Not to point out the obvious or anything, but you didn’t have this issue with the Marantz, but do with the Mac, sooooo, it is the mac. Many others have documented this, take a look and Jay’s audio lab on YouTube, or Shane Lee’s Trinnov reviews, both had this issue with some (pre)amps, Shane specifically calls out Mac.
Low buzzing through speaks
Hello All,
Need some serious help here. So I just (upgraded?) from a Marantz AV8802A to a McIntosh MX122 preamp. I also just got brand new Revel Performa3 speaks all around (5 channel setup). I disconnect everything from the Marantz and then into the McIntosh, connect the speaks and I have a faint buzzing through all 5 speakers (that was not there previously). I have everything plugged into a Furman Elite 20pfi power conditioner which is plugged into a dedicated 20 amp circuit. My power amp is a Simaudio Titan HT200 5 channel. This is not going through the Furman but directly into the other outlet on the same 20 amp line. I even tried plugging the Sim amp into the Furman to see if that helped-no change faint buzz is still there. I have unplugged just about everything, and the buzz is still there. It is very faint and does not get louder when I turn up the volume. Again it is faint and you have to put your ear up to the speaks to hear but it is definitely there. I have tried so many things and nothing gets rid of it. It is not my cable box (I did have that issue previously with the Marantz but as soon as I unplugged the coax from the box it went away so I just bought a coax loop eliminator connected the cable to that and noise was all gone) as I unplugged that and started there.
Any help would be so sincerely appreciated????
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- 127 posts total
My guess is that you are connected to a cable tv and or an internet cable and are getting ground issues. They are spooky. Might use a cheater plug on the Mac to see, and if it helps, then I would suggest a hum buster transformer plug for the Mac or else put a ground loop transformer in line with the cable (latter has worked best for me, they are about $15).
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Hello All,
So I cleaned up "the nest" (still getting a kick out of that one @jackd) this morning as best I could and removed the Audioengine B1 (great call and thank you @plumptonvinyl I had my suspicions on that one as well) and reconnected and, buzzing still there 😫! Thank you @imhififan I did remove all the IC's from the Titan, powered up and no buzz. So I know it's not the Titan-another good call to try-thank you! No change. @fredrik222 thank you and yes the obvious was always in mind and actually sent an email tom Jay's Audiolab to seek their advice and waiting to hear back. Figure it has to be the McIntosh. Didn't want to believe it because I just dropped 4K on it, but it is what it is now.
So I'm down to 4 options: 1. Go back to the Marantz and try to resell the McIntosh (not likely at all to do this). 2. There is a product called the Hum-X that I could maybe try plugging the McIntosh into and then either plugging that in to the Furman Elite (kinda seems weird but could work, no?) or going to a different outlet altogether as both circuits on the dedicated 20 amp line are taken. Providing the McIntosh doesn't draw more than 6 amps as that is the max on the Hum-X. Need to call McIntosh to get the current draw for the 122. I can't see that being more than 6 amps though. Really this is my last true option. 3. Reach out to the church and have them send a priest to get rid of this thing (sorry have to keep my sense of humor it's all I have left). 4. Live with it. A few have suggested this as it's such a faint buzz that can only be heard with ear close to tweeter and certainly not audible with anything playing. Some have said to be thankful it's such a low level buzz and I know it could be worse.
Again I wangt to thank you all for taking your time to try and help, all suggestions have been great. Please if you have any others I'm still not quite ready to give up just yet. But after the Hum-X (if that is doable and viable) I think option 4 will be the end result by default... |
@kingbr here is the Shane Lee video I mentioned. Relevant section is about 5 minutes in “noise floor”,
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- 127 posts total