[mattyturner]

Hi, my first post here at audio circle although i've been lurking for a while. I just got my first apartment and my first hifi to go with it in the last few months and have been enjoying both except for one thing that seems to have crept in during the last several weeks.

I guess a quick fun down of the component chain would be a good idea first:
Losslessly encoded music on a laptop into > Musiland MD10 > Almarro 205a Mk1 > Omega SuperHemp
Cables are:
Cobalt Ultimate Speaker Cable
PS Audio Reference Resolution

The problem exhibits itself as a what I can only describe as an unpleasant hash/distortion sound which seems to occur  in the upper-midrange when the volume is pushed. When I say pushed though, i'm talking around 1.25w out of an available 5w (assuming the volume control is linear)

I've been trying to debug it for a while to figure out what's going on. The only improvement i've found so far is that if I turn the amp off for a few minutes and then turn it all back on again the sound improves quite considerably (although the distortion isn't entirely removed) and then after 5 minutes or so it seems to come back.

The thing is I don't seem to remember hearing this at first unless I just have had it turned up more lately.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and checked out!

[ashok]

Looks like a nice system you have put together. Did you try a CD player in place of the laptop/DAC? If there is no problem with a CDP, then you can probably eliminate the Almarro as the problem component.

The DAC appears to accept coax, optical and USB inputs. You can try the digital output from your CDP (most CDPs should have one) through the DAC.

If the laptop has a line out, try feeding that into the Almarro, bypassing the DAC.

Regards,

Ashok

[bpape]

Sounds to me like something in the amp isn't quite kosher and changes with heat.  Could just be a poor connection inside somewhere.

Bryan

[mattyturner]

Okay, here are the things i've tested so far.
DAC - spdif and usb input.
Ipod straight into hifi (don't have a CDP!!!)
Various power outlets.

I haven't been able to test a different amp yet but am going to ASAP.
It's not terrible, at lower volumes there are no problems, but it's enough to stop me enjoying listening to something at proper volume.

Thanks for suggestions so far.