I hope you are staying safe and well during these strange times. I posted about this problem before Christmas and thought it was resolved but alas, not so. So here again is the problem summarised.
My system comprises:
Roksan Xerxes 20+/Roksan Artemiz 2/Dynavector XX-2/Reference Power Supply
Naim Superline/Naim HiCap DR
NAC 252 & Supercap DR
NAP 300DR
Naim CDS3 w/ Naim XPS2
Naim NAT05
into Totem Mani-2 Signature speakers.
I have been experiencing problems with vinyl replay for a good few months now.
I had added a NAP 300DR and a Supercap DR to the system two years previously and had not touched the system since then so knew it was nothing I had done immediately prior to the problem starting.
Sometimes when listening to vinyl I hear a loud “crack” through the speakers. These “cracks” don’t seem to appear at regular intervals - sometimes it doesn’t happen at all, at other times it may happen after one or two sides and other times may happen during the first track.
My initial thoughts were that this was probably static or some other kind of electrical discharge so my first action was to check all the grounding on the turntable and the earth connection to the Superline from the tonearm cable. All appeared fine so I then asked my dealer and the Naim Forum for advice.
My dealer suspected it was a phono stage issue so he gave me a Stageline to try. I went a few days with the Stageline in place without problems so we decided that was the issue and the Superline was returned for repair. Unfortunately before the Superline made it back to me the problem recurred. I swapped out the HiLine for the stock Lavender cable but the problem remained. At this point I removed the HiCap DR, powered the Stageline from the 252 but still the problem remained. I then borrowed a different SNAIC from my dealer but the problem persisted.
This led me to assume:
It can’t be a faulty Superline or HiCap DR as the problem occurs when neither are in the system.
It can’t be a faulty interconnect as it happened when both HiLine and Lavender weren’t in the system, and in any case it is unlikely both would be damaged in a way that it produces the same fault.
It can’t be the SNAIC as the fault happened with my SNAIC and the dealers SNAIC which works in his demo system without issue, and again, it is unlikely both would be damaged in a way that it produces the same fault.
It can’t be the Pre & Power amps as there is no problem when listening to CD’s or the Radio.
It can’t be a Line Input as it happens on Input 5 (aux 1) using an interconnect from the phono stage and on Input 6 (aux 2) when powered from the 252.
- Would you say it is safe to assume these things?
- Is it possible for a problem with the Pre or Power amp to only appear on vinyl replay due to the differing voltages? (I’m guessing at the differing voltages bit by the way, that’s probably all balanced out by the phono stage before it gets that far.)
Then I thought about possible interference from an external source.
I had recently “installed” a new water bowl for my dog on the advice of the vet. I say installed as it featured a water filter and a small electric water pump so that the water was filtered and kept oxygenated. On removing this I had several days without the problem appearing and somewhat prematurely thought I’d resolved the issue. I hadn’t, but decided not to re-install it anyway as it would always be a niggle. Next I considered that it may be some kind of electrical switch so began listening with the central heating thermostat turned to zero so it wouldn’t click on and off. This didn’t solve the problem either. I am now at a loss as to what to do next. Obviously with everything in lock-down I can’t have anyone come in to investigate.
If you have any ideas or suspicions I’d be most appreciative.
Regards,
Steve O.
