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Colibri or Hummingbird?

Hi all,

I'm experiencing a rather annoying 'hum' with my Colibri XPW cartridge. It sits in a Reed 3P tonearm on a Micro RX-1500 and goes into a Boulder 1008 Phono amp (the Reed tonearm cable has RCA plugs, so I'm obliged to use the Boulder's RCA-XLR adapters). The hum is typical to the Colibri/Reed combo. The two other tonearms I use on the RX-1500 (one of which also goes straight into the Boulder) are completely silent, no matter what cartridges are used.

The hum resides in the background while the arm is in stationery position, but it turns into a fierce 'humming' the moment I touch it, again retreating to the background when I release the arm. Strange enough this problem comes and goes and had almost completely disappeared for a while. But for some reason it has returned again, without having made any changes in the system.

It's a complete mystery to me, so I hope some of you might be able offer some explanation. And if possible a way to get rid of it.....


edgewear
edgewear OP
543 posts
 
Thanks again for all your help. I don't feel confident to do the re-terminating of the tonearm cable myself. I'm fairly new to this game of cart rolling and using several tonearms. While I've managed to become quite handy in cartridge installation and alignment, I've never touched a soldering iron, believe it or not. So I will need to find someone in my part of the world to help me with this. And perhaps even better, teach me how to do it myself the next time.

BTW: the XLR to RCA adapter is not inside the Phono amp, but an external short piece of wire with female RCA's on the tonearm cable side and male XLR's on the amp input side. So re-terminating the Reed tonearm cable would take this out of the equation completely, which might prove to be sonically beneficial. But of course getting rid of the hum is my main priority.


chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@edgewear The price you got from the Reed dealer is probably for complete rewire with brand new cable and brand new connectors. You can contact Reed directly www.reed.lt

Xhadow XLR are expensive, but the best on the market, i'm using Xhadow RCA
Xhadow XLR or RCA are top quality, true High-End connectors.   

If you need someone in Germany you can call Thomas Schick in Berlin, he’s a tonearm manufacturer and skilled DIYer. http://thomas-schick.com/de/contact-de
lewm
12,563 posts
 
Chakster, you’re such an optimist! Even if the Reed distributor did intend to replace all the wiring and supply new XLR connectors (which would be required in any case),  €750 is still a very high price to ask from anyone, let alone from someone who purchased an expensive tonearm from this same person.  My guess is that the Reed company would be upset if they found out that one of their distributors was behaving in such a fashion. 
edgewear OP
543 posts
 
The distributor's offer was only for changing the connectors from RCA to XLR. The arm was purchased from an official dealer, so this is not some extra charge for a sample imported outside 'official' channels. Apparently customer service doesn't mean to same to everyone.

Anyway, I have arranged for a home visit by a local audio retailer I've known for many years. He has no particular experience with the Reed wiring, but he's confident he'll be able to do this.

I hope his visit will turn my Hummingbird into a Colibri again.....


jtimothya
612 posts
 
It is not that unusual to find RCA<->XLR adapters wired incorrectly, even name brands such as Cardas.  I use ones from Atma-Sphere.
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