Turntable is humming - that can help

If your turntable is humming, the music enjoyment is gone. Unfortunately, the hum can have many reasons, so there is no general solution. We will help you find the cause and get rid of the humming sound.

The cause of the hum in the turntable

Humming can always occur when cables, plugs or electronic components are defective. The error does not have to affect the turntable itself. The mixer, amplifier, loudspeaker and even the electrical circuit can also be faulty. Circle the cause of your hum by going through the steps below.

• Whenever a music system causes problems, you should first check all cable connections. Started contacts can favor the hum.
• Also check the cables for loose contacts by sliding each cable individually with your fingers while the sound is playing.
• Test whether the hum can only be heard with the loudspeakers, or with headphones or other loudspeakers.
• If you have a "lift" switch that releases grounding, operate it.
• If only one speaker hums, switch the speakers. If the same speaker is still buzzing, this is probably the problem.
• A common cause of network hum is electromagnetic immissions. Turn off all electronic devices near your music system. Microwaves, televisions and WLAN routers in particular can generate hum.
• If the device is still buzzing, it may also be due to faults in the power grid. If possible, remove all devices that lead to the same fuse in your fuse box, except for the turntable and amplifier. In particular, control electronics such as dimmers or systems such as Powerline can affect the mains voltage.
• Only connect the turntable to the amplifier and then to the speakers. Remove all other cables and devices, such as CD players and MD players, in particular radio antennas and audio and cable connections from your TV.
• If you dare to do this, check whether the earth is firmly attached to your amplifier and make sure that the earth is neither oxidized nor dirty in the earthed plug or in the socket.
• Is the record just booming or are radio, tape, CD and DVD humming too?
• Does the humming sound occur in combination with unusual smell or even smoke development?
• If the problem has existed since the first use of a component or your entire audio system, read the instructions for use carefully. Do you use the phono output of your turntable and the phono input of your amplifier? Or do you use cinch?

Remedy for humming turntables

• Clean tarnished plugs and sockets with isopropanol. Pipe cleaners are best found in sockets. Q-Tips mostly serve their purpose, but with a bit of bad luck, cotton wool gets stuck.
• We show you in various practical tips how to repair a cable break, solder broken headphones yourself and what you can do if there is a loose contact in the headphone socket. We also give you tips for soldering cinch and speaker cables.
• If you are not a hobbyist, buying a new one is not expensive at all: new phono plugs and adapters from phono to jack and phono to cinch do not cost a lot of money.
• If the turntable does not hum with all speakers and headphones, either this pair of speakers is broken or the speakers are in an unfavorable proximity to a source of electromagnetic radiation. It's best to reposition your speakers.
• Alternatively, you can think about active speakers if your amplifier has balanced outputs. In the practical tip on jack and XLR, we explain what exactly symmetrical cables are.
• If your speakers are humming on other devices, our practical tip will help you get rid of the humming of the speakers.
• If electromagnetic radiation is the cause, you should keep the radiation source away from your turntable. As a hobbyist, you could alternatively solder cinch plugs or your speaker cable to coaxial cables to reduce the stray effect.
• Once you have identified an electrical device that is interfering with your listening pleasure, run it on a different circuit or banish it from your home.
• If a Schuko plug is dirty or oxidized, clean it with alcohol. If necessary, replace the cable.
• If your spartan system is humming, without any other connected devices, you have circled the problem area. Pickups, amplifiers, speakers, or interference are likely to be the problem.
• If not only the humming of the record hums, but also radio, TV, DVD and tape, the amplifier is definitely the problem. Our practical amplifier tip will help you with the diagnosis.
• If one of your devices smells burnt or gets hot, a defective component, especially a broken transformer, is likely. In this case, you should send in the relevant device for inspection or repair or replace it with a new one.
• If you have excluded everything else and are a hobby hobbyist, you should also check the cables on the pickup and replace if necessary.
• Have you studied the instructions for using your devices? There are phono adapters on cinch, but phono amplifiers are specially made for the weak signal of the record. Cinch amplifiers may amplify noise and network hum. In this case, get a phono amplifier.
• The reverse is also possible: high-level pickups belong in the LineIn / Tape / CD or video input and not in the phono input. The high level lies in the non-linear area of ​​the phono connection and can be responsible for distortions and possibly also the hum.
• If nothing helps, you can digitize your records in extreme need, digitally remove the hum and then improve the sound of the recording.

If you have been able to solve your problem with our help, you are probably also interested in how to properly clean your record and what you should pay attention to when buying vinyl. If you are tired, you can use our tips to determine the value of your old records and get your black gold online.