[Cylon]

I have had this problem for a little while and been too lazy to do anything about it but it's about time I addressed it. My 100 Nirvana is intermittently making popping sounds, short sharp cracks sounding from the speakers, both channels. Since it is built as dual monoblocks all they share is the power cable and Power supply PCB. Because the sound is coming from both channels simultaneously I'm assuming it will be the power supply in some way, even though both channels have a seperate rectifier and caps. Any bright ideas as to what I should be looking at?

Shayne

P.S. am just about to accept a position working in Christchurch NZ so will have to order my GK1 after the move.

[fos]

cylon

sounds like noise coming from the electrical mains. i had a similar sound on my system in an old house when the washing machine was in rinse mode, ie when the washer motor was cycling off and on.

i moved house which solved the problem. motors tend to be the source of most household generated electrical noise ie washers, fans etc.

in my new house i have managed to use a power circuit that only has a computer and and a couple bedroom circuits connected, these circuits are pretty good noise wise.

i am however working on a LC mains filter to include in my gk1. and have the intention of fitting the same type of filter into a aksa100 when i decide to replace my current power amp.

hope this is of some help.

[Cylon]

Thanks fos, I'll hunt down a small power conditioner and see what happens it's a concern that such a sound should come from mains activity since it can be a loudish crack at times. I put ferrite rings on all of my power leads and it actually seemed to make a slight difference to the picture quality on my DVD player! more amazing since I am somethign of a skeptic when it comes to such things, CDs in the freezer OH PLEASE!

[AKSA]

Wayne,

I believe Foster is right on the money;  this is usually a mains contamination problem.

Now, on the GK-1 you can use a filter since it's all Class A circuitry.  But on the AKSA 100, things are different, since the mains current varies with signal and any impedance between power source and amp will generally be audible.  Accordingly, use some caution with these gadgets, and if possible try before you buy as some will degrade the AKSA sonics.

Back to NZ, huh?  Are you looking forward to this move?  A better job, perhaps Wayne?

Cheers,

Hugh

[Grumpy_Git]

Cylon

Given that Hugh is never wrong I would accept his and Fos' explaination, just as an extra I would add that my CD player has been known to pop from time to time when running from cold, I never did work out why this happened as I changed it several times when I bought it and although some suffered less, they all had it.

I've always assumed that it originated from the fact that there was no grounding to earth on it. Rather weird since it is a popular commercial player. (An ARCAM Alpha 7se) bzzzzzzzzzz bang!

Nick

[Tinker]

Now, on the GK-1 you can use a filter since it's all Class A circuitry.  But on the AKSA 100, things are different, since the mains current varies with signal and any impedance between power source and amp will generally be audible.  Accordingly, use some caution with these gadgets, and if possible try before you buy as some will degrade the AKSA sonics.

I can attest to this. I had a 6amp power filter built into the IEC on my 55. This was a kin dof pi arrangement with inductors and caps. Removing it improved the top end a little. However, made a cheap CD player sound a bit cleaner. This is not to say that some other arrangement might not work.

T.

[Cylon]

Well a little experimenting has found the cause. It is indeed a mains problem, specifically when the washing machine is running. I'll live with it for now, especially if a filter will mess up the sound!

As for Christchurch, I'll be on similar $ to Sydney and for 250k you can but a house the likes of which don't go for under $1000000 in Sydney, also it's a leisurely 1 hour drive to some absolutely fabulous ski fields in the southern alps. So it should provide me with a substantially improved lifestyle. Of course it'll be sad leaving the friends I have here.

Shayne

[SamL]

I wonder if anyone have try the Jon Risch power filter project or know if this will work with AKSA.
A mod version from Lukasz F who lives in Europe. He sold 30+ of them. http://www.kingston.neostrada.pl/filter.html

[Seano]

You wanna know what's really scary..............

........I think I actually understand what the heck that power filter dude has actually built.

And could possibly build it myself      


.....now where's my blue smoke.