Integrated Amp plus Power Amp woe :-(

[admin_exported]

Hmmmmmm I am still going through the 'basic schoolboy error' bit of hi-fi..... tonight I hooked up an Alpha 9 and 9P...... I used bare wires..... I played it with a number of different sources through different channels.... so I played a CD73T through the CD channel and a CD-63se through the AV channel........

Now the effects were awsome..... but with minor problems..... on the CD73T/CD channel there was a slight distortion through the right hand speaker (Mission M64i's) and on the the CD-63se/AV channel there was a crackling through the left hand speaker........

So before I cart them off to an engineer what am I looking at here? I have played a CD through the integrated amp and that was fine, so I am thinking dodgy channels through the power amp..... does that sound right?

As usual any help gratefully received......

 

[mafrost]

From your description it's still a little difficult to pin point the power amp. How do you mean you connected using bares wires ? Does you pre and power amp not interconnect via phono interconnects ? If so, this is how you should connect the pre/power amps.

 

[Anonymous]

mafrost:From your description it's still a little difficult to pin point the power amp. How do you mean you connected using bares wires ? Does you pre and power amp not interconnect via phono interconnects ? If so, this is how you should connect the pre/power amps.

No it is an Arcam Alpha that does not use phono interconnects it has the BFA speaker plugs.... in essence I have had to use bare wire connections however, allthough messy I do not think that there are the problem..... I took it to Audiogold today and they tested it for me and the results were surprising and might form another post (and will form another post) it is nothing to do with the Amp/Power Amp at all - and my suspicion that it was is more to do with my inexperience than anything else.....

 

[matengawhat]

now i'm confused - all arcam amps use rca interconnects to connect sources to the amp and the amp to the power amp - so you should have rca from cdp to amp CD in and rca from other CDP to av in and then an rca from pre outs left and right on the int amp to the pre input on the power amp.

the amps bfa plugs are only for the speaker connections so you need to either use bfa plugs or hollow banana plugs or bare wires to connect the speakers terminals - you would run the terminal from the integrated to the hi frequency inputs on your speaker and the power amp to the low inputs on your speakers and make sure you have removed the jumpers between the terminals at the speaker end.

 

[Anonymous]

matengawhat:now i'm confused - all arcam amps use rca interconnects to connect sources to the amp and the amp to the power amp - so you should have rca from cdp to amp CD in and rca from other CDP to av in and then an rca from pre outs left and right on the int amp to the pre input on the power amp.

the amps bfa plugs are only for the speaker connections so you need to either use bfa plugs or hollow banana plugs or bare wires to connect the speakers terminals - you would run the terminal from the integrated to the hi frequency inputs on your speaker and the power amp to the low inputs on your speakers and make sure you have removed the jumpers between the terminals at the speaker end.

Yeah I have been a numpty.... in the above bit where I have put 'phono' read 'banana'..... i.e. I had to strip my bi-wire of banana plugs to hook up the amp to the speakers...... and as I had never done that I was wondering if, if it was done badly, that could account for the crackling and buzzing......

 

[matengawhat]

ah right - well as long as the connection is tight and you have twisted the wires tight so no lose threads hanging out, touching casing ect that should be fine

the only other thing i can suggest is with the power turned off - turn the volume control from nothing to full and back say 20 times - i have noticied with older kit is that the connection/contact can get dirty and cause crackles but a few turns normally cures it

also check you don't have a faulty interconnect between the two amps

 

[Anonymous]

matengawhat:ah right - well as long as the connection is tight and you have twisted the wires tight so no lose threads hanging out, touching casing ect that should be fine

Well I think that I did do that and that that was not the problem.......... I have outline what I think that caused it all in another post called 'Heavy Interconnects'.