2. amps-preamps
  3. 1042702522

Odyssey amp,excessive hiss with balanced outputs?

I use a stratos amp and have always been satisfied with its performance. I recently purchased some zu balanced cables and noticed excessive hiss in this set up. I never heard this before with the rca's and the bv audio preamp is extremely quiet and recommends balanced outs to make it even quieter. I emailed Klaus to see why it would be more audibible and am waiting for his reply. Let me know if there is something I can do to fix this problem, or if you have experienced this type of problem before. Thanks, chip
wizard
socrates
247 posts
 
The Stratos is NOT balanced. Yes, you can use XLR connections, however, it's just the connection, not the topology of the circuitry, so, in essence, nothing has changed but the cable, you're still running unbalanced. Perhaps the interconnects are not shielded and are picking up a lot of RF, or perhaps the cables are simply defective?
amandarae
512 posts
 
Hello,

I have the Stratos monoblocks using 10 feet balance cable from my Audio Research LS-12 preamp with no problem at all. Make sure that the cable you are using have the right pin configuration. Check your preamp manual regarding pin assignments for plus(pin 2), negative(pin 3), and ground(pin 1) because if the preamp is used with a power amp with diffferent pin connections for positive and negative, the signal polarity being fed to the speakers will be incorrect which could be the source of the hiss! Hope this helps.
rbstehno
1,407 posts
 
i also have the odyssey monoblocks and i am using 2m xlr cables with no problems at all.
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