Page 1 of Interferance through my Digitheatre Speakers.

Hi,
Hhas anyone else had a similar problem. I changed my tv recently to a JVC widescreen and ever since then when I put on the Dolby Digital decoding I get a buzz through my speakers. This is not present when I use the dolby pro logic decoding. Please help, its doing my head in. Do I need to buy new connectors or is it just a problem I`m going to have to live with?

Sounds like mains hum caused by an earthing problem. I had something very similar between my computers digital output and my amp, after much farting around it just went away, which is rare.

Usually you have to locate what unit is causing the earth loop by removing everything from your system except your player and TV (or in my case amplifier) and then add them back in one by one. And when I say remove, I mean TOTALLY remove including unplugging from the wall socket even if its switched off.

However if this occurs with just your TV and DVD player connected, then it is probably the TV. As such a high current device, you often get bleed through of AC into places it shouldn`t be. It`s not uncommon to feel a slight current on the arial terminal at the back for example.

The solution is often to connect the earth on one unit to another, now before you look at this in horror, it isn`t as bad as it sounds. If your using either a coax connector for your Dolby Digital, or you are using an analogue pair of phono connectors, the outside part of the plugs themselves is `Ground`.

Take a bit of wire and, whilst the connector is plugged in, touch one part of it to the ground part of the connector, and then the other end to another grounded source. This can be the ground part of the other connector if its an analogue pair, or the outside of the metal case of your DVD player, or amplifier, or even a radiator. Often this is all thats needed to get rid of the hum.

If you don`t feel confident in any of this, please don`t try it at home. ;-)

Hi,
I`ve tried this but it doesn`t seem to work. I`ve since heard from some other people that they have got (or had) hum from their speakers. It gets worse once you turn the volume up. I`m using anologue leads as my DVD player (Samsung 709) does not have an optical port. Should I try changing the speaker cables? HELP ME PLEASE.

Try using the 709`s Coax connection.

I have recently bought the VL DTS kit and I have no hum at all.

May be worthwhile investing in some mains conditioning - ring main type sockets from a decent supplier. I think a company called Olsen do loads of these products and might be able to help. Have a dekko in some electronics mags or PC mags for contact details.

HTH

SN