Unwanted Noise
 

Hi to all, I’m new to the forum and I’m looking for some
help in detecting a noise problem coming into my set-up.

I’m experiencing a popping noise thru my speakers at powering up of my integrated amp upon on and off. Also, with the speaker outputs off and volume at 100% I’m getting leakage/spill from my streamer (I can hear the selected music playing thru). Although it’s light, it’s very clear. Is this normal? I’ve exhausted and isolated plenty of potential culprits one at a time with no luck. I placed a Clarus Concerto conditioner in front of this system with no noticeable change.

I’d appreciate any advice or comments here. I’ve isolated and exhausted plenty of suspected culprits one at a time without any success.

System:

McIntosh 8950 Integrated Amp
Lumin T2 Streamer/DAC
Tributaries Balanced interconnects
Paradigm Founders F100 speakers
Tributaries Bi-wired speaker cables
PS Audio & Tributaries Power Cables
SBooster Linear Power Supply to Lumin

Welcome to AA! :wave:

May we call you by your first name?

Sure thing sorry. It’s Bob

Bob, sorry to hear of your troubles. I think it's best to try to isolate the problem from a clean slate. I would suggest disconnecting everything and starting fresh. Does the popping happen when only the 8950 and speakers are hooked up with no other components attached? If so, your issue is in the 8950 and you can stop worrying about the other components. You might also try a different power cable and/or a cheater plug to the wall just to see if it's in that part of the chain.

As to the streamer, have you switched inputs on it and tried a few of the others to see if that cures the matter?

I’ve isolated it. It only seems to do this in my home I’ve taken back to where it was purchased and they say there is not problem with the amp. We connected it to speakers there of similar sensitivities and got no pop. The speakers still pop without the streamer connected. I’ve tried various circuits in my home and eliminated each of them one at a time leaving only the one it’s connected to on. I connected it to a generator unit outside the home with the same results. I’ve tried different inputs on the streamer. No change.

Intermittent issues such as what you described are difficult, and frustrating to solve. In each previous example, is the Mac Integrated connected directly to the AC outlet; or are there any power units?

Perhaps change your speaker cables then.

Just to be sure about the dealer test, did they connect it directly to the speakers or through a speaker selector (which would act as a buffer)?

Normally in a system with separate amp and preamp, powering the amp up first can cause a thump when turning on the preamp. In an integrated, there is a circuit to ensure power isn't delivered to the amp until the pre is charged, and reverses that process when shutting down. If there is a fault in that delay circuit, that could cause the thump, but you should be able to reproduce the issue with other speakers.

And as Freddie says, have you tried other speaker cables? Can you borrow a set from your dealer?

You could also have a ground fault somewhere, did you use your own cable in the dealer test, or did they supply one?

The Mac is connected directly to the AC outlet no other power units. I’ve changed the speaker cables as well, no change. Besides the speaker popping issue is their any acceptable noise levels that one would anticipate coming thru the speakers from the DAC with the amps outputs off?
Thank you.

Signal input leakage of another source could be caused by bad caps. Depending on the gear, and design; very subtle amounts of this can be deemed normal.