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Phono stage picking up radio signals?

The strangest thing happened this evening. I just hooked up my Whest phono stage and as I was letting it warm up I turned up the volume slightly to check the noise level and noticed a strange noise coming from the speakers. At first I thought it was a ground loop hum or some feedback, but when I put my ear to the speaker I distinctly heard music. I turned up the volume a bit and to my surprise I could hear and identify the song playing, followed shortly after by DJ banter. It was obvious I was picking up a radio station, but I don't have a tuner or any other radio device in the home. Can anyone give me a clue as to what might be going on.
clio09
clio09 OP
3,346 posts
 
The unit I have was manufactured in March 05, so I probably have one of the units you are referencing. I will probably ask him for a new set of plugs based on this to see what difference they make. Thanks for the information.
kel34
64 posts
 
I am not familar with your phonostage so this reply may be redundant but if it has tubes try replacing them.

Some tubes play radio stations and others don't I don't know why but thats the way it is.

If that doesn't work then you have a grounding problem in your arm or shielding problem in your system somewhere.

One thing you can try is installing ferrite beads over the inputs of the phono. They must be inside the preamp to be effective. They don't work went put inside interconect RCA's.
clio09 OP
3,346 posts
 
Kel34,

Thanks for the response. It so happens the tube phono stage works fine (Cary PH-301), it's the solid state one that is causing problems. I am looking into ari-hell's suggestion as that is the cheapest way to go for now. If that doesn't work I'll try a pair of shielded ICs, as Nordost are not shielded. If all that doesn't work I have two more phono stages coming that I was going to compare against the Whest and if they work then the Whest is pobably out and I'll choose between the Hagerman and Decware.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Clio09: Sounds like the RFI problem was in the phono preamp. As for your question about the ground wires, yes you can connect them as you say -- just make sure the TT and the tonearm aren't electrically connected (no metal parts touching) or you will have created a ground loop.

And definitely try shielded cables.

.
audiofankj
373 posts
 
Clio09 - Shoot James Henriot an email. He is a very nice guy who is very informative about his product. I think I have heard there was a batch that was shipped that was missing a part in the loading plugs that go into the back of the unit that was causing this radio reception/interference.

Shoot him an email with your serial # and problem, and see if perhaps you got a unit that had those issues...

good luck and keep us posted please.
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