2. analog
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Strange Loud Popping Sounds

Hi,
I recently bought a Primare i32 amp from a seller on A-gon and am experiencing a problem when spinning vinyl through it.
I hear loud pops while playing records.  They don't always occur but when they do they tend to start out as single pops and evolve into rapid pops as music gets louder on the record.  
It only happens when I use the Primare amp.  I switched back to my Cary SLI-80 amp and the problem went away, so I know it has something to do with the Primare amp.
This problem does not occur when playing other sources through the amp.  
My phono preamp is a Parasound JC-3 and my turntable is a Clearaudio Performance SEP with a Lyra Delos cartridge.  
Any ideas or theories?  I thought static was the cause but now I do not believe that is the case.  I am stumped.
Thanks!
Peter
snackeyp

Showing 3 responses by snackeyp

snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp OP
455 posts
 
I wondered if it might be related to the gain setting on the preamp, but it didn't make sense to me.  I will try changing the gain setting and report back.  Thanks for the suggestion!
snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp OP
455 posts
 
OK, so after a while I have finally gotten around to trying different loading options to see if that was the problem.  My cartridge is a low output MC Lyra Delos and with my other amp I was running it on the 100 ohm setting with great results.  With the Primare amp I switched it to the 47 ohm setting to see if the pops would go away.  I listened to 3-4 album sides last night with no pops, but after that the pops returned just as loud as before.  
I then tried the MM setting on the JC3.  While the pops seemed to be gone the sound quality was not good, so I quickly eliminated that setting as an option.  
I'm really stumped.  I love the sound of the Primare amp but my primary source is analog so if I can't figure this out I will need to go another direction.  
Any other ideas?  Thanks!
snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp OP
455 posts
 
Yes!  Very startling and lowering the volume on the amp does not reduce the sound of them.

I did not experience this when playing digital sources, only analog.  

Are you sayiong a bad capacitor in the amp or the phono preamp?  I just sent the amp in for repair as it completely lost all sound out put.  Could it be capacitor related I wonder?

I guess I will know soon.

Thanks 
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