Buttkicker interference issue

[Owen Bartley]

My new Buttkickers are installed and working great. I love having an extra level of enjoyment for my theatre. But... I still can't figure out one problem. When operating at high levels, they seem to be causing interference on my TV.

It only occurs when the BK amp is turned on. I've tried with sub only, I've tried with BK only, and that seems consistent. When the Buttkickers are just hitting their sweet spot, and the couches start to shake more substantially, I get jagged diagonal white lines on the display (CRT TV). These increase and decrease in intensity along with the BKs, and if I turn the BK amp down as it happens, I can see the lines start to fade. The trouble is that when they're not noticable anymore, the BKs have almost no impact.

At first I thought it might be an issue of the amp sucking too much power, so I tried plugging it into an extension cord and using an outlet on a different circuit in another room. That didn't make a difference. Now I'm not too sure what to try. One other thought I had was that it might be because I'm using a cheater plug (grounded 3-prong to standard 2-prong) to eliminate the ground loop hum I was experiencing. I had to do the same thing with my BFD for my sub, and didn't have any adverse effects, so I don't know about that one. My other idea is maybe getting a power conditioner to plug my receiver, DVD player, and TV into. But I don't really want to buy something else if I don't have to.

Oh, and no BK signal wires are running past the TV or along the video signal path.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas?

[Mike P.]

I did a search for this problem and can't find anything on it. Your best bet would be contact BK support and hopefully they'll have an answer for this issue.

http://www.thebuttkicker.com/support/faq.htm

Let us know what you find out.

[RSH]

I'll second that - talk to Marvin at Guitammer - he will help you out.

[salvasol]

RSH wrote:

I'll second that - talk to Marvin at Guitammer - he will help you out.

I agree ... this is your best option.

I have two installed and I don't have any problems (knock on wood) ...

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks guys, I'll give it a try and let you know!

Edit: wow, Marvin got back to me within about 30 minutes of me emailing him.

Owen,
Yep, that's a first...

First thing I would do is get that cheater plug off the BKAmp, and if it was installed because of other kinds of interference (ground loops) then deal with the ground loops in other, better ways.

Reason being; that ground lug on the BKAmp is there for two reasons - simple safety, and for internal filtering of internal noise generated by the amp's switching amplifier from the power line.

A better, safer way to deal with the ground loop is a Ground Loop Isolator available from Radio Shack (#270-054) inserted inline with the signal line between your surround receiver and the BKAmp. This has a good chance of correcting the TV problem as well...

Let me know.
Marvin

I'll try to pick up the RS Isolator and see how that works.

[salvasol]

Owen Bartley wrote:

.... I'll try to pick up the RS Isolator and see how that works.

Did you solve the problem with this isolator??? or Did you use the cheater???

I didn't have any ground loop before, but after I swap my receiver I got one
I noticed that my previous amp (Sony) uses a two prong cable and my Yamaha uses a three prong ...maybe that's what is causing the ground loop because everything else is connected the same way as before ...I already discovered that is the Buttkicker amp ... the manual says to use an inline isolator to solve the problem ...

[Owen Bartley]

David, I haven't fixed mine yet, but I haven't picked up the part that's been recommended. The ground loop eliminator from The Source (ex Radio Shack - I think this is the one) should be easy to pick up, the only thing is I've been banned from shopping by my girlfriend until after Christmas and my birthday on Jan 9th. Since I mentioned to her that I needed this, I have a feeling it may be wrapped up in a closet somewhere. If the day comes around and she hasn't gotten it for me, I'll just run out and pick one up. For now the cheater plug gets rid of any adverse audible effects (hum), but doesn't seem to help with the visible lines.

[salvasol]

Owen Bartley wrote:

David, I haven't fixed mine yet, but I haven't picked up the part that's been recommended. The ground loop eliminator from The Source (ex Radio Shack - I think this is the one) should be easy to pick up, the only thing is I've been banned from shopping by my girlfriend until after Christmas and my birthday on Jan 9th. Since I mentioned to her that I needed this, I have a feeling it may be wrapped up in a closet somewhere. If the day comes around and she hasn't gotten it for me, I'll just run out and pick one up. For now the cheater plug gets rid of any adverse audible effects (hum), but doesn't seem to help with the visible lines.

Thank you

Happy Birthday in advance ... by the way, mine is Jan 6 ..

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks birthday buddy!! Happy day to you too! Let me know if you do try something with your 'kickers before I do, I'd love to see what works if we get a good easy solution. I almost went out and got that little guy today, since I want to show them off when the family is over for the holidays, but if she did get it for my, the gf wouldn't be impressed.

Oh, and Merry Christmas too!

[basementjack]

could this be a magnetic interference issue?

[salvasol]

I got the ground isolator from Radio Shack ... and Good Bye "hum"

Mine was not a magnetic interference issue, the hum ocurred when plugin in the Buttkicker Amp in the outlet, but it was extrange because I have two subs, and I can hear the hum only in one sub(I'm using "Y's" to split the signal); the sub that was making the hum was the one who shares the "Y" with the buttkicker amp ... so I installed the isolator after the "Y" and solved the problem

I'm not sure if I should install the isolator between the receiver and subs or leave it the way I have it now ... I think I will try both ways to see what happens ...

[Owen Bartley]

David, you beat me to it!! I got an isolator in my stocking, and spent the first intermission in the hockey game last night installing it (and yes, the Leafs let me down at the last minute again). It did take care of any hum, and I was able to remove the cheater plug no problem, but it didn't do anything to clean up the visible interference.

I'm not really sure what to try next. I don't think there is a problem with the TV physically shaking, but I might put something under it to dampen any vibration it may be picking up. Otherwise I don't know, I keep coming back to the thought that the BK amp is sucking too much power or something, but I can't prove it.

I don't think it's a magnetic interference issue, since my sub has never caused a problem, and the BKs and amp are all fairly far away from the TV. I think I'm using an S video cable to go from my DVD player to the TV, maybe I'll swap it for component cables or something to see if that does anything... maybe a shielded cable?

[salvasol]

Owen Bartley wrote:

... It did take care of any hum, and I was able to remove the cheater plug no problem, but it didn't do anything to clean up the visible interference... I think I'm using an S video cable to go from my DVD player to the TV, maybe I'll swap it for component cables or something to see if that does anything... maybe a shielded cable?

Good to hear that you fixed your "hum"

Try the cable swap ... hopefully it will solve the problem; and if you can't fix it I think you need to contact BK support and hopefully they'll have an answer for this issue.

http://www.thebuttkicker.com/support/faq.htm

Do you have the interference all the time??? ... or just when watching DVD's???

[Owen Bartley]

Thanks David! The interference only comes on while watching a DVD (I should check with other sources too, I just haven't had anything else turned up loud with the TV on too) during a bass intensive scene, and the Buttkickers really start to get going. If I turn the BK amp volume down to about the 10:00 position it goes away, but I don't get nearly the effect from the BKs and it's hardly worth it. maybe I'll also disconnect one of the 'kickers to see if that has any effect. It really seems to me like the amp working hard is what creates the distortion. Clearly more testing and troubleshooting is required!