2. analog
  3. 138744-114449

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 3 responses by lewm

lewm
12,543 posts
 
See my post of 10/08 at 9:31 PM.  That says how to replace the RCAs with XLRs, assuming the Reed is wired to treat the cartridge as a balanced device.  Simple.
lewm
12,543 posts
 
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. 
lewm
12,543 posts
 
€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.
More to discover