Has anyone had a problem with Radio Frequency Interference?  If so, what did you do to solve it?

I live in an apartment building in the city and have neighbors all around me (it seems like I can pick up wireless signals from everyone in the building).  I have systematically shut off my circuit breaker in an attempt to find the offending circuit/device(s), but I haven’t found anything, so I think the source might be external.  

Many of my electronic devices pick up the RFI including my stereo, guitar amp, powered monitor speakers, etc.  The RFI is least strong/offensive with my Decware stereo, but I can hear the interference if I get close to the speakers and there are times when I can hear it from my listening position.  In general, music sounds great, but I’m still bothered by this and wonder how much better music would sound if I could block the RFI.  

As far as I know my interconnects/speaker cables are not shielded, but I’m not sure shielding would help.

Thoughts?

You could make a Faraday Cage from some window screen material. Make sure that it isn't plastic!
We had RF problems at work once, Making the cage fixed it right up.
Not the prettiest thing, but they do work.

Guys I've had this noise problem since day 1 I've been battling. It's essentially the Rega RP3 tonearm picking up noise from both the Zp3 and Torrii JR. In my room it's difficult to get the TT far enough away to significantly reduce it. Does anyone know what type of noise this may be and how to shield the TT tonearm from picking it up?  Also does anyone think this noise is contributing to the sonic issues that I'm hearing(mainly midrange vocal distortion)?
Thanks,
Rick

Toward the bottom of this link there is a good trouble shooting guide.  

http://www.kabusa.com/setup.htm

I just tried some shielded XLR microphone cables as interconnects and they did not help.  I can still hear some RFI if I get close enough to the speakers.    Interestingly, qualitatively the RFI is louder on the left speaker vs. the right.  Not sure what is going on there.

Dave,

Few possible solutions:

Guitar amp : Since you mentioned this is the most obvious, let's start here. I would suspect (3) sources here:
Guitar, amp or cable in that order of importance IMO.
1.Guitar : The magnetic pickups are very susceptible to picking up RF noise and depending on the design, they may be noisy themselves if you have a no-hum cancelling single coil like a Strat. What guitar do you have and what is the pickup configuration? Are you pickups single coil or humcancelling? I play an original 97' maple body Parker Nitefly which originally had an S/S/H pickup configuration in the pickguard. I played a Dimarzio HS-3 for years and wired my guitar to only use the neck pickup. I installed an on/on/on switch and can play the pickup in series coils, parallel coils or split the windings for true single coil. As soon as I split the coils the noise factor goes through the roof. It is so bad I never play the middle position, just series or parallel. Then I discovered this:

http://www.wdmusic.com/parker_nitefly_m_pickguard_nfm_8228bk.html

WD music makes a H/H configured pickguard for my guitar. I immediately ordered a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates neck pickup and kept the on/on/on switching. I then ordered (4) of these :

http://www.partsconnexion.com/spoints-70605img.html

1 sheet applied to the entire back of the pickguard, then another part of a sheet for the bottom of the electronics cavity, and then the sides of the cavity. I would recommend a PEC 250K pot, carbon and silent then star ground(common) everything; bridge, pickup selector switch and output jack to the volume's grounding lug. Use a test light and check for continuity through the bridge(and subsequently the strings)...

Next the stereo. Do you have a turn table? Start there. Definitely go with a shielded co-ax type of interconnects with you phono-stage.

Basically the same principle applies. I wouldn't be afraid to spend $300.00 dollars and buy a dozen of the ERS sheets and line everything. Go to town on all your gear. Personally, any manufacturer that is charging $1500.00 or more for a piece of audio equipment should be using these sheets completing their entire chassis before they put a single component in there IMO. If they have to charge an extra couple hundred dollars, I would gladly pay it. A metal chassis is simply not enough of a shield and faraday cages are unsightly and really not needed if you do your homework. Hope this helps!  :)

Happy troubleshooting!

Corey

Hi Corey.  I really appreciate all of your help!

To answer a couple of your questions above 1) my guitar is a Gibson Les Paul 2) my amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb.  I typically use a Hot Plate to attenuate volume so I can drive it to tube break up without going deaf, but my speaker cable went bad and I haven't yet replaced it.  In theory, I should be in better shape due to the humbuckers.

I tried switching interconnects left vs. right and that doesn't shift the noise in my hi-fi.  I then unplugged my interconnects and I can still hear the noise in the left speaker, but not the right.  I should have done the latter first, which would have saved me from interconnect exploration.  That said, a happy discovery is that the shielded mic XLR cables I am now using sound excellent.  They are Canare Star quad cables.  Anyway, back on topic...

Next step is to switch my speaker cables (left vs. right) and see if the noise switches sides.

I will report back.  

Corey...I have two of the ERS shield sheets (8x11) and wrapped them around the transformers.   No impact on the noise...

"I then unplugged my interconnects and I can still hear the noise in the left speaker, but not the right."


Probably isn't your source, pre-amp(if you have one) or cables then, that`s good!  Seems to be your amp. Take it apart and wrap the power transformer with a single sheet of ERS trimmed up. Cost you $25.00  :)

Corey

I switched all of the left tubes with the right tubes (including the OA3's) and the noise didn't move.  It appears to be something with the left channel on the amplifier.

I wouldn't feel comfortable opening up the amp, so I think it's time to give Steve a call to discuss further.  

Corey...RFI from the guitar setup is very annoying.  Regarding the hi-fi, such beautiful music flows out of that system it bothers me it's not perfect.