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Advice on popping noise from Audio Aero Prestige

I recently upgraded this player to 'signature edition' (cryo tubes, exotic caps, better damping). Sounds brilliant and is an improvement over standard unit. Upgrade took place at factory in France.

Popping noises (esp on left channel) now occurs whenever volume is changed, pressing stop, or choosing next/previous track. Also, player gets confused on repeat play (at end of cd/sacd it either stops or goes into scan mode). When system is idle, a buzzing sound comes through left channel. However, when playing music none of these noises occur.

Prior to upgrade, no such problems happened. My dealer suggests that I should burn-in the player for longer in the hope that popping and buzzing significantly reduces. I'm not entirely convinced this will work and seek other suggestions/solutions. Also, is it safe to continue using this player?

Thanks in advance.
cics
cics OP
43 posts
 
Very interesting-i'll follow-up on whether the 33h deals with dc spikes. I think its worth noting the player comes with a stern warning on switching off power amp or turning vol down on preamp whenever player is powered on or off. When you press stop it also mutes output for a few secs. It does this to prevent a spike through the system. I've heard this spike on 2 occasions (power on & off) before the upgrade (at low volume) and what is interesting is the pops i'm hearing now are similar to those spikes.

On changing tubes, AA insists that it's done by the factory otherwise they won't warranty it. The buzzing problem is not as consistent as the pops though.
jebsmith73
167 posts
 
Change out the tubes, bet that fixes it.
cics OP
43 posts
 
Problem has been resolved! AA sent a replacement mother board which elliminated the issues.

Looks like a transportation problem where some damage occurred but definitely not visible to the naked eye. Damaged board has gone back for analysis.

After a few days, its hit the sweetspot! I'm wondering whether the board has been burnt-in at the factory... but i'm not complaining.

David - just curious, what is your experience on the player?
david_berry
211 posts
 

Cics,

As it turns out I also have the "pop" sounding noise when changing the volume, stopping or changing next/previous track. For me, it really is very small in loudness and not bothersome. I will, however, keep my ears open and post in this thread if anything changes.
I have the Prestige hooked directly to a Bass Augmentation Module (part of the Merlin VSM-MX speaker system) then directly to a pair of Joule Electra VZN-100 OTL monoblocks.
I do not have any buzzing noise while the player is idle.
Like you, there was no damage at all on the shipping box and it was packed well!
After I have let this 2 channel SACD/preamp player settle in my system for a while longer, I will post a review.

David
cics OP
43 posts
 
David,

Minor pops on stop/prev/next seems to occur on these players. The swapout unit does so as well as my repaired unit (although rarely). A technician suggested this may be due to the player not having a muting circuit.

However, I only experienced volume related spikes with the faulty board. You may want to experiment with the grounded/ungrounded switch and/or checkout your system grounding. In my case this had no effect on the problems but I do get better performance with the switch on ungrounded.
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