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Unwanted Noise!

L

Linnovice

pfm Member
Morning all, I have an Aktive Linn Kaber setup powered by three LK100's. I've noticed over the past couple of days a distinct 'russling' sound coming from the left hand mid amp/driver. Before i start taking it all apart would any of you knowledgeable people have any idea where I should start looking? Capacitors?
It's only been noticable for a short time but it is getting worse by the day.
 
It might just be that some connections need reseating or a wire is lose in an interconnect lead, so try that first. If that fails, Try swapping the cards between the channels and see if the rustling follows the card.
 
The first and easiest diagnosis is to determine whether the LK100 is at fault, or the upstream source/pre/crossover. Given it's on one channel, try swapping L/R inputs and outputs to the amp in question, so basically you're just changing which amp in the LK100 is for the left and which is for the right channel. If the problem stays with the left speaker, then the fault is upstream of the power amp. If it switches speaker, it would imply the problem is that one channel on the LK100.

Yes, capacitors can cause such stuff to happen, but there are other causes from subtle breaks of connection which can also sound like that.
 
Hi all, thank you for the responses.
I've tried swapping outputs from the offending amp and the noise travels with the connections. Tried swapping the inputs but that made no difference. This with no pre amp on so no signal coming from it.
Suspect its a noisy transistor, what do you think? Would anyone have a scematic for an LK100? Would be very useful I think.

Another question . . .
I have this setup in a room measuring 3.5m x 2.5m with speakers facing across the shorter dimension. Within this room I have a desk, a bookcase, a unit contain 200 lp's, 150 10.5" tapes, three tape decks and a multitude of other stereo equipment. You see by now that space a at a premium. Now, the pair of Kabers are connected to the three LK100's with lengths of K600 Cables and obligitory Linn RCA Blacks. To get the K600 to each unit can be likened to wrestling with a hungry boa constrictor! As I've now had to disconnect the LK100's I'm seriously thinking 'should I be considering swapping this lot for a smaller pair of passive speakers' if so, what kind? (The pre is a Linn Wakonda, recently acquired following recommendations from here (thank you Linfo) and I'm very happy with it.)

Temporarily, I've just rigged up a pair of Tascam VL-X5 studio monitors which are activ with internal power amps and they don't sound too bad. Don't get me wrong, the Kabers sound great but they do take up a lot of space taking into account the amps and cables.

What do you think? Ideas/Suggestions please.
 
If you want something smaller than Kabers but don’t want to sacrifice too much in terms of performance, I can highly recommend Katans on brakits, you could fit suitable mono active cards in two of the LK100s. K400/600 is horrendously bulky and hard to manage, I had some years ago and got fed up of it quickly. Something like QED original bi-wire cable would be much easier.
 
After taking the amp out of the system and putting it on the bench I found that there was nothing wrong with it! Connected to an 8Ohm dummy load, shorting out the inputs and running up for about two hours I have a pretty low distortion and virtually no dc output.

So, back to the drawing board. Having some lengths of original 1996 QED biamping cable I decided to make up some new cabling. During the wrestling match of removing the K600 cables the cable twisted and guess what? It pulled straight out of the banana plug on the left channel. This was a crimped fitting that to all intent and purposes looked fine and has been for over twenty years. On fitting the new QED cables the rustling has gone. So, it must have been the banana plug connection weakening over time. I’m probably wide of the mark but it seems to me that weight/angle/torque over the years has gradually loosened the fitting. What do you think?

Linfomaniac, needless to say I’m keeping the Kabers
 
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