Rega Queen edition TT/ Brio-R electrical noise/hum - SOS from China!

[superallan10]

Hey guys. I just registered to post this thread since I am having a huge headache about my All-Rega setup. Additionally, I am from China - you know finding another rega user in China is like finding pandas, and the local dealer here is by no means more knowledgeable than I am... so i have to figure it out myself.

Half a month ago I bought a rega queen edition TT from a local dealer here in China. I connected it to the rega mini a2d phono stage, and then my Bose home theater. It sounded ok. A week later I could not torlarate the sound of Bose system so I bought the Rega Brio-R and a pair of Rega RS3.

Now my system is:
Rega TT - Brio-R input 1(with phono stage) - Rega Rs3

Sounds amazing. But i noticed that there is very unpleasant high frequency electrical noise when the volume is pointing 9 o’clock or higher, from both channels. I telephoned the dealer and they couldnt solve the problem.

To find where the problem is, I switched to :
Rega TT - mini a2d phono stage - Brio-R input 2(without phono stage) - Rs3. The noise was still there.

Here is the interesting part. I put my hand on thr chassis of BrioR and then another hand on a metal window frame... the noise is gone.

Earthing issue? I noticed that Rega had removed the earth pin on the power connector of BrioR(there used to be 3 pins on earlier batches of BrioR), so the chassis is not grounded. The reason should be avoiding ground loop or something. Although I can overcome the issue by adding an earth wire connected to the window frame but I dont think its designed to be like this.

Furthermore, it seems to be more than normal current on the chasis - i can even sometimes feel it when touching BrioR, and its continous, not static for sure.

Believe me, i checked tons of threads about similar issue before posting and got no solution.

Is it a defective amp⁇

Or a broken grounding wire in the tone arm as many mentioned?

It is not that easy to request a replacement in China, the dealer is thousands of miles away and they cant really answer the questions. i also dont want to send my TT for fixing without confirming the issue in advance, because i dont want my brand new shiny TT to be ruined with scraches.

I know there are lots of Rega users in this forum - even people from Rega. Hopefully someone can help me spot the problem.

Many thanks.

 

[thescarletpronster]

Hi Allan,

Sorry to hear you're having a problem. I don't consider myself particularly knowledgeable, but I have a Rega turntable set-up, so will give my thoughts.

First, if I turned the volume dial on my Brio-R to 9, my ears would implode! So I admire your bravery.

It does sound like an electrical/build fault somewhere if the sound disappears when you touch the amp casing, but I wouldn't expect an earthing issue to produce a high-frequency whine - it would usually be a hum at 50-60 Hz (whatever is the mains frequency used in China). I'm not sure what the other possibilities might be - hopefully someone else will be able to advise.

It's worth trying to isolate whether the problem is with the TT or with the amp. Although you might not hear the whine using the line-inputs, it may still be there even though you only hear it when using the phono input (or line-in with a phono amp) as there's a lot more amplification done from a phono source, which will of course amplify any unwanted noise as well. If you know anyone else locally with a TT or amp, even if not Rega, you could check if the noise is still there with your TT + their amp / their TT + your amp.

Hope you get it fixed soon - it should sound pretty good once you have!

 

[chebby]

This needs to go back to your dealer. (You say the TT is half a month old so it has a warranty.)

If your dealer won't / can't sort this out then they will contact Rega.

Contact information ...

China/Hong Kong/Macau

Mr Lee Kam Lung

Tung Teng Audio
Room 1811, 18th floor. Park-In commercial center
56, Dundas Street
Mongkok
Kowloon,
China

Tel: + 852 9408 9769
Fax: + 852 2638 8597
Mobile: 13602824842

Email: dargonlee@hotmail.com

 

[superallan10]

Thank you very much for the reply.

9 o'clock would not be that loud i think? Actually i am pretty sensitive to the noise so i can hear it as long as the amp is turned on (with tt connected), but volume over 9'oclock will make the noise unbearable.

Only touching the amp would not reduce the noise. Putting my palm on the chassis while grabbing the metal window frame will.

Btw, its quite a surprise that switching from a garbage bose system (st130) to rega not only sounds 100 times better but also made all the pops and background noise much less noticible, which i am verry happy with. I also bought the upgrade pack but the bias 2 cartridge makes more static noise althought it does sound better. I switched back to the carbon now.

Then I ordered a nagaoka mp110 and its still on the way from US. Do you think its a nice cart?

 

[chebby]

Only touching the amp would not reduce the noise. Putting my palm on the chassis while grabbing the metal window frame will.

Are you going to get your dealer and Rega to sort the problem out for you before you damage yourself or the system?

