Aw...crap!

[SiliGoose]

I picked up a used Acurus Act-3 as an interim solution for my lack of a pre/pro.

It has been nothing short of an excellent little performer for the first week. I had no complaints considering the rock bottom price I paid.

Then I throw in a CD yesteday and listen for about an hour. Everything is fine until I move on to the second CD. I noticed a subtle hum in the center channel even though I was in stereo mode.

It wasn't too noticable from my listening position and I remembered how much I paid for the Act-3 so I let it go. 15 minutes later the hum had spread to the L & R channels and grew MUCH louder. I had to turn it off.

I let it sit overnight and tried it again today. Same thing. Annoying as hell.

Ground loop? I don't think so, it just suddenly appeared. I guess it could be my amp but it's NEVER been pushed hard so I seriously doubt it. I thought I'd seek advice from you guys.




-Sili

[SiliGoose]

I just thought of this...

I remembered finding my cat sleeping on top of the Act-3 several times. It was a high perch and the unit gets pretty warm so she found it comfortable.

I wonder if it's possible her body acted as insulation and heat build-up within the Act-3 caused permanent damage? Despite the fact that the Act-3 runs fairly hot there are no holes anywhere to vent. That makes me think the cat theory is an extreme long shot...if they designed the pre/pro without vents they must have been fairly confident of it's ability to run hot.




-Sili

[Ricky]

That sucks! I don't have any idea what could be wrong.

[George Bellefontaine]

Sorry, Sili. The cat theory could be a possibility.




My Homepage!

[SiliGoose]

I'm starting to think there may be some odd electrical problem in the room. I noticed my TV has a subtle green/blue horizontal bar that moves from bottom to top. It's visible when viewing DVDs and sometimes when watching cable. It wasn't there a week ago.

I'm going to move the amp & pre/pro into another room to see if I can reproduce the loud hum there.




-Sili

[Burke Strickland]

Hmmmm.... happens when you are playing songs on a CD, huh? Maybe you need to teach it the words. (Right now, it can only hum along.) :>)

Burke

PS -- good luck figuring it out. If it were a steady hum, we could be of more help diagnosiing it remotely. Something that happens intermittently
or changes over time like you describe is a lot harder to pinpoint.

[SiliGoose]

The audio hum is constant now. It wasn't there a week ago but now appears whenever the system is fired up.

Either something recently began causing electrical problems or some piece of hardware is dying. I am uncertain if the TV issue is in any way related.




-Sili

[David Meek]

Sili, were you able to move the equipment yet? One thought: make sure you move to a separate breaker circuit at least. That'll isolate the issue a bit further.




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[Digital Bob]

Hi Sili,

Sorry to hear about your problem. Those can be frustrating as heck.

I wish I had a "magic bullet" for you, but instead I can only offer advice that I think you already know. Whenever you want to diagnose something like this try the following...

1) Disconnect EVERYTHING. Every wire, cord, etc. in the system (including all the AC cords)

2) Reconnect the simplest possible 2-channel system that your gear allows. (pre, power, cd, L & R spkrs)

3) If the hum is there, the problem is isolated to that gear or AC interaction with that gear. Now try swapping a the source for a tuner or DVD to isolate it further. Then try connecting just one channel from the source to the pre to the amp. You get the idea.

4) If the hum is NOT present in your simple 2-channel set-up, then simply add pieces back to the system until it appears. You wil find your culprit quickly.

Even though it's probably stuff you knew, I hope this helps.

Good luck and hang in there,




dB