Rega P3 Turntable Hum

richardS

Hi have a Rega P3 turntable hooked up directly to phono input on a Musical Fidelity A5.  First off, let me say that the musical sound is excellent....BUT.....I get a distracting hum. In the "old days" this was due to a poor earth grounding of the deck, but in the case of the P3 this is incorporated into the RCAs, so no way to do anything with this.  The hum gets worse as the arm moves towards the centre of the record and although you obviously don't play the label, the hum is at its worst when you place the arm over the centre.  Essentially, from about halfway through playing side of the LP, the hum is noticeable through any quiet sections of music.

First off, I believe this to be an endemic problem with the current Rega turntables.  I did take the deck back to the shop, but they gave me the "it's normal", which frankly is b****cks.  They did however lend me a phone/line Rega unit, which did help a little.

Anyone out there have any bright ideas how I can get this sorted? I am up for rewiring the tone arm, adding a PSU, adding a line input....basically anything I can do to sort this out so appropriate aftermarket vendors, websites, how to's, gratefully received as I have been wandering blindly through youtube but have had little luck in finding the appropriate information.

thanks all.

SickSquirrel

I had the same issue with my old RP8, it turns out the turntable was to close to the amp.  When I moved the amp to the bottom of my rack the hum vanished...

Also check your table is level and use a digital turntable stylus force gauge.

richardS

turntable is as far as the phono IC will allow from the amp and on an isolated shelf, so without adding longer RCA interconnects (which will probably degrade the signal?) I cannot get it any further away.  Will definitely look at the stylus force gauge. Any suggestions for this?

SickSquirrel

                                                Neoteck Digital Turntable Stylus Force Scale Gauge: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics                                                                                                        Neoteck Digital Turntable Stylus Force Scale Gauge: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics                                                                                                                                                                                                        www.amazon.co.uk

SickSquirrel

Out of interest was this a refurb P3?  I know of two people that recently purchased refurb P3's and had to return them, one was a hum issue I think related to the cart...

daddy999

In the past I’ve had that issue and found moving the turntable away from the amp and making sure there was a really stable earth solved the issue with a Rega planar 2. On a Technics SL1210 mk2 turntable, I was pulling my hair out with the dreaded “hum” issue, I changed the cartridge from an Ortofon to Goldring (I can’t remember the model numbers), I just remember the issue was resolved.

karlsushi

If the turntable is side to side with the amp, then try swapping them over. This completely resolved the issue with my old man's p3 a while back.

Obviously if you've got the turntable sat directly above the amp then that's not going to help.

I think the proximity with the amp is the most likely reason for the issue though. Appreciate what you're saying about cable length, but it would probably be worth positioning the deck away from the amp with a longer cable as a test, at least to see if this is the issue?

Mark.Yudkin

I know it isn't "helpful", but the problem is indeed endemic to Rega's design, which fails to separate chassis and cartridge grounds. Some cartridges are more tolerant of this, others are less tolerant. Since it is normal (in fact, it's "designed to hum", so your dealer is telling the truth), the only real solution is not to buy a Rega P3. Your best bet is to insist on a refund on the basis that the product isn't fit for purpose. Rant over.

If you can't get your money back, Google on the problem and you'll find videos on how to install a proper ground. There are also details at Rega Rp3 hum - Sources - Analog • Canuck Audio Mart Hifi and Audio Forum, which describes exactly your problem of "a hum in a brand new Rega Rp3. It gets worse the closer the tone arm gets to the spindle."

Dougreidok

Try a mains conditioner?