 

[paul darwin]

Hi Superallan10,

We are investigating your problems and will come up with an answer / solution as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience,

Best,

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

 

[superallan10]

Only touching the amp would not reduce the noise. Putting my palm on the chassis while grabbing the metal window frame will.

 

Are you going to get your dealer and Rega to sort the problem out for you before you damage yourself or the system?

pretty sure the current of this level would not do harm to myself. Not sure if it will to the system. unlikely. Anyway I would not do this anymore and will be waiting for rega's solution. Thanks.

 

[thescarletpronster]

9 o'clock would not be that loud i think?

Oh, sorry, I got mixed up. Of course, 9 o'clock is only about 3/10 on the dial. For some reason I pictured what would effectively be 3 o'clock - no idea why. 9 o'clock is about my limit for comfortable listening too, and that amp does sound great at that volume.

Btw, its quite a surprise that switching from a garbage bose system (st130) to rega not only sounds 100 times better but also made all the pops and background noise much less noticible, which i am verry happy with.

My immediate thought was that you didn't have a phono pre-amp in the previous (Bose) set-up, and were therefore listening to the sound without the RIAA curve applied (which boosts bass frequencies, among other things), which would lead to the sound being tinny and clicks being more noticeable. However, you say you were using the Rega Fono Mini at the time, so I don't know why that would be the case.

Then I ordered a nagaoka mp110 and its still on the way from US. Do you think its a nice cart?

All Nags are lovely cartridges, and there are lots of fans on here. I haven't head any except the MP-200 I installed on my TT a couple of years ago, but I'm very happy with that and I'm sure all the others will give similarly good performances at their price points. Good choice!

 

[superallan10]

update：connected cd/cellphone to line in, almost no noise

tt - fono mini - bose system, almost no noise, only minimal noise when volume is extremely high, which i think is normal.

 

[Freddy58]

Hi Superallan10,

We are investigating your problems and will come up with an answer / solution as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience,

Best,

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

Excellent response Paul

 

[superallan10]

Hi Superallan10,

We are investigating your problems and will come up with an answer / solution as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience,

Best,

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

 

 

 

 

any updates？i managed to do some more tests.

1, no noise when connected to any ampifier with earth pin (3 pins)

2, i tried another rp1 on my brio r， noise much lower.

so is it a tone arm issue？ ( the only difference is the cartridge, i have the carbon and the other rp1 has bias 2)

 

[paul darwin]

Thanks for the extra info, I will feed it to our technical team at Rega HQ.

As it stands, prior to this, there is a lot of head scratching going on !!

Best,

PD

 

[superallan10]

update - interesting, i replaced the carbon with bia2 and the noise was much lower-still audible but not that annoying anymore...

However, bias2 makes too many pops and im not very satisfied with it.

Now im waiting for my Nag mp110 to come. Will update later.

 

[superallan10]

Received nagaoka mp110, i connected it to the tone arm and... the electric sound is noisy as hell! I dont know why but witj bias2 it was ok, but with carbon and Nag mp110 its totally unusable.

I noticed that the white wire ,and its connector are possibly causing the noise

Still waiting for your reply.

 

[MajorFubar]

Seems to me you've just got an earthing problem. As in, a lack of earth. Either the turntable or the amp is not grounding properly. As your opening post said, it could be a broken wire in the arm, or it could be a faulty cable, or the fault could lie with the amp or phono stage. You'll not find a solution without either trying the same turntable with a different amp/phono stage or a different turntable with the same amp/phono stage. Fault finding is always a process of substiting a possible faulty component with a known good one until you indentify the problem. There is no other way and no magic fix.

 

[paul darwin]

Superallan10,

You are awaiting my reply as I was awaiting your post with your new cartridge and how that impacted.

As, MajorFubar suggests there appears to be an earthing problem, and being no expert in the earthing systems in China would suggest that you take your system to your supplying dealer and exchange the conststuent parts of your system with his demonstration kit and see if you can replcate and / or negate the problem. I am sorry we cannot be of more assistance but there are so many imponderables.

Paul Darwin

 

[MajorFubar]

Spot on Paul I'm afraid.

so many imponderables.

wow...excellent turn of phrase, banked in my head for future use.

 

[superallan10]

Just quick update.

Finally i managed to get another rp1 to try. The result was the same - better with bias2 but horrible noise with carbon and nagaoka. So its likely theres something wrong with my brio r . I sent the brio r back to the dealer for a replacement. Honestly i am really afraid that if same thing happens when i reveive a new one... i wouldnt know what else to do. (I am paying for the freight for the replacement as well). Its been a whole month and i am really disappointed of what happened

 

[Al ears]

Just quick update.

