Hum and noises in McCormack amp


I just picked up a used McCormack micro power drive amp. The amp sounds amazing. However the amp puts out some hum when not attached to anything except the speakers. And a little bit of scratchyness in the tweeter.

But then when I attach the front end it hums even more and also makes a noise that sounds like dut..dut dut ....dut dut dut dutdutdut.... dut dut. etc. And a crackly noise a little more in the tweeter.

Its noticible enough to be annoying during quiet passages or when the music is stopped.

When I borrowed an adcom amp it was dead silent. No problems at all. Dead quiet and smooth. Headphones are thes ame. But I just can't seem to get this McCormack to quiet down no matter what I do. Is it possible that it's just old and circuits have gone bad (or whatever else is in there)? Or does it just not like my home? Either way I can't live with it like this. I've had it a week so I'm sure I can still take it back to the store. Although I did tell them the amp sounds amazing and I'd hate to walk in and say "sorry I can't live with it now". Its done this since day one but I thought I could tweak some things to improve it and it's gotten more noticable since I've improved my room and made the room quieter. (and gotten to do more extensive listening).

So do you think that something is just bad or aged and can it be fixed by the store? Or should I just return it and get something else?
kacz

Showing 4 responses by stevemcx

Hi Kacz -

It is possible that something may be wrong with the amp, but you need to check 2 things first: 1) insert RCA shorting plugs in the amp's inputs. This will tell you if the amp is quiet by itself. If you don't have any shorting plugs, take any cheap set of interconnect cables and stuff aluminum foil in the plugs on one end to connect the center pins and outer grounds together. Plug the other ends into the amp. The amp should be fairly quiet in this case (maybe just a little noise right at the speaker). If there is any obvious noise, there may be a problem. 2) If the amp is quiet with shorted inputs, you probably have a ground loop with everything connected normally. Go to this link to learn all you need to know about fixing ground loops - http://www.altavistaaudio.com/hum.html

Good luck - I hope this fixes the problem.

Happy Holidays,

Steve McCormack
www.SMcAudio.com
Hi Kacz -

I'm glad to hear you were able to solve the problem and keep the amp. I hope it brings you a lot of fine music!

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
Ha! Very funny, Albert. My careful research tells me that the "champagne gold" faceplate sounds best. Now what are you gonna do? ;-)

Steve M
Just kidding, Albert. It's actually my custom aerogel / ceramic hybrid faceplate that sound best, and I can have it made in black just for you.