2. amps-preamps
  3. 194162-10279

Weird crackling from speakers when preamp connected

I've got an MC275 hooked up to a VTL 2.5 preamp, when I reconnected it after some maintenance, whenever I turn the preamp on then the amp, once they both warm up, the crackling starts.

I hooked up the amp to my DAC and had no issues with crackling, swapped tubes, interconnects and power cord, different inputs/outputs, same crackling issue when using preamp but no issue when connected to the DAC as a preamp.

Sonus Faber Olymica !, MC275 Amp, VTL 2.5 preamp, Auralic Vega DAC, nordost interconnects/speaker cables, panamax power conditioner.

My last step is to see if I can either borrow a tube preamp or buy a cheap one to test it.

Any suggestions are welcome as I'm running out of ideas.

 

maddog66blue

Showing 1 response by wabird

wabird
6 posts
 

maddog,

 I had the same issue after I bought some NOS tubes. I thought I would clean the connections with DEOXIT to bring back the shine and theoretically improve the connection. Silly me, I forgot to dry off one of the tube's pins from the wet DEOXIT. It was then throwing some aggravating crackling and drove me nuts until I took my air compressor to the socket and gave it a good spritz of air. That took care of my issue. It was only in one channel though. Good luck!!

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