I have an active olive 4x135/52/SBL set up with LP12/Aro/Troika/Prefix/Hi-Cap/Armageddon. The whole system is well over 25 years old but has been recapped and sings gorgeously; except…
Something very strange is happening when I play the LP12. Occasionally, the left channel drops out suddenly. Without fail, if I quickly flick the Armageddon off then on, then the left channel comes back on. Sometimes I have to do this 2 or 3 times but it always comes back. I recently contacted a wonderful chap at Naim and he said it was a faulty “mute relay” and should be sent for servicing. I don’t for a moment doubt this but can’t understand how this could possibly happen? Isn’t the Armageddon simply a power supply to the LP12 with no connection whatsover to signal?
Sometimes I also suspect the right channel is slightly louder than the left?
Has anyone seen or heard anything like this (CDS2 and NDX2 streamers work fine !) or am I going mad?
What a top question for your first post on the Forum. You are absolutely right about the Armageddon; its only connection is to the motor, and it’s not connected to the signal path in any way. I wonder if the Armageddon and Supercap are on the same Hydra or mains block, and that the process of switching on and is enough to unblock an issue with the mute relay. Is the Prefix powered from the 52? I don’t recall if it has a powered input. If it is, you could try powering it from a Hicap - maybe you could borrow one - and connecting to a different input on the 52 in order to isolate the problem. Maybe I’m just spouting nonsense.
The Armageddon doesn’t have any mute relays, so the Naim person must mean the 52. Given you have a Hicap, try connecting the Prefix to the powered output 2B. Make sure you turn the Hicap and Supercap off before changing connections. Another thing to try is connecting the signal lead from the Hicap to a different socket on the 52. You’ll then - hopefully - be able to get an idea of what’s happening.
I’m unsure what you mean here, as no BNCs should be involved. You should have the Prefix connected to Hicap socket 4, and then a 4 pin to 5 pin interconnect from Hicap socket 3 to the chosen input on the 52. Maybe you are confusing BNC and Din? To power the Prefix from the 52, connect the Prefix’s 5 pin Din direct to socket 2B. Nothing else is needed.
You can also try connecting the interconnect from the Hicap to one of the inputs that you know is ok, such as the one you use for your streamer. Just mute the 52 before swapping over.
Thanks for explaining, and sorry for being so dim; I now understand that you are connecting to input 1 on the 52, with the phono boards removed and replaced with straight through boards or links. For best sound, you’d normally use the Hicap socket closest to socket 4, as it has the shortest signal path. If it’s a very early Hicap it may also have a single rail output, so watch out for that. At least you can try connecting the Prefix directly to input 2B on the 52, without the need for a 4 to 5 lead. That may fix the issue. It’s certainly all very weird.
I have a wild theory here, so bear with me - you might think I’m bonkers!
If we consider that, indeed the person whom you spoke to at Naim is correct in their remote diagnosis & the problem lies with a relay. These relays - both input & output, work by means of a coil (an electromagnet) that, when energised, attract the “reed” contact to make the connection.
If the relay is either faulty, or the voltage on the coil drops below a certain threshold (for whatever reason), the reed will potentially lose that contact.
When you switch your Armageddon on/off, the transformer will emit an EMP pulse at varying degrees, depending on where you catch it on the mains cycle - could that pulse, potentially be enough to pop that magnetically attracted reed back into its correct position?
The EMP from a toroidal is enough to make screws (placed precariously during a repair) on the centre potting material dance around on switch on.
So, a relay in the 52 is intermittently dropping out - causing loss of the left channel.
Power cycling the Armageddon cause enough electrical disturbance to cause the 52 relay to come back in.
Thanks everyone. The left channel is now harder to retrieve so I will bite the bullet and send the LP12/Armageddon/HiCap in for a check up. I did have some cable problems with the Aro ages ago so maybe this is the core of it? That way Ive also still got my 52 so I can still listen to music
If that fails will send in the 52 for a check up. Hopefully I will get a loaner preamp (hopefully not a 552 !)
Hello Everyone and thank you all for the thoughtful replies and suggestions. It turns out that the culprit was loose connections in the Troika connection to Aro. I still don’t understand why previously switching the Aramgeddon off then on fixed the problem. It was evidently a mechanical thing and the switching of the Armageddon must have somehow tweaked the cable into making a connection. Still very very strange !
