serious grounding problem??

[TragikRemix]

i think i might have a really bad grounding problem in my studio/ converted basement.

the main thing is my hard drives; i hear them everywhere. i had a keyboard amp that use to amplify the sound of the drives as they spun up, even though they were not connected to the same outlet. (same circuit though)

now i hear the hard drives through my headphones, on all channels of my headphone amp, with all the differnt headphones i have (5 pairs..)

to make it even worse, i hear it a bit through my monitors!

i have the external hard drive and the computer both on outlets off of a Furman PL II, along with the headphone and monitor amps. the keyboard amp was not on the Furman, it was just plugged into a wall outlet.

could it be some kinda problem with the wiring in my basement?

my brother is an electrician, but it's not really important enough for him to stop everything he's doing and run over here.. i took an electronics class and we learned how to wire outlets with that stupid wire that is really impossible to work with.. not that i want to rewire my basement..

 

[DonF]

Before you go rewiring the basement, there are a couple of easy/cheap things you can do.

Try using a different cable, if possible a shorter one, to connect the external hard drive. Sounds like some of its signal is leaking out and getting into your audio lines.

If the external drive is SCSI (I'd guess it's probably not), make sure it's properly terminated.

Also, be sure to keep power and data cables away from your audio cables, especially high impedance/unbalanced audio cables.

HTH,
Don
(L.I. native, BTW)