buzzing sound from amp

[Burnz0]

Hi All. I've noticed recently that there is a constant buzzing sound coming from my hifi speakers, whether there is music playing or not.

I tried swapping the cables around and checked if there were any loose connections and it's still the same so I'm inclined to think it is the actual amp rather than the speakers. It's an old Yamaha CR600(I think?) which has always been fine - to my ears at least - so i;m not sure what's happened to it recently. I don;t use it all that often so could that be it? seems unlikely given how old it is and the fact that it was stored away in my dad's loft for at least 10 years.

Is there anything i can try? it's always served me well and combined with the old B&W speakers i've got with it it sounds good to me and i;d imagine better than a cheapish newer setup so i'm keen to get it working properly again if it's possible.

I've actually just ordered a DAC so i can plug in my tv to the system so the buzzing will probably become much more noticeable at tv level volumes. When listening to music you can;t notice it other than when the tracks change!

 

[andyjm]

Hi All. I've noticed recently that there is a constant buzzing sound coming from my hifi speakers, whether there is music playing or not.

I tried swapping the cables around and checked if there were any loose connections and it's still the same so I'm inclined to think it is the actual amp rather than the speakers. It's an old Yamaha CR600(I think?) which has always been fine - to my ears at least - so i;m not sure what's happened to it recently. I don;t use it all that often so could that be it? seems unlikely given how old it is and the fact that it was stored away in my dad's loft for at least 10 years.

Is there anything i can try? it's always served me well and combined with the old B&W speakers i've got with it it sounds good to me and i;d imagine better than a cheapish newer setup so i'm keen to get it working properly again if it's possible.

I've actually just ordered a DAC so i can plug in my tv to the system so the buzzing will probably become much more noticeable at tv level volumes. When listening to music you can;t notice it other than when the tracks change!

While it could be due to all manner of things, old amps suffer from electrolytic capacitors failing. The gloop used in the caps dries out or leaks, resulting in the performance of the cap dropping. If this effects the power supply smoothing caps, then the amp starts to buzz out of the speakers as the caps can't smooth the supply properly.

Depending on the vintage of the amp, there was a period in the early 2000's when a number of manufacturers changed the formulation of the electrolyte in the caps which led to rapid failure - you can google 'the capacitor plague'. Most of these caps will have failed by now, but perhaps if your amp was of that vintage, the caps might have managed to hang on for longer as the amp was lightly used.

In any case, its not a question of if the electrolytic caps will fail, just a question of when.

 

[manix]

Yeah agree with andyjm on that. Sounds like the caps are on the way out. I would avoid using it until it is fixed.