What to do?

Its definitely the pre amp section of the Peachtree that is junk.  It happened on my Nova Pre as well.

I only have 2 components hooked up to the Nova 220se.  A playstation via optical, and a wadia 170i via coax.  

Its not my electrical outlet as I've had the same problem prior to my last move.

Im really good at diagnosing problems like this as I've gone through around 25 amps / pre amps over the past 6 years in this hobby.

At my last apartment (where I was still having issues) none of my cables touched the ground or crossed over each other.  I dont have any equipment stacked or nearby the peachtree gear.  

Regardless, I wouldnt keep a piece of gear that was so finicky about placement etc.  if I can hook up a $20 Onkyo stereo that is 30 years old and not have these issues, why would it be acceptable for a brand new $2000 (original msrp) piece to hdve those issues?

peachtree is notorious for poor reliability and has been for awhile.  My local Magnolia dealer can sell it but they dont stock it or sell it because of poor reliability.  

I like the idea of Peachtrees gear, and I like their dacs.  The 2 amps I've tried were also very powerful but to have distortion everytime I adjust the Volume control is unacceptable to me on a new component.

like I mentioned previously, their new stuff (Peachtree gen 2 is how they are referring to it I believe) is made in Canada and they have a new quality control and parts sourcing.  

I can only think they've stayed in business this long because of their steller customer service.

Ps, my speakers are Monitor Audio Gold GX50 (fairly inefficient speakers).
 
I'd love to hear from anyone buying a refurbed Nova 220se about whether or not they have this issue.  I know that peachtree wasnt sending me back the same unit because I kept it until the replacement arrived.

anyways, Im waiting for Jason to get back from a little time off in order to try to get a refund.  Jason has been great up until this point and I imagine he will continue to be helpful in regards to this.

i'll keep you posted about how the return refund process goes.

I'd like to add that I haven't tried the new Canadian made products but they look great and I imagine they've addressed the issues I've been mentioning and thats why its not made in China any longer.  Im not saying good audio products can't come from China, but I do believe that alot of junk comes out of China.

  

You should take the refund immediately and try to look for a new one.

I have a Peachtree Nova220se $999 refurb unit that has been nothing but a complete trouble free joy powering a pair of the stellar KEF LS50s. The regular 24 month warranty was included, too. I bought it to simplify my audio life while giving up as little as possible when compared to an expensive rack full of boxes and cables, not to mention big and heavy floorstanding speakers. For $2500 plus a few bucks in cables which we all already have a crap load of anyways, you have a system that gives you 99% of the music. I'd give it an A+. Peachtree is the future of audio- which is why Amazon has included the brand in their new premium audio venture, alongside KEF and a few other hand picked manufacturers.

I am re-animating this old post as I recently purchased a used NOVA 220SE and was experiencing the static issue with the volume as well... I was bummed, but it still sounded great and I got a good deal, so I planned to just ignore it for the time being.
the next week, I had already ordered some Banana plugs for my JBL 6332s that I was running off the Nova (was using bare wire before) and went ahead and threw them on real quick.  CRAZILY, I played multiple tracks/inputs, etc. afterward and the Volume static was GONE.  Remote control , by hand, whatever was causing the static sound when changing the volume went away when I changed from wire to plugs at the speaker terminal.  Not sure how, or why, but this may help someone searching for this issue in the future.