How is the problematic setup grounded? Have you tried the Colibri on the other arms and gotten no hum? Cheers,
Spencer
Spencer
Colibri or Hummingbird?
Hi all,
I'm experiencing a rather annoying 'hum' with my Colibri XPW cartridge. It sits in a Reed 3P tonearm on a Micro RX-1500 and goes into a Boulder 1008 Phono amp (the Reed tonearm cable has RCA plugs, so I'm obliged to use the Boulder's RCA-XLR adapters). The hum is typical to the Colibri/Reed combo. The two other tonearms I use on the RX-1500 (one of which also goes straight into the Boulder) are completely silent, no matter what cartridges are used.
The hum resides in the background while the arm is in stationery position, but it turns into a fierce 'humming' the moment I touch it, again retreating to the background when I release the arm. Strange enough this problem comes and goes and had almost completely disappeared for a while. But for some reason it has returned again, without having made any changes in the system.
It's a complete mystery to me, so I hope some of you might be able offer some explanation. And if possible a way to get rid of it.....
I'm experiencing a rather annoying 'hum' with my Colibri XPW cartridge. It sits in a Reed 3P tonearm on a Micro RX-1500 and goes into a Boulder 1008 Phono amp (the Reed tonearm cable has RCA plugs, so I'm obliged to use the Boulder's RCA-XLR adapters). The hum is typical to the Colibri/Reed combo. The two other tonearms I use on the RX-1500 (one of which also goes straight into the Boulder) are completely silent, no matter what cartridges are used.
The hum resides in the background while the arm is in stationery position, but it turns into a fierce 'humming' the moment I touch it, again retreating to the background when I release the arm. Strange enough this problem comes and goes and had almost completely disappeared for a while. But for some reason it has returned again, without having made any changes in the system.
It's a complete mystery to me, so I hope some of you might be able offer some explanation. And if possible a way to get rid of it.....
15 responses Add your response
Dear @edgewear: Like Spencer sid seems to me groun problem tht could be nywhere from the Reed tonerm female cartridge connectors to the IC cbles connectors. Somewhere in between exist a " cold/loose solder tht sometimes is ok nd sometimes develops the problem. So you need to check ll the wiring/IC cbles connector termintions trying to look for tht ground problem. The orienttion/position of the IC cbles could help little but the problem will not disppears totally. You need to check those contct connectors including the tonerm ground one. R. |
Thanks for your suggestions, which have helped me to narrow down the problem! Although it is definitely not my idea of fun, I dismounted the Colibri from the Reed arm and put it in a SME type headshell in order to be able to try it on both my other tonearms (Audiocraft AC-4400 and FR-64S), using the same turntable and same phono amp. In both cases no hum at all, which seems to indicate - as you suggested - that the issue is with the grounding of the Reed tonearm wiring or its cinch connectors. Or possibly the Boulder RCA-XLR adapters (which consist of female RCA's, a short length of wire and male XLR's). I will have the tonearm wiring checked and perhaps consider to have the cable re-terminated with XLR connectors, bypassing these adapters altogether. |
@rauliruegas, I agree that these adapters should be avoided, but Boulder has only XLR inputs and I already owned the Reed arm before changing to these amps. I did inquire about the possibility of re-terminating the Reed cable to XLR connectors. The Reed distributor offered to do this for €750, which I found ludicrous and 'respectfully' declined. Should I reconsider this offer or should I try finding someone else with the required skills who might do this for a more reasonable sum? |
Dear @edgewear: That kind of job is extremely easy to do, maybe the more expensive and not really expensive could be the pair of Neutrik XLR connectors. That distributor is a "thieve " because for that price we can buy a new IC phono cable with XLR. Try to find out a technician to fix that problem. R. |
€750 to replace the RCA plugs on your Reed tonearm with XLR plugs is criminally ridiculous. If we were anywhere near to each other geographically, I would do it for you in 20 minutes. But what you need to know is how the Reed is wired. I am guessing that it is wired for balanced connection in the first place. Which is to say that there are two wires of equal caliber and type traveling inside the shield. In that case for an XLR connector the wire that goes to the hot pin on the RCA goes to pin 2 on the XLR. The wire that goes to the ground pin on the RCA goes to pin 3 of the XLR. The shield is connected only to pin 1. It is quite probable that your hum problem has to do with the XLR to RCA adapter that is inside your Boulder phono, as you have guessed. I don’t know where you live, but don’t you know anyone else with the skill to make the very simple conversion from RCA to XLR? For male XLR plugs I would use Neutrix silver or Xhadow silver. |
Thanks again for all your help. I don't feel confident to do the re-terminating of the tonearm cable myself. I'm fairly new to this game of cart rolling and using several tonearms. While I've managed to become quite handy in cartridge installation and alignment, I've never touched a soldering iron, believe it or not. So I will need to find someone in my part of the world to help me with this. And perhaps even better, teach me how to do it myself the next time. BTW: the XLR to RCA adapter is not inside the Phono amp, but an external short piece of wire with female RCA's on the tonearm cable side and male XLR's on the amp input side. So re-terminating the Reed tonearm cable would take this out of the equation completely, which might prove to be sonically beneficial. But of course getting rid of the hum is my main priority. |
@edgewear The price you got from the Reed dealer is probably for complete rewire with brand new cable and brand new connectors. You can contact Reed directly www.reed.lt Xhadow XLR are expensive, but the best on the market, i'm using Xhadow RCA Xhadow XLR or RCA are top quality, true High-End connectors. If you need someone in Germany you can call Thomas Schick in Berlin, he’s a tonearm manufacturer and skilled DIYer. http://thomas-schick.com/de/contact-de |
Chakster, you’re such an optimist! Even if the Reed distributor did intend to replace all the wiring and supply new XLR connectors (which would be required in any case), €750 is still a very high price to ask from anyone, let alone from someone who purchased an expensive tonearm from this same person. My guess is that the Reed company would be upset if they found out that one of their distributors was behaving in such a fashion. |
The distributor's offer was only for changing the connectors from RCA to XLR. The arm was purchased from an official dealer, so this is not some extra charge for a sample imported outside 'official' channels. Apparently customer service doesn't mean to same to everyone. Anyway, I have arranged for a home visit by a local audio retailer I've known for many years. He has no particular experience with the Reed wiring, but he's confident he'll be able to do this. I hope his visit will turn my Hummingbird into a Colibri again..... |
Dear @rauliruegas, Of course adapters are best avoided - everyone knows that. The OP is trying to resolve a hum problem with a tonearm and preamp that apparently require their use, at least in the short term. Thread responders seemed to localize one possible issue in the way the adapater is working. If one wants to buy an adpater reliably wired correctly, I suggest Atma-Sphere. |
