Puzzled by grainyness

For some reason, I seem to have developed a grainyness to my sound from my hifi. It was first noticed on the turntable, but simply put it down to the vinyl. But switching to the CD player today, the grainyness is still audible. Like a scratchyness to the music that I can't explain!

Any ideas what's happening?
 

drummerman

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bigfish786 said:
For some reason, I seem to have developed a grainyness to my sound from my hifi. It was first noticed on the turntable, but simply put it down to the vinyl. But switching to the CD player today, the grainyness is still audible. Like a scratchyness to the music that I can't explain!

Any ideas what's happening?

Not trying to be funny, but do you feel stressed lately (other than when reading posts of mine) or have a cold? - Perhaps any new appliances, electrical equipment in the house that is permanently on or switches on frequently?
 
drummerman said:
bigfish786 said:
For some reason, I seem to have developed a grainyness to my sound from my hifi. It was first noticed on the turntable, but simply put it down to the vinyl. But switching to the CD player today, the grainyness is still audible. Like a scratchyness to the music that I can't explain!

Any ideas what's happening?

Not trying to be funny, but do you feel stressed lately (other than when reading posts of mine) or have a cold? - Perhaps any new appliances, electrical equipment in the house that is permanently on or switches on frequently?

nope, myself and my stuff are all tip top. Nothing new, nothing has changed, but it is definitely audible. It must be there, as it was the Mrs that noticed it!

Ive just tightened all the drivers on my speakers, just in case.
 

drummerman

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Strange. The one constant is your amplifier ... .

Excluding that for a moment, have you tried taking the Tacima out? It's unlikely to be the cause but worth making sure.
 
A full strip down, clean, and rebuild. But it's not going to happen tonight..

My system has performed perfectly, after every addition, for as long as I can remember.

i don't recall ever having this scratchyness at any point. And I've had endless different hifi over the last 30 years.

Im looking at the amp, wondering if it could do with a service?

drummerman said:
Strange. The one constant is your amplifier ... .

Excluding that for a moment, have you tried taking the Tacima out? It's unlikely to be the cause but worth making sure.
 

Vladimir

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Time to play with room dampening and speaker positioning, Edges of things, glass, tiles and leather are first things too check for creating reflections.
 

drummerman

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Vladimir said:
Time to play with room dampening and speaker positioning, Edges of things, glass, tiles and leather are first things too check for creating reflections.

Usually, I'd agree but this seems to be a recent occurence.

Harshness/grainy sound is usually caused by distortion, uneven harmonics. I'd probably point the finger at the amplifier, component deteriation (or even a mains issue) as it happens with two different sources but who knows, a disassembly, clean and putting it all together might do the trick.

Otherwise its an amplifier service me thinks ...

As everything still works it won't be anything major so a couple of weeks without music is probably the worst outcome.
 

Vladimir

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drummerman said:
Vladimir said:
Time to play with room dampening and speaker positioning, Edges of things, glass, tiles and leather are first things too check for creating reflections.

Usually, I'd agree but this seems to be a recent occurence.

Harshness/grainy sound is usually caused by distortion, uneven harmonics. I'd probably point the finger at the amplifier, component deteriation (or even a mains issue) as it happens with two different sources but who knows, a disassembly, clean and putting it all together might do the trick.

Otherwise its an amplifier service me thinks ...

As everything still works it won't be anything major so a couple of weeks without music is probably the worst outcome.

All that is a possibility, The Arcam swap will tell.
 
Drummerman, I've not really had time to do anything. I did email Leema, who said they could check the amp to see if it was at fault, but other than that, I've not had time to do anything else.

i will post my findings as soon as I've tried the arcam, and also the headphones as per pp's suggestion.
 
First chance I've had to listen to the hifi this week, and all sounds good, well, fantastic tbh.

Im still puzzled, but more relieved that the grainyness has gone.

i was beginning to wonder how I was going to tell the Mrs that I "needed" a new amp. As there is a very nice Leema Tucana on eBay right now for £1150 or offers...
 

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