lersince1991
Prominent Member
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- Apr 12, 2007
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I've just upgraded my equipment and thought that there would be zero noise in my system, but there still is some noise and when playing low volumes is annoying since I sit right in front of my speakers using my computer.
The system
ALAC 16/44.1hz music files
iTunes
Fisual 5m Optical cable
Arcam A22 with DAVE 5.1 DAC
Chord Carnival Silverscreen 2x 4m cable with decent z-plugs each side (A22 has BFA connections and wanted to make them the same both sides since z-plugs are fairly universal)
B&W 685 speakers
Other components
I also have a variety of other components in the system such as xbox 360, free view hd box, monitor, 2 bay external HDD. but they are all using optical.
I have 2x Tacima cs929 power conditioner / surge protector / extension lead both going to a double gang wall socket. I have separated the amp from the other major components such as xbox, macbook, monitor etc... (in the other tacima power lead). I have a decent quality power cable connected to the Amp (its actually an Apple mains cable that comes with their mac pros) and I have organised everything as best as I can to separate speaker leads and other cables from mains cables and everything to minimise interference. I even wrapped a huge amount of aluminium foil around the xbox power pack as its very noisy. (left vents open of course).
I'm going to solder the 8x z-plugs onto the chord carnival silver screen 2x 4m cable tomorrow to make the best connection possible using decent silver solder and then head shrink over it all.
But although there is hardly any noise, it still annoys me. I want to make it as best as I can.
The Noise
The noise isn't any ground loops or anything like electrical noise, its simply a very constant, neutral noise just from the tweeters.
Solutions?
What other tweaks can I do to minimise this noise?
Shorting input plugs
Some people believe that shorting the unused RCA INPUTS would lower the noise floor with shorting pins but as I have 38 unused rca sockets, even the cheapest of ebay would cost about £40!! Link to cheapest RCA shorting caps
Shortening the speaker cable length
I guess one of the only other things left is using much shorter speaker cable lengths but I can't do this, but I might get a very short length of some really good speaker cable and test it, the short extra HQ cable to one speaker and my current cable to the other, then I would know if thats the problem or not.
Damping pads
Reducing vibrations and rattling equipement (N/A to me), but also reduces interference from nearby equipment? I could put this under my amp as its at the top of my equipment shelf. Something like this from russ andrews maybe...
Ferrite rings
Fit loads of ferrite rings around my cables to absorb as much noise as possible, power cords and speaker cables? I heard these choke some interference out.
Anything else I can do to reduce this noise?
I look forward to your replies.
Thanks!
The system
ALAC 16/44.1hz music files
iTunes
Fisual 5m Optical cable
Arcam A22 with DAVE 5.1 DAC
Chord Carnival Silverscreen 2x 4m cable with decent z-plugs each side (A22 has BFA connections and wanted to make them the same both sides since z-plugs are fairly universal)
B&W 685 speakers
Other components
I also have a variety of other components in the system such as xbox 360, free view hd box, monitor, 2 bay external HDD. but they are all using optical.
I have 2x Tacima cs929 power conditioner / surge protector / extension lead both going to a double gang wall socket. I have separated the amp from the other major components such as xbox, macbook, monitor etc... (in the other tacima power lead). I have a decent quality power cable connected to the Amp (its actually an Apple mains cable that comes with their mac pros) and I have organised everything as best as I can to separate speaker leads and other cables from mains cables and everything to minimise interference. I even wrapped a huge amount of aluminium foil around the xbox power pack as its very noisy. (left vents open of course).
I'm going to solder the 8x z-plugs onto the chord carnival silver screen 2x 4m cable tomorrow to make the best connection possible using decent silver solder and then head shrink over it all.
But although there is hardly any noise, it still annoys me. I want to make it as best as I can.
The Noise
The noise isn't any ground loops or anything like electrical noise, its simply a very constant, neutral noise just from the tweeters.
Solutions?
What other tweaks can I do to minimise this noise?
Shorting input plugs
Some people believe that shorting the unused RCA INPUTS would lower the noise floor with shorting pins but as I have 38 unused rca sockets, even the cheapest of ebay would cost about £40!! Link to cheapest RCA shorting caps
Shortening the speaker cable length
I guess one of the only other things left is using much shorter speaker cable lengths but I can't do this, but I might get a very short length of some really good speaker cable and test it, the short extra HQ cable to one speaker and my current cable to the other, then I would know if thats the problem or not.
Damping pads
Reducing vibrations and rattling equipement (N/A to me), but also reduces interference from nearby equipment? I could put this under my amp as its at the top of my equipment shelf. Something like this from russ andrews maybe...
Ferrite rings
Fit loads of ferrite rings around my cables to absorb as much noise as possible, power cords and speaker cables? I heard these choke some interference out.
Anything else I can do to reduce this noise?
I look forward to your replies.
Thanks!
Last edited:
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