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New Raptor Has Low Level Hiss, What to do?

post #1 of 9
Thread Starter 
I received a new Raptor amp from Ray and the first thing I wanna say is it sounds absolutely beautiful and dealing with Ray was the best. Ray really seems to love his craft and takes pride in his work. I have a computer and Ultra micro DAC and some accessories plugged into a power strip and then the raptor is plugged directly into the same wall socket along with the power strip. This configuration produced a hiss that was audible when the volume was low or the music was very simple. I tried a 2 prong adapter and that made an improvement but wasnt a total solution, but it reduced the hiss to a level where I cant here it when I listen to music unless there is a pause or extremey low point in the music. I moved the amp to a different wall socket and that socket has no other devices on it. That didnt improve the situation either. The hiss reminds me of an HK PM655 amp I had in the eighties, it made a similar hiss with no source running and you put your head next to the speakers but was not audible just sitting in the room. It is definitely not a hum, its a hiss. I have an extremely nice interconnect Jacob at Soloz Audio made for me and it is a night and day difference because when I first got the amp I had a fifteen dollar cable from best buy and it sounds like crap so its not the cable. Jacob was also very nice to deal with and had extremely good communication. The power cord is a 14 gauge unit I got from PC Power And Cooling. Its cheap but built real solid. My question is this, will a power conditioning power strip eliminate the hiss I can hear. Also, is this normal with an amp like this? I think it is but like I said, last time I heard something like this was a super nice amp I had 20 some years ago. If you think I need a power conditioner let me know what brand or what models you like. I don't wanna spend a fortune, 100 to 200 would be nice.
post #2 of 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonFreeman View Post
I received a new Raptor amp from Ray and the first thing I wanna say is it sounds absolutely beautiful and dealing with Ray was the best. Ray really seems to love his craft and takes pride in his work. I have a computer and Ultra micro DAC and some accessories plugged into a power strip and then the raptor is plugged directly into the same wall socket along with the power strip. This configuration produced a hiss that was audible when the volume was low or the music was very simple. I tried a 2 prong adapter and that made an improvement but wasnt a total solution, but it reduced the hiss to a level where I cant here it when I listen to music unless there is a pause or extremey low point in the music. I moved the amp to a different wall socket and that socket has no other devices on it. That didnt improve the situation either. The hiss reminds me of an HK PM655 amp I had in the eighties, it made a similar hiss with no source running and you put your head next to the speakers but was not audible just sitting in the room. It is definitely not a hum, its a hiss. I have an extremely nice interconnect Jacob at Soloz Audio made for me and it is a night and day difference because when I first got the amp I had a fifteen dollar cable from best buy and it sounds like crap so its not the cable. Jacob was also very nice to deal with and had extremely good communication. The power cord is a 14 gauge unit I got from PC Power And Cooling. Its cheap but built real solid. My question is this, will a power conditioning power strip eliminate the hiss I can hear. Also, is this normal with an amp like this? I think it is but like I said, last time I heard something like this was a super nice amp I had 20 some years ago. If you think I need a power conditioner let me know what brand or what models you like. I don't wanna spend a fortune, 100 to 200 would be nice.
Are you sure its not a noisy tube?
post #3 of 9
Thread Starter 
Its both channels and switching the 5687s didn't seem to have any effect. This is my first tube amp. Also I should say that the noise is more apparent using 300 Ohm 650s as compared to 62 Ohm 701s. Have no idea what that means but maybe someone out there will. I also live in an apartment building and the noise is faint or non-existent late at night.
post #4 of 9
Thread Starter 
Bump
post #5 of 9
ask ray, maybe.
post #6 of 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonFreeman View Post
I also live in an apartment building and the noise is faint or non-existent late at night.
That is interesting. I wonder if you have noise on your AC power in the building which is greatly reduced when power consumption drops off at night. Does the amp make the hiss when it is turned on and nothing connected to the inputs? Have you tried plugging the amp into the same power strip as the DAC and PC? The onl way to know for sure is to tote the not very portable Raptor to a location with cleaner power. The 650's are a very revealing phones which is probably why you found the hiss more prevelant.

Call or email Ray on Tuesday morning. Heck, email him tonight; maybe he reads his email on holiday weekends. If it is a power problem, a line conditioner might help. Ray would know what to do. Let us know what you find out.
post #7 of 9
Call Ray, he will walk you through step by step in isolating the sound.
post #8 of 9
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone!
post #9 of 9
I don't own a Raptor and am relatively new to tubes, but I'll throw out the following in my own efforts to 'debug' my Almarro that may (or not) help:

1. I had random squelches/squeaks irrespective of volume levels, cables etc. I searched HF where someone recommended removing the tubes and giving the pins a good scrub with an old toothbrush and rubbing alchohol. Carefully reseated the tubes, and it worked, this problem solved. [but this does not seem like your problem]

2. Separately I had a low level hiss. I tried everything, different cables, sources etc at least to semi-scientifically isolate the problem. For me, the problem definitely was using USB cable connection on the either the DAC1USB or miniDAC. Using optical connection, which I can do from my Macmini, solved this problem. (these days I primarily use my 840c as DAC, which can take optical out from macmini as well). Also, getting a bit longer ICs to move the source further away from amp may have helped.

Again this is in my situation and YMMV (I have one more minor issue related attenuation that I'm resolving, but so far the noise issues #1 and #2 have gone away). Also caveat that aside from the K1000, I'm using high impedance phones, DT880-600 and HD650.

Not to digress but my Earmax AE is dead black silent irrespective of sources (including USB DACs), cables, etc, whatever combo I through at it -- very impressive. The Almarro is finicky but the sound is so wonderful, worth the effort to 'debug' - and I'm satisfied with the result so far.

Good luck!
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