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Noisy, loose Audience Au24e connector

I leave this post to provide assistance to others. For a very extended period I had a problem with a rustling type of sound, coupled with loss of output, in one channel. The problem was also very intermittent and weeks would transpire without a problem before it recurred. Maybe I should have suspected a cable problem early but I didn't and first thought the problem was the speaker. Then, by a long series of switching of cabling (inputs and outputs to/from preamp, and speakers) and mono amps, I deduced that I had a problem with one of the amps, which I sent in for evaluation and upgrade, learning from Keith Herron that there was no problem there.

Finally, with active assistance from Keith, I found that I could reproduce the problem by rotating the IC plug at it's junction with the preamp outlet. Happily, I contacted Audience and they repaired the cables under warranty without charge. Now all joints are tight and stability has been finally been re-established with my system.

I'm curious whether anyone else has had this type of problem, with these or any other company's cables.
mdvuolo
roscoeiii's avatar
roscoeiii
1,155 posts
 
I will say that in my experience customer service from Audience has been excellent and I have heard from others that they have likewise gotten exemplary service from the company. We see a lot of complaints about less than stellar service on these forums. Also important to praise those companies that do a great job of assisting their customers.  
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
303 posts
 
I had a Nordost IC to audition with a similar problem.Luckily since it was the only change it was obvious immediately.I can imagine how frustrating your situation was.
fineito
34 posts
 
I had a short with my Kondo(Japan) silver interconnect recently. Kondo repaired it and now it is as good as new. I had owned the IC for probably 5 years (though bought pre-loved). Gently treated by me during my ownership. I identified the issue by happenstance as I was making sure I had solid connections on all my ICs (preventive maintenance) and when I checked this one, bamm, I could hear a 60 hz hum (the loudness thereof dependent on my volume knob). I could stop it if I rotated the IC connector end just so. So, yes, metallurgy can fail. I will say the Kondo customer response was very good for me.
mdvuolo OP
29 posts
 
Thanks for the responses. As I suspected, evidently the problem has occurred with several reputable companies' products. I must say again that I was very pleased with the Audience customer service. I purchased the cables here on Audiogon and certainly had no documentation to support their warranty, but no such questions were asked. The cables were repaired quickly and effectively.

Fineito, your experience would indicate potentially that the insecure connection could potentially introduce a different type of sound (hum), unlike the rustling type of sound and loss of output that were the symptoms of my problem. I'm curious whether anyone out there possesses sufficient electrical engineering knowledge to comment about possible underlying mechanisms to account for the symptoms.
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