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Rega Aria Mk3 Hum Solutions?

Is the Service Manual for the Aria Mk3 available? There are various trimmers inside the unit, so potentially it just needs to be adjusted, but a person would need to know where to measure and what the target values are.
 
At risk of repeating myself, I would much rather you contacted a Rega franchised dealer / distributor. The owners manual is supplied in the box with the unit.
 
I have only skimmed the thread so apologies if this has been mentioned - but the position of the Aria relative to the cartridge can be an issue. The nearer the two are together the more chance of an issue - especially if the Aria is directly below the cartridge.
 
willmac said:
I have only skimmed the thread so apologies if this has been mentioned - but the position of the Aria relative to the cartridge can be an issue. The nearer the two are together the more chance of an issue - especially if the Aria is directly below the cartridge.[/QUOTE
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no the problem at least in my case is that the actual box emanates an audible hum which seems to be a noisy or faulty transformer and this noise occurs whenever it is plugged directly into mains with or without hook ups to anything.
 
I took the advice of @paul darwin but since it was out-of-warranty, I sent it to True Sound in California as recommended by Rega's US distributor.

I was contacted by True Sound today, and he seems to be extremely knowledgeable, and explained that the high hum level is normal for the Aria Mk3, at least in the US, and has found the same level of hum in all the Aria's that have passed through his bench. He explained that the transformer coil was more designed for the UK, and in the US generates more EMI which is then picked up by the other circuits. He does offer some modifications at a reasonable price which he's done on other Aria's to greatly reduce the hum, which I'm considering having done - or just sticking with the Fono MC as it doesn't have the issue, with the transformer being outside the chassis.

I'm still somewhat baffled why there have been mixed reports of hum with the Aria; maybe owners without the issue are in the UK, or maybe some people are less sensitive to the noise.

P.S. He also mentioned the Brio has the same issue, since both have a large transformer coil in a similar half-width chassis. Googling "Brio Hum", indeed it seems to be a common complaint.
 
MarkF786 said:
I took the advice of @paul darwin but since it was out-of-warranty, I sent it to True Sound in California as recommended by Rega's US distributor.

I was contacted by True Sound today, and he seems to be extremely knowledgeable, and explained that the high hum level is normal for the Aria Mk3, at least in the US, and has found the same level of hum in all the Aria's that have passed through his bench. He explained that the transformer coil was more designed for the UK, and in the US generates more EMI which is then picked up by the other circuits. He does offer some modifications at a reasonable price which he's done on other Aria's to greatly reduce the hum, which I'm considering having done - or just sticking with the Fono MC as it doesn't have the issue, with the transformer being outside the chassis.

I'm still somewhat baffled why there have been mixed reports of hum with the Aria; maybe owners without the issue are in the UK, or maybe some people are less sensitive to the noise.

P.S. He also mentioned the Brio has the same issue, since both have a large transformer coil in a similar half-width chassis. Googling "Brio Hum", indeed it seems to be a common complaint.
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While that might make sense, I wonder why when I brought my Aria into my dealers store to compare his to mine using the same power cord plugged in to the same socket with absolutely no connections to TT preamp etc my Aria hummed and his didn't???
 
Conster said:
While that might make sense, I wonder why when I brought my Aria into my dealers store to compare his to mine using the same power cord plugged in to the same socket with absolutely no connections to TT preamp etc my Aria hummed and his didn't???
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Good question. Similarly, in my research on the Rega Brio, hum problems were commonly reported though oddly some owners reported the problem not arising until after a few months or more.

One thing True Sound mentioned was one of their 'fixes' was improving the grounding throughout the unit, and that currently there was resistance in the ground - so maybe there is some variability in that resistance amount. One thing I noticed on my unit was on the bottom of the PCB there was a jumper wire soldered between the grounds on the input and output jacks, as if it were discovered the ground on the PCB was insufficient and added this 'fix' to reduce the resistance between those two points.
 
@paul darwin, I’m curious your opinion on the response from the authorized repair shop that the hum is ‘normal’ for the Aria Mk3 (at least in the US). If it’s true, I’d think Rega should fix the defective design, both in new units and in current units.
 
paul darwin said:
MarkF786, I no longer work for Rega having retired at the end of last month, so I am afraid I can no longer help you in this matter.
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Thanks for the reply, Paul - and congrats on the retirement! I'm sure it's well desired after a good career.

=-=-=

For anyone else following the thread, curious the outcome, the Aria arrived back today and sadly the mod & adjustments only slightly reduced the hum, but True Sound assured me it's in normal spec for the component, and calibrated to factory spec.

I have a Bob's Devices Sky 20 SUT arriving this week, so I'll compare that, trying it with the different MM input options I have: the Aria mk3, Fono MM mk5 or the built-in phono input of my Rotel A14 mk2 - then I'll decide what to do. Maybe I'll just stick with the Fono MC mk4, as it does sound good, is dead quiet inexpensive, and supposedly designed to be match with the Planar 6.
 
Much thanks to Paul Darwin for his input and monitoring PFM, a well deserved retirement I am sure. We can hope that his successor maintains Paul's contact here and that the good customer service provided by Rega continues and does not "drop off".
 
Just catching up here, and sad to hear of your leaving Rega, @paul darwin. Retirement always seems to have this bitter-sweet vibe. On the one hand there is a sort of breakup, whilst on the other a new freedom to do anything or simply nothing at all. Regardless, here's wishing you all the best, Paul, and I for one hope to see you continuing to drop in here, at least once in a while. On that note, any plans to open another record shop?
 
I'm just seeing this now. Thanks to Paul for being here and always being helpful, both as some bloke and as the Rega bloke.

Enjoy your retirement.

Joe
 
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