Will optical audio fix ground loop?

[GigabitXe]

Hi all,

 

I have a TV in my living room with an external amp connected via the headphone jack driving some bookshelf speakers. The problem is that the TV uses a two prong power plug (this means it is not grounded) and the amp uses a three prong plug (this means it is grounded). As far as I can tell this is causes the TV to try and ground itself through the speakers, which causes a buzzing in the speakers. I have come to this conclusion because when I use the amp and speakers on speakers on a TV that has a three prong power plug, the buzzing does not occur. My question is, if use an optical cable from my TV, to a converter, to my amp, if the buzz will disappear because the TV cannot conduct any electricity through the optical cable. Simply put, my current setup is this:

 

TV > 3.5mm aux cable> external amp > bookshelf speakers

 

This causes a buzz to come through the speakers when connected to an ungrounded TV (one that uses a two prong power plug). If I switch to this setup:

 

TV > optical audio cable (toslink) > digital to analog converter > 3.5mm aux cable > external amp > bookshelf speakers

 

Will the buzzing be gone since the TV cannot try to ground itself through an optical cable. 

 

[TonyKramer]

I'm no electrical engineer, (I'm mechanical), but grounding loops can be caused by all types of inductive and grounding problems. The first thing I would try is only disconnecting the aux cable from the amp and seeing if that gets rid of the problem. If it does, than moving to the Toslink cable should get rid of the problem as it is, as you said, fibre optic. I would heavily suggest grounding your tv though.

 

[GigabitXe]

1 minute ago, TonyKramer said:

I'm no electrical engineer, (I'm mechanical), but grounding loops can be caused by all types of inductive and grounding problems. The first thing I would try is only disconnecting the aux cable from the amp and seeing if that gets rid of the problem. If it does, than moving to the Toslink cable should get rid of the problem as it is, as you said, fibre optic. I would heavily suggest grounding your tv though.

 

I agree. When removing the aux cable from the amp, the buzzing goes away. Is there a way to ground a TV, because this one can with a two prong power plug right out of the box. 

 

[TonyKramer]

Some outlet plugs come with external grounding plugs for proper wiring connections. Usually these are used for older homes with expensive equipment. You would just have to connect a grounding wire to the grounding plug. Easily said, hard to accomplish practically. 

[GigabitXe]

Just now, TonyKramer said:

Some outlet plugs come with external grounding plugs for proper wiring connections. Usually these are used for older homes with expensive equipment. You would just have to connect a grounding wire to the grounding plug. Easily said, hard to accomplish practically. 

Thanks for the info.