Dear Community, I’m writing to ask about connecting XLR output from AV processor to NAC282. Do I need to bespoke some cables, and does this disable the benefit of XLR?
The background is I’m currently running Marantz SR7015, RCA preout into NAC272 (with XPS) and then into NAP250, and finally into Focal Aria 948. Also have pre-out into NAP v175 for centre.
Problem is background noise. When nothing playing I can hear a hiss, sometimes a buzz from the tweeter. Its not loud but its there…
Therefore I’m looking at changing to Marantz for Anthem AVM70 (8k), swap 272 for 282, swap 250 for 300.
Probably keep XPS for potential re-introduction of naim digital later if I can source the NDS as I’ve hear that’s the best sound, without going into 500 territory.
Probably swap Arias for Proac Response D48s also, and resource the response D centre…
So obvioulsy some upgrade going on, and would welcome any views of these changes, but my main question is back to the AVM to 282 XLR to Din connection.
The NAC282 is single-ended so I would avoid using the balanced outputs on the AVM70 and use the RCA phono instead.
The buzz may well be from an earth loop - very common when trying to integrate Naim with AV kit that isn’t grounded (i.e. floating) as the AV kit then looks to the signal connection of Naim kit to go to ground.
Thank you Richard for the quick response. I’ll research the AVR to see if I can switch it to ground itself, instead of floating. One of the reasons to swap 272 for 282 was to take the digital section out as I thought that this might be part of the reason for the buzz also. My plan being to bring it back in later but in separate box, maintaining the 282 as an analogue only junction between the AVR or HIFI sources. Will this make a difference to the buzz, or is it just the AVR causing the issue… ?
I tried grounding the AVR by connecting one of the case screws to the ground pin on the power cable for the AVR. I did this by just pushing the exposed end of the connecting wire into the socket (ground pin) at the same time as the plug. It made no difference. Removing the 272 and just putting the NAP’s directly onto the AVR reduced the noise a lot. Without the 272 (i.e. just AVR+NAP), with the AVR switched off i could still here a low hiss which felt normal, then switching the AVR on it doubled, then switching including the 272 in the loop is doubled again. I measured this by ear, no sound pressure meter. I’m left curious about whether 1) moving from 272, to 282 would make a difference here, or 2) moving away from Marantz to Anthem might make a bigger difference as their reviews document much lower noise at pre-out, or 3) I need to spend large amounts of money on power conditioning or regeneration…? It would be nice to have a room with all the kit to test this out…
I noticed today on the NAC272 there is a switch with two options: 1) Floating, 2) Chassis. It is currently selected to Chassis. I’ve not tested the difference this switch makes in the context of the other permutations. I’ll spend some time testing that tomorrow. Just though I’d highlight this in case others have been there before.
I just tried swapping between 1) RCA to RCA, AND 2) RCA to DIN5. No difference. Its interesting as when you swap between other sources and the AVR. There is always a background hiss but when you switch to the AVR its a little bit buzzy. Makes me nervous…
When buying a NAP300 today, i saw the supercap for the first time. The guy had the supercap running the 252, and NAP 300. The interesting thing was the supercap takes the analog signal from the NAC, and feeds it to the power amp. This is because the supercap is grounded where most others are not…
Given my problem this got me thinking, do i need to buy a supercap to cancel out this noise interference, or can i ground my NAC272 to resolve the issue, or something else like the Ground or DC blocking.
