the same hum 😡

I discovered something though. I though it was when the tonearm was moved to the center that made the hum disappear. But I turn the turntable (see photo) and the hum disappears too. I am more confused now 🤷‍♂️
any ideas?
Now that really is curious. It kind of sounds like there's some interference getting into the arm wires from something external running parallel to the arm, and it's changing the geometry of the arm in relation to that external something that's doing it.
 
Now that really is curious. It kind of sounds like there's some interference getting into the arm wires from something external running parallel to the arm, and it's changing the geometry of the arm in relation to that external something that's doing it.
I guess you are right
Still trying to figure it out
 
Listening to the video, the hum does seem a little high pitched to be a grounding issue. I notice the TT PSU is right next to the turntable, from the Rega manual:
"To minimise the risk of hum pick up by the cartridge, the power supply should be situated
as far from the turntable as the interconnect cable will allow."

Have you tried this? Just moving the cables direction next to the TT PSU may be whats making the difference.
 
Just a thought, i had a similar problem and i found it to be power cables running down the wall to the sockets. I moved my RP3 away from the sockets and that solved it.

Ray
 
I tried to plug to the phono input of the amplifier and still have the same hum 😡

I discovered something though. I though it was when the tonearm was moved to the center that made the hum disappear. But I turn the turntable (see photo) and the hum disappears too. I am more confused now 🤷‍♂️
any ideas?
Presumably if you turn the turntable you’re effectively moving the cartridge, is the cartridge picking something up from your amp or something else? As others have said have you tried raising the deck to physically move it away from your amp or phono stage as far as possible?
I recently had a similar issue but with both a deck / phono stage and a DAC, to solve mine I used an earth lead like you made but connected it to the earth point on my integrated amp even though I was using an off board phono stage..
 
Hello guys, how have you been? Sorry for the late answer.
Thank you RubbyAl, RJay and Thatsnotmynaim for your help and suggestions.
I tried everything you guys mentioned, unfortunately I still have the same problem.

I found something interesting though, and I would like to share it with you guys:

I think it’s the only thing missing, I would try that tomorrow evening because I need some tools that I will bring from work.
What do you guys think?
I have a question. MC cartridges also suffered from hum?

thanks
 
Hi AS, did you solve your problem? i have an RP3 and had this issue briefly when i introduced a phono amp. Connecting the ground terminal on the phono amp to a grounded screw holding the faceplate of the power outlet on the wall solved this issue. note that the power source of the phono amp is plugged into a power bar connected to that same power outlet. In anycase this solved the problem.

Hope that helps.
Fips
 
you might also try taking the PSU out of the equation just to eliminate the possibility that it is defective.
 
Hi AS, did you solve your problem? i have an RP3 and had this issue briefly when i introduced a phono amp. Connecting the ground terminal on the phono amp to a grounded screw holding the faceplate of the power outlet on the wall solved this issue. note that the power source of the phono amp is plugged into a power bar connected to that same power outlet. In anycase this solved the problem.

Hope that helps.
Fips
Hi Fips, thank you so much for your answer.
No, I never solved it, so sad about it. It’s really annoying listening to music like that.
I am curious to try what you said. I didn’t understand very well though. Could please send me some pictures of what you do in order to understand.
Thank you so much,
Looking forward to hearing from you...
 

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