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Help troubleshooting McCormack separates?

I've been trying to lick a persistent electrical-souding buzz that comes and goes in my rig, and recently downloaded Ethan Winer's test tones from the RealTraps website to see how much of the problem was real, and how much of it was psychosis.

When playing the 300Hz sine wave I was able to hear a not unpleasant "tubular bells" sort of note, accented by a much drier, less pleasant overtone about a half-step below the main note in pitch -- rather like the sound that animation studios use to simulate a housefly. If I raised the volume, both the tubular-bell note and the overtone would decrease in pitch, and if I lowered the volume they would both increase in pitch (I know that sounds crazy, but I replicated the effect several times).

Also, the overtone briefly got louder if I adjusted the volume in either direction, then returned to its previous volume, relative to the main tone. The effect occurred equally when using my Arcam CD-player or my Oppo DVD player, to play the tone.

My question for the group: is this enough evidence for me to conclude that I'm facing a service issue with the McCormack stuff, or could all of these results be the combined effect of how the test-cd was burned, room interactions, dirty power (specifically, un-grounded outlets), normal performance of the test tones, and unadulterated psychosis, and/or stupidity on the part of the operator?
dog_or_man
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,443 posts
 
this has to be really frustrating for you.
you did a good job describing what's going, but I haven't heard of different pieces coming down with the same syndrome. Also what's puzzling is when you bring the stuff to your friend's house, it does the same thing. Wow. That is amazing. There is either a problem with the power supply section of your amplifier and/or preamp, or power in your area fluctuates so much....but that is unlikely. Have you tried power regenerators? Does your friend have a power regenerator? I used to own different McCormack amps and never had the problem you're describing.

Have you noticed a relation between time of day and when this is happenning? Have you ever had this problem late at night? Or is it more common during the day and, say, before 9 in the evening? Man, I really can not imagine what can be the cause of your problems! You know what, try not to use your system during the day at all for few days. Use it only at night, as late as possible. See if the problem occurs. I would also recommend you try a power regenerator. PS Audio makes one. They have 30 days trial. The entire damage to you will be in shipping cost. I would try that and connect all your components, including the big S plasma TV to it. By the way, have you noticed anything funny with the TV picture? See if you can spot anything weird with the TV when the stuff is happenning to your audio.
Whatever it is, it is messed up.
Good luck man.
stevemcx
166 posts
 
Good luck, indeed! We're still shooting in the dark here, but I would like to suggest that you look into an improved Earth ground arrangement for your AC system. Just a thought, but worth pursuing. (Yes, I recall that the problem showed up over at a friend's house, but even so...) Here are some related links:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ground_force_zero_e.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_(electricity)

Installing a good Earth ground and having an electrician check out your home AC wiring may be one of the best investments you can make in improved performance, and may not cost very much.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
dog_or_man OP
68 posts
 
Thanks, everybody. Sorry I lost my center there for a moment.

There's no discernible pattern between daytime and evening, and there's no performance problem with the TV.

The friend doesn't have a power regenerator so that's an idea.

The electrician and I are playing phone-tag (mostly he's "it" but that's another story), but as I was saying in a different forum, the grounded, dedicated AC line seems a good idea whether it solves any of this or not.
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