Nutfish,

I use the Meridian 568.2mm as the pre/pro into the 6 channel power amp. Headphone amplifier is standalone (powers headphones only). It uses analogue outs from the STB and Oppo as the Meridian has no line level analogue out.

Also, yes, both the Oppo and the power amp have 3 pins on the socket.

As to more testing I have eventually done tonight taking components out of the loop entirely:

1. I took the TV out of the loop (cables, power plugs etc)- it's not the TV.
2. Then I took out the STB and antennae - it's not the STB/antennae.
3. Then i took out the headphone amp - it's not the headphone amp.

All that was left was Oppo and power amp (both powered on) plus cabling via Meridian to the power amp.

I then realised the other constant was the Meridian as last night I had never disconnected the analgoue outs to the amplifier. Of course, take the Meridian out and then there is never a connection to the power amplifier so I'd never hear anything from the speakers.

So, I tried to think how to test to make sure it is not the Oppo/Meridian combo - I thought i'd double check via the headphone amplifer and headphones and leave the power amplifier out of it entirely.

So I now had in the loop the Oppo & STB both with analogue/digitial cables into the Headphone Amp/Meridian. There was no headphone noise at all. However, this same combination caused problems last night with the power amp in the loop.

* * * * * *

I think I have exhausted cables in out, component testing etc now.

The 2 components that are always constsant are the Oppo and power amplifier and presumably, I need to work out how to isolate one from the other or remove/null this grounding conflict.







568.2mm, M80