Turntable and phono amp set up- speaker crackling

[thom1983]

Hi all,

Complete novice here, so a lot of what I say below might sound daft!

I have had a turntable/integrated amplifier set up for a while and it was playing fine. I had wanted to try use a phono stage amplifier and bypass the one in the integrated amplifier, as I heard this would improve sound quality. I picked up a Cord Phono Stage one and set it up. It does sound so much better but there are certain tracks that when I play them it causes a severe crackle in my speakers, this only happens on a handful of tracks, I have cleaned them and still the same. It happened on a new record I bought today.
I know it's probably a really hard question to answer not knowing all the specifics but is this down to my setup up or an issue with the records themselves? As I said it has happened on a couple of the newer records I have. When it happens it almost sounds like the speakers can't handle the frequency or something? When I revert back to the phono in the integrated amplifier they don't crackle so I'm guessing it's not the records but my setup?

Anyway, any help or tips would be appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[andybebbs]

then its the record unless the same track plays ok wired through the main amp and not the phono amp.

 

[Al ears]

Not familiar with that phono preamp.
Is the phono preamp on the correct settings for your cartridge and do you have it wired to the AUX input on your integrated?
What exactly is your integrated amp?

 

[abacus]

Sounds like something is being overloaded due to incorrect settings, check all the manuals to make sure you have everything setup correctly.

Bill

 

[thom1983]

The integrated amp is a Cambridge Audio AXA35. It does sound like something is being overloaded, maybe I need to try a different preamp

 

[Al ears]

The integrated amp is a Cambridge Audio AXA35. It does sound like something is being overloaded, maybe I need to try a different preamp

What choice of settings do you have on your current phono preamp?
What is your cartridge?
How is it wired to the Cambridge?

 

[thom1983]

The cartridge is a dual moving magnet stereo cartridge. Phono settings are in the photo. It's wired to the Cambridge with RCA cables to the A1 input, see photo.

 

[good_enough]

Probably worth swapping cables for another pair between preamp and amp, and trying plugging into the other aux sockets, to see if you can pin it down to any other part of the chain.

 

[Al ears]

It looks like that phono preamp is set to MC, is it? That's your problem, the amp is being overloaded.
switch it to MM.
Where does the earth wire from the phono preamp go? I notice it isn't connected to the Cambridge earth pin.

 

[Al ears]

Probably worth swapping cables for another pair between preamp and amp, and trying plugging into the other aux sockets, to see if you can pin it down to any other part of the chain.

It's simpler than that....

 

[thom1983]

It looks like that phono preamp is set to MC, is it? That's your problem, the amp is being overloaded.
switch it to MM.
Where does the earth wire from the phono preamp go? I notice it isn't connected to the Cambridge earth pin.

No it's at MM. The cable from the phono preamp to the integrated amp only has an earth wire on the preamp connection end, should it have one at the integrated amp side too?

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[Al ears]

No it's at MM. The cable from the phono preamp to the integrated amp only has an earth wire on the preamp connection end, should it have one at the integrated amp side too?

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

It looks like that white bar on the switch is over to the MC side isn't it? Certainly looks like it in the photo. If so move it so white bar is to the left on the MM side
If you follow the earth wire itself in that cable what is at the other end? Does it come from the turntable?
It should have a U- shaped connection or bare wire at the other end so you can connect that end to ground.
Another question: does that cable with the earth wire come from your turntable? If so, ideally, you need another single wire connected to both the earth pin on your preamp and the ground pin on that amplifier.

 

[thom1983]

It looks like that white bar on the switch is over to the MC side isn't it? Certainly looks like it in the photo. If so move it so white bar is to the left on the MM side
If you follow the earth wire itself in that cable what is at the other end? Does it come from the turntable?
It should have a U- shaped connection or bare wire at the other end so you can connect that end to ground.
Another question: does that cable with the earth wire come from your turntable? If so, ideally, you need another single wire connected to both the earth pin on your preamp and the ground pin on that amplifier.

Thanks, yeah the switch is definitely on MM .

