Well, heres the story:

 I managed to hook up the speakers directly into my ipod, but id like to hook the beolab 8000 into my stereo. The problem is the following, when I plug the RCA cable into the speaker, and ONLY into the speakers, there is a distinct hum (which stops when its hooked up to the Ipod and turned on), but when I hook it up to my stereo this hum becomes twice as loud (even with the volume turned fully turned down - if this even has something to do with the issue). I tried putting the cables in all the potencial RCA slots in the stereo and nothing changes, apart from the loud noise.

 Slots:

- RCA video

- RCA CD

- RCA Phono

- RCA surround sound

Again, I apologise if I wasnt clear enough, im not to good in this area. Hopefully someone has a couple tips / suggestions.

Thanks
 

Try plugging both speakers and the Sony into the same AC outlet.  Obviously this will mean an extension cord, or better, a surge protector.  Quite often the humming is caused by differences in ground voltage.

 The hum being audible when the RCA's are only connected on one end is pretty normal.

Russ
 

Well...Im currently in Brazil so the voltage here is 110 and since my speakers are European they are 220. Im currently using a transformer. So I put a T plug on the end of it and hooked up the sony stereo and speakers (they are both 220)...so technically they are on the same outlet? If you can picture what I just said:

 Wall A/C outlet 110V---(cable)--[transformer]220V---(cable)---{T Plug}=Stereo=speakers.

At my office I plugged the speakers and stereo in an extension cord and the wall outlet was directly 220 (no transformer)...the hum was still there and its the same story (gets louder when I hook the speakers to the stereo and stops if I hook it to the Ipod and turn it on).

Any other suggestions? 

1. 

Did you use quality RCA leads? Check if the ground connection (shield) of the RCA plug is tight enough and that the RCA female is clean and there is a good electrical contact.

2.

The RCA slots you mentioned all appear to be inputs. Are you sure that your Sony stereo has a regulated RCA output? This is normally called pre-amp out and is not to be found at low cost stereos. Most stereos only have fixed level RCA output for connecting e.g. a tape deck, but what you will need is a regulated output which is volume controlled (and bass/treble as well). Maybe the RCA surround sound is suited for this purpose - but I´m not sure. What model is the Sony stereo?

I cant really say if I use quality RCA leads (define good), but since the speakers were stored for a while the inicial hum might simply be from dirt. Although I seriously doubt that simply cleaning the leads will stop the loud humming when I hook up the speakers to the stereo.

The stereo is a sony LBT-D307, the jacks on the back are the following:

-----IN-----

RCA (red and white) PHONO

RCA (red and white) CD

RCA (red and white) VIDEO

-----SPEAKERS-----

Traditional or older simple wire clipping system (dont know the name). Where the speakers had nothing more then a wire coming out of them (if you know what I mean)

-----SURROUND SPEAKERS-----

RCA (red and white)

 
Thats about it, if this helped in anyway. Ill try cleaning the leads to see if anything changs.

Thanks
 

As you don´t have hum, when the iPod is connected, I think the leads should be o.k. But always worth checking the females and the plugs.

You must not connect the speakers to any of the inputs.

Do you have a manual what purpose are the SURROUND SPEAKERS RCAs for?

Can you take a photo of your stereo and your cable and post it here?

A workaround might be, connecting the speakers to the normal speaker outlets of the stereo. However this would require a voltage divider. This can be made of two resistors, e.g. 1 kOhm and 100 Ohm. However you will need a soldering iron and some skills to build this by yourself. The material is common and cheap though. 

Im going to try and find the manual online because ive long lost the original one. But what else could SURROUND SPEAKERS mean?

 About the "workaround", is there anyway I could buy this cable or how exactly could I ask someone specialized in this area to make me one?

 Ill try and post a picture.

Thanks