Hey guys,

I have an XBox 360, Samsung cable box, PS3, Nintendo WII, Sony ES CD player, Oppo 103, Outlaw Audio 7700 amp, Toshiba 50 inch DLP TV, Epson 5020 and a Marantz AV7005 all running into 2 Panamax 5300's. The 3 new components are the Epson PJ, Oppo 103 and Marantz 7005 which I nstalled a few months ago. They replaced a panny PJ, Pioneer BDP51 and Outllaw 990 Pre. With the old system I never had anything more then a slight hum. Right before I added in the new components, the system started to hum louder. I didn't do anything about it as I knew I was changing some of the pieces so I would deal with it then, nothing new was done to the house.

I installed all the new equipment, all new cables, turned it on and the dam hum was still there. I pulled the cablebox in wire, hum gone. Purchased a Jennson transformer isolater, installed, hum gone. Great!! Next time i turned it one, hum came back, equal in all speakers, volume does not effect it, steady buzz. I started pulling wires trying to isolate it. When I pulled the PJ HDMI, buzz stopped. Someone on this forum asked me if the PJ was plugged into the Pannamax, it was not as it is on the other side of the room. I ran a cord over from the PJ to the Panamax and the hum stopped again. I then ran SJ cord 14/3 from the PJ to the Panamax, turned everything on, hum was back, this time in only the rear right speaker. I am running a 5.2 set up.

I pulled all the cables etc and couldn't find what was making the buzz. I switched the wire from one speaker to the other, the buzz followed, it was in that wire. At this point I was so pissed off I decided to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit from my panel to my componenets. Using 12-3 i ran the circuit with an isolated ground and used that type of recepticle. Plugged everything into that circuit, still buzzes from the rear right speaker.

I was playing around with the back of the Marantz 7005, I pulled out HDMI 2 cable which runs to the Toshiba TV, buzz still there, when I went to put it back in, I was off a little and the HDMI end was tapping the back of the 70005, I heard static and all of a sudden, bam, the buzz went quiet. I plugged back in the HDMI cable to HDMI out and the buzz was still gone. I shut down, turned it back on, buzz back, still out of the rear right surround speaker.

Again, I tap the cable to the back ot the Marantz, some static and the buzz goes quiet again. WTF!!! If the HDMI cable taps a back screw on the Marantz, the buzz stops also. Almost like a capacitor is discharging.

What is going one, can someone please help me on this one, I am at a loss here. Brand new 20 amp circuit, isolated ground, nothing on the line but my home theater, back right speaker buzzing kind of loud, then tap HDMI out 2 from Marantz, static then quiet???

I tried it with HDMI 1 out of the Marantz and nothing. This is the one to the PJ which is a Monoprice 60 foot Redmere cable. It is the only Redmere cable I am using.

Sorry post is so long, I tried to keep it as short as I could.

Thanks!!!!

Brian

Sorry for the late response; I have not looked here for a while.

I had a similiar situation recently. I went from an Onkyo PR-SC886 as a preamp to the Marantz AV7005 preamp. I have a thread on the issue here in the saloon. To summarize, I spent 20-30 hours troubleshooting, and spent several more hours on the phone with Scott and another Outlaw employee (sorry I cant think of his name right now) trying to troubleshoot the source of the buzz. Outlaw was VERY helpfull, they even sent out another unit for me, but I could noe get the buzz to go away.

I tried the 7005 receiver model, and no buzz was evident. The buzz returned when I connected the receiver to the amp (Outlaw 7700) and the buzz returned.

I ended up getting the new Marantz AV8801. I hooked it all up, and I have no issues.

While the 7005 is a nice piece of equipment, lots of people experience the ground loop while connected to an amp. While the Outlaw is a great amp, some people may experience issues (like you and I).

The 8801 is being hailed as an extremely high end piece of equipment. Those that have one RAVE about it. I would say I am happy with it, but I wouldnt say "OH MY GOD I CANT BELIEVE HOW AWESOME THIS IS".

I did not want to give up useage of my Outlaw amp, and that is why I went with paying the extra money for the 8801, instead of using the receiver model of the 7005. While it did function well and sound good, it really lacked the OOMPH that I was used to with my amp.

If you can afford it, I wiould suggest looking into the 8801.

Good Luck!

The Marantz 8801's are showing up used and in mint condition on Audiogon, at prices in the $2300-$2400 range. So apparently, these processors are not living up to the hype....at least for some people. Also, the ground loop issues with the AV7005, are the exception rather than the rule. They seem to be occuring only with "non Marantz" amplifiers. So this issue is not a problem that is only exclusive to Outlaw amps.

I found my new Oppo 103 blu ray player, when unplugged the hum dropped down to almost nothing. Still could hear it but when any sound was turned on, it was impossible to hear, I could live with it.

I called Oppo and asked then if I could use a 3 to 2 prong plug adapter, they said yes, the body is grounded so you can. put it on and most of the hum is gone. I still play around with it from time to time seeing if I could make it better, but like i said, i can live with this.

Love the Oppo, Outlaw, Marantz combo, sound is killer.

Thanks.

I was not trying to insult my Outlaw Amp, or Outlaw. My amp is fantastic and built like a Mack Truck! Just stating that for some reason, as stated above, the 7005 does not fare well with some amps, sadly including mine.

Have any conclusions been made?

Is this problem confirmed with ALL 7005's?
Does it only occur with specific amplifiers?
Has Marantz acknowledged it and offered a fix?

Thank You