Yes the cable with earth wire is coming from the turntable. The output cable going from phono preamp into the amplifier doesn't have a ground wire at the integrated amplifier end, just regular RCA cable. Could that be the issue?

 

[Al ears]

Thanks, yeah the switch is definitely on MM .

Yes the cable with earth wire is coming from the turntable. The output cable going from phono preamp into the amplifier doesn't have a ground wire at the integrated amplifier end, just regular RCA cable. Could that be the issue?

I doubt it but at the moment you only have the turntable earthed as far as the phono preamp which isn't itself earthed. Try to find an odd bit of cable that you can run between the preamp and amp asit may help.
You seem convinced you're switched to MM , how do you know this. Can you take a close up photo of the switch on your phono preamp? It doesn't look right.

 

[thom1983]

I have attached a photo. I switched it to the other side to try it out and the sound is distorted so it's definitely on MM. It does sound like everything is set up properly so not sure what the issue is. It just crackles on a few songs.

 

[Al ears]

I have attached a photo. I switched it to the other side to try it out and the sound is distorted so it's definitely on MM. It does sound like everything is set up properly so not sure what the issue is. It just crackles on a few songs.

Thanks for that photo. It is obvious now. You have it set correctly, my apologies. Looked odd in the first photo.
Not sure now what the issue is but you could try to run a separate earth wire, it may help.

 

[thom1983]

All good, cheers for the help! Think I'll just go back to using the phono preamp in the integrated amplifier.

 

[Al ears]

If issues continue you might have to buy a different phono preamp from a well known manufacturer however money is always better spent on upgrading your cartridge first

 

[nopiano]

All good, cheers for the help! Think I'll just go back to using the phono preamp in the integrated amplifier.

Was it notably louder via the Cord phono amp? If so, it may have been too much for the Cambridge input.

I suspect that more likely this budget item - that appears on Australian Amazon but not anywhere else I can see - has poor overload margins on the input. That means loud passages overload/clip the input, and that distortion is passed to your amplifier. The built in stage that Cambridge use may well be superior.

 

[good_enough]

It's simpler than that....

Not really - I saw it was on MM from the original photo. Maybe my monitor is better.

 

[Al ears]

It's simpler than that....

I was wrong.
The MM/MC switch appeared to be in the wrong position but it wasn't.

 

[good_enough]

All good, cheers for the help! Think I'll just go back to using the phono preamp in the integrated amplifier.

I'd echo @nopiano above - when I looked for that pre-amp online I couldn't find anything anywhere. No reviews, nothing.

It's not true to say 'any external phono pre-amp is going to be better than any onboard phono stage in any integrated' if that was the logic. A crap piece of kit won't improve anything. Not saying this is necessarily a crap piece of kit, but the fact that it features nowhere anywhere whatsoever, anywhere on the interweb, alongside reviews of Chord, Schiit, Pro-ject, ifi and the like should ring some alarm bells.

 

[Al ears]

I'd echo @nopiano above - when I looked for that pre-amp online I couldn't find anything anywhere. No reviews, nothing.

It's not true to say 'any external phono pre-amp is going to be better than any onboard phono stage in any integrated' if that was the logic. A crap piece of kit won't improve anything. Not saying this is necessarily a crap piece of kit, but the fact that it features nowhere anywhere whatsoever, anywhere on the interweb, alongside reviews of Chord, Schiit, Pro-ject, ifi and the like should ring some alarm bells.

Yes, I did look but couldn't find anything anywhere either. Wonder where the OP dug that up from?
It is possible it is inferior to the internal Cambridge phono stage

 

[Gray]

Yes, I did look but couldn't find anything anywhere either. Wonder where the OP dug that up from?
It is possible it is inferior to the internal Cambridge phono stage

OP Thom said it sounds much better than the Cambridge (when it isn't crackling).
I wondered if maybe there's more output than the Cambridge wants....in which case some attenuation between the two might help.

If you knew someone into fiddling with a few resistors Thom, you could experiment before buying permanent inline attenuators - which might cost more than the phono stage did.

All in all, like you said, best to stick with the one in the Cambridge 👍