Though vinyl is one of our most cherished and enjoyed music formats, the equipment used to play back records can be, by its very nature, susceptible to certain environmental problems that can disrupt your experience. One of the most common issues reported to us is "mains hum", and though this can be a problem, it is almost always down to the lack of a 'true' earth point in your hi-fi system.

All turntables are prone to attract some level of noise; however, most good players are engineered to reduce this tendency as much as possible, so you often only hear it with the amplifier volume on maximum and no record playing. When there is a noise that's audible during normal playback, it is often due to poor grounding (even with the supplied ground lead linking the turntable to your phono stage/amplifier), and the problem is typically environmental.

To resolve an issue with the earth hum, you simply need to connect your hi-fi system to an electrical ground point. To do this, take an additional ground lead, connect one end to the junction box on the back of your turntable and the other to a 'true' earth point. Within a hi-fi system, this could be by linking your turntable directly to the amplifier, or outside of the system, it could mean linking to a nearby radiator or the metal earth terminal on a UK mains plug. As soon as you can electrically join the problematic components in your system and route them to ground, there should no longer be an electrical imbalance, and the noise will go away.

The tools below will help you eliminate grounding issues in a hi-fi system featuring a Pro-Ject turntable: