Descent Hum problem

[Naren]

Hello everyone,

I have acquired a used Descent subwoofer which I have now connected to my system. I am getting a significant hum from it which is unbearable when the setting is at 70Hz, much lower and bearable when the setting is at 40Hz.
I have tried using a separate outlet from the rest of the home theater but did not help.
The hum became much lower when I used a Y adapter and went into the Left and Right inputs instead of the single RCA LFE input, but it is still unbearable.
The hum increases in volume when I increase the subwoofer volume to a point that I can only put it at a setting of 3 to 4 and at 5 and beyond it interferes with listening.

Question:

Am I doing something stupid that is causing this hum?
Is there a cheap solution to this or do I have to invest several hundred dollars in a voltage stabilizer/cleaner power?

The person i bought the subwoofer from had it connected with balanced input. My processor does not support a balance input, will a RCA to XLR adapter make a difference?

Thanks
Naren

 

[IWalker]

It's ground loop.

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=3229&highlight=descent+hum

That's a thread that goes into some depth about the issue. My recommendation is to get one of these

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CleanBoxII/

for $45...

You should be all set.

 

[Craig]

I'll second IWalker's suggestion.

 

[Naren]

Got it!

Thanks IWalker and Craig! Read the whole thread which was extremely informative. Immediately ran to Lowes and got the 3 to 2 prong adapter plug and it worked!
Now that I know it was the ground loop, I can get the ground loop remover.
Thanks again. I will post some impressions of my system soon.

Naren

Vantage
Descent
Aragon 2005 amplifier
Meridian 568