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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.....


edgewear

Showing 4 responses by edgewear

edgewear OP
543 posts
 
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.



edgewear OP
543 posts
 
@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?
edgewear OP
543 posts
 
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 OP
543 posts
 
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.....


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