It has been a LONG time since I've passed this way. I've been mentally traveling through places that haven't inspired writing. My email "inbox" is outrageously unanswered. Holidays have come and gone without any personal participation by me. Bob just reminded me (after I read him these first sentences) I haven't opened my Christmas presents yet!

I'm listening to New Order's dance anthem "Blue Monday" as I jot down a bit of my current moment...
My audio binge has really taken my focus and creative energy for a great ride. So far I've digitized about 160 LP's. Friends have fed the fire by cruising over with such fabulous records- The library contains 12,081 songs; that's 37.2 days- 24/7- of unrepeated music.

My inner girl geek-ette was very busy- with Ultimate Audio expansion. I wanted a fresh cartridge and stylus on the turntable- a Technics SL-D2. I bought an Ortofon Super OM 30. Wow! I am hearing stuff on those recordings I never heard before because that Ortofon. Wow!

The ultra sensitive nature that "hears" better also was inspired to hum- the 60Hz hum. Sometimes I'd just toss the audio file out the hum was so loud. Other times it barely hummed at all. About two weeks geek did the trick. The ground loop is earthed.

There wasn't a ground wire when Dale gave it to me 5 years back. The new superior cartridge is fussier electromagnetically; and when I touched the platter's spindle the hum stopped instantly.

I performed surgery on the turntable. Where the RCA lines are, I found the miniature microscopic ground wire stub- soldered to the circuit board under the tonearm.

Volt/ohm meter in hand, a screw revealed itself as having continuity with the wire stub- so I attached a new ground wire to it.

Phonopreamps.com came up several times during my pre-surgery research. They design great preamps- for reasonable prices, with stellar delivery service too! I bought the TCC TC-750LC Phono Preamp With Output Level Control It has a ground wire terminal- Ah! Silence...