ECN Electrical Forum - Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals
ECN Shout Chat
ShoutChat
Recent Posts
Increasing demand factors in residential
by gfretwell - 03/28/24 12:43 AM
Portable generator question
by Steve Miller - 03/19/24 08:50 PM
Do we need grounding?
by NORCAL - 03/19/24 05:11 PM
240V only in a home and NEC?
by dsk - 03/19/24 06:33 AM
Cordless Tools: The Obvious Question
by renosteinke - 03/14/24 08:05 PM
New in the Gallery:
This is a new one
This is a new one
by timmp, September 24
Few pics I found
Few pics I found
by timmp, August 15
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 255 guests, and 16 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 53
N
Member
Church high end sound equip.

Proximity of L.V. cabinet and H.V. cabinet's are in same room, 4 feet apart approx.

L.V. rack is supplied by ISO circuits, 120/208 3ph. PVC connections.

Dimming panel fed from same power panel.

In subwoofers,(32,000 watt Peaveys),a low end hum is present, but not always, the dimming panel when ltg. is 60% or lower adds to distortion in subwoofers at a midrange tone. The dimming panel doesn't seem to be the cause of the hum, yet it adds a higher tone of distortion.

The hum is not a great issue when system is used for music and so on. It is when the clergy is trying to speak that it is the most annoying.

Sound engineers, a few other elect. cont., and now in our lap. Many scenarios, testing, no major steps. Dirty power, ISO GRD, proximity, no definites, and we cannot produce the sound all the time, or find any differences in troubleshooting.

Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 947
T
twh Offline
Member
comment removed, didn't read the post carefully. sorry.

[This message has been edited by twh (edited 05-08-2004).]

Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 650
W
Member
Just to be clear:

This is not 60 Hz or some 60 Hz harmonic leaking into the sound system, but instead an increase in _distortion_ in the sound system when the lighting is at reduced power?

If the input to the sound system is totally silent, do you hear the distortion, or do you only hear distortion when there is some input (eg. someone speaking into the microphone)?

Is the distortion or noise _source_ dependant? Does it matter if you are using a microphone or a tape recorder as the input source?

-Jon

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 886
H
Member
..In subwoofers,(32,000 watt Peaveys),a low end hum is present, but not always, the dimming panel when ltg. is 60% or lower adds to distortion in subwoofers at a midrange tone. The dimming panel doesn't seem to be the cause of the hum, yet it adds a higher tone of distortion.

I think you mean 3ea 2000w subs I hope! Anyway, apparently you are not a sound guy and your terms like "low end hum","adds to distortion in subwoofers" and "adds a higher tone of distortion" means very little. And what the heck is a LV and HV rack?

At any rate it sounds like there is a power quality problem probably caused by the lighting controls and possibly other systems in the building. Maybe grounding issues and low level wiring issues also. Isolated grounds were probably a waste of time.

This is going to be a tough situation to troubleshoot. I would start by shutting down the lighting system and see if that helps. It should never have been fed from the same panel. An isolated power system might be the solution. I can't understand why a competant sound contractor would not be able to get to the bottom of this.

-Hal

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 53
N
Member
It is a HUM. All by itself, in the low freq. range. The dimming panel adds to it when the low freq. hum has shown itself, the dimming panel adds a mid range hum on top of the low freq. hum.

The hum is not always there. It seems after time as equip. heats up then it MAY swow up. To me it seems that there is a piece of equip. that it causing resistance and creating this low end hum to start.

Now is it a 60Hz hum? Well it seems to be. But all the equip. uses 60Hz power obviously, so it would most likely be a 60Hz hum, electricians problem now.

Could a breaker heat up and cause a hum? Loose connection? Inductive reactance?

We are thinking of bringing in a generator to get a new source of power, shutting down the rest of the bldg.

Yet, this problem shows up 85% of the time, we have been there on occasion and it doesn't show.

Last time we killed main power panel breakers one at a time, no affect. when we shut down the power to the sound equip., the hum stopped after getting fired back up and did not return in the next 1 1/2 hours while we were there. I would have thought that the heat/resistance factor would have shown up shortly after reboot.

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 886
H
Member
...when we shut down the power to the sound equip., the hum stopped after getting fired back up and did not return in the next 1 1/2 hours...

Now this sounds more like could very well be a problem with the sound equipment itself. What is the history of this installation (is it new?) and the problem?

-Hal

Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 141
S
Member
Could it be that some of the electrical wires and some of the sound system wires are crossing near each other too closely somewhere in the building? When something electrical is turned on, could it be creating the hum through the too-close sound system wires? I understand that electrical wires and sound system wires are not supposed to be within 6 inches of each other anywhere in the run. I realize that the cabinets are 4 feet apart, but it's the wires I'm thinking about, which might be passing through a wall or ceiling side by side or within 6 inches. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 53
N
Member
We got stuff all over the place!

I believe the problem has been present since day one. They are pretty sure it was always there, yet, now we show up to trblsht and it is not always present.

I feel it has something to do with the sound equip., the engineer doesn't think it is on his end. We are kind of chasing our tail in coming to a resolution. And any fix to hope you cure the problem is going to be in thousands of dollars, and will it go away?

Move sound equip. to another location? New utility transformer for sound equip.? Cement barrier wall in same room to divide? Rewire H.V., and or L.V.? And the problem is intermittent now as it is.

Anybody know of any sound sites like ECN is for us?

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 886
H
Member
I'm a member over here- http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/f/6/0

Give it a try. There used to be some other knowledgeable pros there like myself but it seems they all disappeared when the board switched to this new format.

My advice still stands though. It sounds like there are multiple problems and it's going to take someone with sound system experience actually at the site to troubleshoot it. I know that you have gone that route before but whoever it was was not knowledgeable enough. A competent sound system technician should be able to determine if there are power problems and recommend a solution if they exist. This really is not the domain of an electrician because there can be many areas involved here, not just electrical. It sounds like the "engineer" is just passing the buck to coverup for his inability. Again, he should be the one to find the problem and if it involves an electrical issue elicit you to carry out his recommendations. If he can't do that I suggest turning to other sound installation companies.

-Hal

Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 394
B
Member
I agree that the problem really belongs to a competent sound engineer. The fact that you don't even know the frequencies of the noise is bad news from the start. The engineer should be able to prove where the noise is comming from before any repairs are attempted. Right now, it sounds like you are shooting in the dark. That can be an expensive and dangerous proposition. Locate a quality sound re-enforcement company and have them evaluate the system. You should end up with a report that says this is the problem and this is why it is a problem.

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5