Make sure that the RCA plugs are fully seated in the jacks. Sometimes more force is needed than people expect.

A little more esoteric is something near the cables inducing some noise. If this is the case, simply moving the cables will change, maybe eliminate the noise.

Thanks for the feedback. That doesn’t work. The only thing that works is when I physically touch the earthing connection screw . I tired tightening it, but doesn’t make a difference.  Any idea on what I need to do to fix this would help. Odd because it had been working great for the past two weeks. 

If you can run a cable from the earthing screw to an earth then this will probably fix your issue. In the UK you could wire it to the earth terminal of a plug but you need to mind local regulations.

Thanks: I’m running the turntable directly into a Sonos Play 5, which doesn’t have an earth, right? So not sure how this would help. 

Try a bit of cable from the earth screw temporary to one of the fixings screws on a mains socket and see.

Doesn’t do anything. Thanks for the feedback. Any additional ideas would be appreciated. 

Experiment with reversing the power plugs in their sockets. If there are RCA jacks on the turntable, make a connection between the outer part of the RCA jacks to the turntable grounding lug. You can do this with a small section of stranded speaker wire. Slip one end of the wire under an RCA plug’s outer fingers and attach the other end to the grounding lug.

Does the turntable have a built in pre-amp, or are you using an external one between the turntable and the Sonos Five?

If there’s a built in pre-amp, is it turned on (set to Line, and not Phono)?

So it does appear to be a grounding issue. When I touch the grounding screw physically, or even touch it with a pair of pliers while my feet are on the floor , the issue goes away. The problem is that the pre-amp is built in (yes, it’s on Line), so I don’t know *how* to ground the turntable! (As there’s no amp for it to go into). Still trying to figure it out...  

As I suggested above, try making the connection between the shield (outside of the RCA connector) and the grounding lug.

So I now realize the sound is only really noticeable on high quality “sparse” recordings (like Joni Mitchell Blue Album). It also appears when *no album* is playing if the volume is put high (85 and above). 

I tried doing as buzz suggested, and it didn’t seem to make a difference.

I did plug the grounding wire into the lug. When I physically hold the other end of the grounding wire near the lug, it does reduce (though not eliminate) the buzz. 

Is it normal to have this kind of interference when the pre-amp is built in? I might return and get a different turntable (and invest in an amp) if it makes a difference. Again, all the advice is appreciated. 

Actually, the risk of this type of noise is reduced with a built-in preamp. It’s possible that there is a turntable internal wiring issue. There are other possibilities.

As you move the arm above a record does the buzz change?