I am inline with a AM Radio tower. Concurrently I’ve had to move my system to a bedroom in our house, meaning on the 2nd floor.
I’ve been struggling with getting radio through my Nait 5si.
I’m at the point where I literally have the Nait plugged into the wall and only have headphones plugged into the front. I know the headphones are not bringing in the AM radio into the Nait.
I’m looking for suggestions as the radio coming through (and buzzing) is driving me a bit crazy.
I’ve ordered a Wireworld Stratus 7 power cord which has a couple levels of shielding. I’m thinking that I must be getting the AM signal through the powerline/ power cable.
Any thoughts?
I did not have this when the system was installed in the opposite end of the house.
Thanks for any help. I had my UnitiQute installed in the same place and don’t recall having this issue. Unfortunately my Qute is no longer working so I can’t try it.
In my search I saw a couple posts referring to the type of transformers used by naim. Are these prone to RF interference?
There might still be grounding issues that you could check - have you checked there is electrical continuity between the Nait’s casing and the Earth of another plug socket (you’ll need a multimeter and wires for this)? If not, one of the Earth wires may have come loose somewhere.
Your house Earth may also have come adrift, or might just be the very dry ground around your house reducing its effectiveness.
I do have a multimeter. How do I check this? Literally one lead in the ground socket in the wall and one on the chassis? I’m in US and know minimal how to use the meter. I mostly check voltage with it.
This has been known happen. I picked up radio on my system a while back from the speaker cables. Re-arranging them to not have the slack bunched under the rack fixed the issue. The output on the power amp and speaker cables act like an antenna.
You say only headphones are connected. So you are using the Nait as a headphone amp only without speakers at all?
In my troubleshooting attempt I disconnected the speakers to see if the speaker wire was acting like an radio antenna.
My intended use is with speakers. I have headphones as well and after proving that they are not picking up the radio themselves I thought it a good troubleshooting step.
I put in an old NAD C340 that I own and have no radio interference. Definitely something about the Nait in the system. Maybe its just that the Nait is so much more resolving that you can hear the radio?
My understanding is that a circuit has to be made on the output stage of a power amp or headphone to pick up radio. You can generally determine whether the radio comes from the preamp stage or higher up in a source or via the power amp stage quite easily: if the radio volume is unchanged regardless of the volume setting on the amp, then it from the power amp stage. If the volume of the radio goes up and down with the volume control, then it is on the preamp side or from the line inputs.
If the volume is static regardless of volume setting, it would be interesting to know whether, when speakers are connected, does the problem persist when the headphone lead is disconnected?
I’m afraid I don’t consider myself sufficiently informed about US domestic wiring/earthing to advise on this. If you were in the UK, your suggestion would be fine - one probe on a bare metal part of the Nait chassis (a screw head often works well) and the other in a wall Earth socket.
The problem is there when speakers only are attached (no headphone attached), the radio comes through. On every input and is controller by volume. It does get louder with volume going up.
I’m.confused how it could be coming in the preamp section with no sources attached? Is the rf coming in the connectors in the back of the unit? Are there any blanks for naim DIN or maybe those fancy RCA caps.
I do also get this with my DAC attached which is a schiit gungnir. It has a 3 prong grounded power outlet as well.
I had some sort of radio coming into my system at one point, and traced the issue to a cable connecting a subwoofer to my SN2. The signal was coming thru the powered subwoofer only, not the rest of the system. In my case it was not local AM or FM I don’t THINK, as it was in the Russian language. But could have been a local but relatively low-power AM station that broadcasts Russian-language content; I never tracked it down.
The little I know about this issue is that almost any part of the electronics if there is faulty shielding can pick up stray broadcast radio.
It’s somewhat common with guitar amps too.
All I can suggest is that you eliminate bits connected to the receiver one by one. If it’s not a cord or cable . . . it’s the amp itself and it should be sent for repair.
The only other thing I can think of is that if you’re very close to the broadcast tower, it could be a problem with the tower. FCC regs require that such towers not interfere with local hardware that meets specs. You could complain to the FCC.
A Naim source is designed to provide a connection between signal and safety earth (earth = ground) for a Naim system. Given your problem and that it didn’t happen with a Uniqute suggests that your current DAC isn’t doing this but you can check by disconnecting the DAC and using your multimeter to check the resistance between a phono socket outer and the earth pin of the DAC. If its far from zero that’s your problem, if it’s close than the two runs of phono cable represent an earth loop (why Naim prefer DIN). My expectation is the former.
If you need to provide a signal earth connection it’s best that there is just one. A DIN plug can possibly be adapted to do this by connecting the centre pin of the five (-ve) to its shield and plugging it into the DIN tuner socket on the amp (assuming you don’t have a tuner and want to used the CD input for the DAC) but get the test done for now.
If the earthing of the wall socket was at fault then the Uniqute would likely have had the same problem.
Technically it’s the signal earth which often isn’t coupled to ground but yes, your assessment is correct.
With that in mind, I’d suggest three things now that the OP has confirmed this is coming in via line inputs.
Cover unused inputs with blanking plugs. Often other manufacturers provide insulated blanking plugs to block some interference.
Try something like an Atlas Grund interconnect that has a trailing signal earth dongle you can connect to the signal earth screw on hhe Nait.
Use a portable AM radio tuned to a dead station and move it aroubd in the vicinity of the Nait. Can you find a spot where the static is quieter (weaker signal)?
RF can be a real pain, especially if you’re close or in line of a high power transmitter. In Europe it’s rarely much of an issue, where power outputs are limited, but it can be a very real issue Stateside and elsewhere in the world. Speaker cables are the usual culprits, acting as aerials. Carefully changing the position of the cables can sometimes minimise or remove the issue. You could also try some ferrets on the mains lead and on the speaker cables, interconnects etc…
I only know of those as rodents that old men in working mens’ clubs ‘oop north’ keep in their trousers so that they can go ‘rabbiting’ in their spare time at weekends.
As a pastime, it’s much less expensive and time consuming than this silly music listening that we get up to here.
Your explanation has rather spoiled things for me there, Richard.
I was looking forward to trying to introduce a pair of ferrets to my music room, and was beginning to fret about what they would eat and drink, where they would poo and pass water, etc.