Finally i managed to get another rp1 to try. The result was the same - better with bias2 but horrible noise with carbon and nagaoka. So its likely theres something wrong with my brio r . I sent the brio r back to the dealer for a replacement. Honestly i am really afraid that if same thing happens when i reveive a new one... i wouldnt know what else to do. (I am paying for the freight for the replacement as well). Its been a whole month and i am really disappointed of what happened

Hum! If the replacement Rega amp is the same I'd be selling it on pretty quick and looking for a different make, or at the very least taking the whole lot back to the dealer and getting them to sort it.

 

[chebby]

Just quick update.

I sent the brio r back to the dealer for a replacement. Honestly i am really afraid that if same thing happens when i reveive a new one... i wouldnt know what else to do. (I am paying for the freight for the replacement as well). Its been a whole month and i am really disappointed of what happened

That's harsh! None of this is your fault.

If the new amp doesn't improve things * then yes, you really need to negotiate a full refund of the entire system and a complete rethink (excluding Rega and that dealer).

Bad luck or some bad batches, who knows? But sometimes it's best to just resign yourself and back out. You are not their QC tester.

* You have way more patience then me. I'd have had the entire system back to the dealer (at HIS expense) the first time around. You shouldn't be limited to the aspiration of something that ''just works properly''. With the money you've paid you should also expect a great little system that will give years of pleasure.

 

[superallan10]

Superallan10,

You are awaiting my reply as I was awaiting your post with your new cartridge and how that impacted.

As, MajorFubar suggests there appears to be an earthing problem, and being no expert in the earthing systems in China would suggest that you take your system to your supplying dealer and exchange the conststuent parts of your system with his demonstration kit and see if you can replcate and / or negate the problem. I am sorry we cannot be of more assistance but there are so many imponderables.

Paul Darwin

 

u

update. Finally paid the freight and tried another brio r. Unfortunately the result was the same. So its a design
Problem either in the amp or the turntable. Managed to contact the general distibutor , they tried and admitted its a common issue. seems when using the brio r, rp1 combo,if you are using a japanese cartrige(nagaoka, audio tec or the stock Carbon), the electric noise would be very loud. I already spend so much time being regas QC tester, dont know whether i will be a rega fan anymore. But i think at least rega focus more on this issue.

 

[superallan10]

Superallan10,

You are awaiting my reply as I was awaiting your post with your new cartridge and how that impacted.

As, MajorFubar suggests there appears to be an earthing problem, and being no expert in the earthing systems in China would suggest that you take your system to your supplying dealer and exchange the conststuent parts of your system with his demonstration kit and see if you can replcate and / or negate the problem. I am sorry we cannot be of more assistance but there are so many imponderables.

Paul Darwin

 

u

update. Finally paid the freight and tried another brio r. Unfortunately the result was the same. So its a design
Problem either in the amp or the turntable. Managed to contact the general distibutor , they tried and admitted its a common issue. seems when using the brio r, rp1 combo,if you are using a japanese cartrige(nagaoka, audio tec or the stock Carbon), the electric noise would be very loud. I already spent so much time being regas QC tester, dont know whether i will be a rega fan anymore. But i think at least rega needs to focus more on this issue.

 

[paul darwin]

superallan10,

I can assure you it is not a design problem of the turntable or amplifier.

We sell in excess of 15,000 RP1 (now Planar 1) worldwide a year and have seldom, if ever, encounter any similar problems, some will be used with Brio amplifiers and many other different amplifier combinations. Also, some of them will be using different cartridges both Japanese and others with no problems.

Similarly, we also sell thousands of Brios annually worldwide which will be being used with different turntable / cartridge combinations again with very very few issues.

We employ rigorous and stringent QC testing at every step of production.

I am sorry that you have encountered problems but I would suspect that it is mains electrical power supply related and without a intimate knowledge of the electrical supply in your property cannot advise further as to the source and therefore solution to your problems.

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

 

[Al ears]

superallan10,

I can assure you it is not a design problem of the turntable or amplifier.

We sell in excess of 15,000 RP1 (now Planar 1) worldwide a year and have seldom, if ever, encounter any similar problems, some will be used with Brio amplifiers and many other different amplifier combinations. Also, some of them will be using different cartridges both Japanese and others with no problems.

Similarly, we also sell thousands of Brios annually worldwide which will be being used with different turntable / cartridge combinations again with very very few issues.

We employ rigorous and stringent QC testing at every step of production.

I am sorry that you have encountered problems but I would suspect that it is mains electrical power supply related and without a intimate knowledge of the electrical supply in your property cannot advise further as to the source and therefore solution to your problems.

Paul Darwin

Rega Research

How about to keep the faith, so to speak, Rega pay for his local dealer to take both bits of kit in and try to recreate the problem at no cost to the unfortunate chap who obviously loves the brand?

 

[chebby]

I hope a full refund is still possible.