Why does my system now have shrill top end.

Hi Al,

After reading your last post it’s obvious I did not consider the resulting initial impact of dropping the stylus onto the record. I agree with your assessment and wouldn’t want the OP to possibly cause damage to his speakers.
Al, thanks for your time spent looking into the specs of the cartridge and phono preamp loading.
.

So where are we in this thread?

Waiting for the OP to try his HT amp in his 2ch system.

Try different speaker cables. (I probably would have started here first.)

Maybe try the front speakers from his HT system, depending on their quality.

Try removing the P5.

Temporarily, for a test, turn off all the breakers in the electrical panel that feed the new kitchen remodel. Especially kitchen appliances/equipment with micro processors. Turn off the LED ceiling lights. (It’s not the LED that can cause noise going back out on the AC mains it’s the electronic transformer in the base of the lamp. Cheap electronic transformers will cause more noise x the number of lamps used.

almarg
7,657 posts                                                                   12-01-2017 3:48pm

Kosst, my hypothesis is not predicated on the cables having changed in any way whatsoever. If it wasn’t clear, when I referred to the condition being "sufficiently marginal that minor aging effects or perhaps even a change in AC line voltage have put it over the edge," resulting in ringing or oscillation, I was referring to minor aging effects in the amplifier. Which in turn might have made the amplifier more prone to ringing or oscillation as a result of the heavy capacitive load.

Something I don’t recall the OP stating in any of his responses is how his 2ch system is powered. Is it just plugged into an outlet fed from a 15 amp convenience outlet circuit that feeds other items possibly including ceiling lighting?
A dedicated branch circuit/s? 15 amp? 20 amp?

Is the P5 plugged into the same duplex receptacle outlet? Does the P5 indicate the input AC mains voltage? If so has the OP checked the AC line voltage at the wall outlet while listening to his system? Does the AC mains voltage maintain a steady state voltage for the Pass amp? Especially when listening to his system (amp) at an above moderate volume level?

Jim

like @jea48  I am waiting to hear if taking the P5 out of the system helped, although his description of the problem didn't seem like noise to me.
Haven't heard from the OP in 5 days....

OP last commented saying he was going to swap the amp this weekend and if not that then look at ac.
This weekend could well be late tonight, we do not know his work schedule.
However if not the amp, I certainly hope he does not jump straight to ac possibilities without at least swapping speaker cables no matter how unlikely that scenario may be. Its cheap, quick and easy.
I am thinking the amp swap will reveal plenty but we just have to wait for now.

Thank you
Kevin

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I turned off all lights in the house and it made no change. For the HOI I changed the power cord from a PS Audio AC5 to the stock cord that came with the amp and although it had no effect on the upper registers it seemed to focus the sound stage more. I guess this is left for another discussion.

I wanted to switch amps but the 5 channel unit I use for the surround sound room is much too heavy for me to easily move. Hopefully I can get a friend to help me and will report back afterwards. I too think it must be the amp but this test will tell for sure.

I too think it must be the amp but this test will tell for sure.

Hopefully Kosst will take my response to this in the constructive spirit in which it is offered: If the problem goes away when the amp is changed, while it would substantially increase the likelihood that the Pass amp is the culprit, it would not by any means be a conclusive indication. It could simply be that the other amp is less sensitive to the effects of a speaker cable having very high capacitance.

Also, can you answer a couple of questions I had raised earlier:

1)What is the full model name of the Ortofon Black cartridge?

2)Do the OCOS cables have a "red" termination network, a "black" termination network, or neither.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al