[ServinginEcuador]

Hirsch,

Follow the runs over to the right where they enter into the small PCB. Trace the runs and it appears that it shorts the horizontal pairs there at that circuit board. The pieces of metal only transfer the sound to the PCB, and from there it gets shorted together. If you look, almost everything uses vertical pairs for RCA jacks. Every source I've owned ran them in vertical pairs, not horizontal ones. It makes sense that these would follow suit and be connected in vertical pairs. But since they are shorted you can use either a pair directly above one another, or like I did use a pair of opposite corners.

There may be different models with different configurations. When mine are connected in horizontal pairs it hums and the sound is horrible. When I switch over to a vertical pair, in my case I use the upper right and lower left. it sounds perfect.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Joelongwood & Hirsch,

Jsut for fun, try connecting your RKV inputs the same way that I have mine set-up and see what happens. You may find that it works both ways, and depending on your configuration, one way will work better than the other.

I had to hook mine up this way as those Nite ICs are so thick that it wouldn't fit in a direct vertical connection.

 

[alexerwu]

It works!

I did as ServingInEcuador proscribed and the hum is gone.

It's strange that it worked in the horizontal configuration for the first day?!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestion.

 

[joelongwood]

Great, alexerwu! Glad to hear it's working properly now.
Serving, I tried the input configuration both ways......absolutely no difference. Strange.
BTW.....just got the Beyer DT-880s. Gotta tell you, the CD3000s have some serious competition!

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by alexerwu It works! I did as ServingInEcuador proscribed and the hum is gone. It's strange that it worked in the horizontal configuration for the first day?! Anyway, thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestion.

Glad to hear that everything works now. I guess my having the same problem was fortuitous since I was able to help with your problem.

Make sure you post some thoughts and impressions on how your RKV sounds. We always love to hear what people think of their headphone systems!!

 

[ServinginEcuador]

You know, after thinking about Alexrwu's problem something just came to me: I can use the feed through of the RKV to feed my Klipsch 4.1s. This will put the Nite IC in the chain, and I wonder if that will do anything to the sound quality of the Klipsch speakers??? HUMMMMMMMMMM................

 

[Hirsch]

Doug,

I just ran a meter between various combinations of the inputs. All the grounds are common. On my unit, the hot leads are shorted vertically, but there is no continuity if measured horizontally. A diagonal input selection would work, but vertical would be bad. It might be worth writing AudioValve about this. You should not be able to use a full vertical configuration unless your unit is miswired. Either that, or they changed the configuration. On my unit, the left set of connectors are red, and the right set are white. Pick one red and one white and the unit will work. Very straightforward. How are yours labelled?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Hirsch,

Let me disconneect some Nite cables to check. Hold on. Alright, I'm back. Sorry to keep you waiting so long.

It seems that mine are as follows: the two on the left are red; and the two on the right are white. Same as your amp. I did hook mine up in a staggered fashion using the top white, and bottom red connectors, not in a strict vertical setup.

Like Alexrwu I had the hum problem when hooked up to a horizontal pair, so I really don't know what's going on. The stereo effect is blown when I hook up the amp like that. It's like a weird mono sound. I think I used the bottom pair when I originall hooked mine up, and now love the sound using the diagonal staggered method. I wish I had my old DMM so I could find out what's going on with the various RCAs and see why it doesn't work like it should. Either way, I'm totally happy that is works at all, so if I have to hook it up like it is, oh well.

I also now have the Klipsch hooked up off of the fed trough, so we'll see tomorrow how it sounds with at least a little Nite magic in the circuit. The Klipsch are hooked to the other pair not used: bottom white and top red RCA jacks.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by joelongwood BTW.....just got the Beyer DT-880s. Gotta tell you, the CD3000s have some serious competition!

I did [size=medium]NOT[/size] need to hear that!!!!!!!

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by ServinginEcuador I did [size=medium]NOT[/size] need to hear that!!!!!!!

Tell me about it. I made a resolution not to buy any more headphones this year. 10.5 months to go. When does Jan's sales action end???

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hirsch Tell me about it. I made a resolution not to buy any more headphones this year. 10.5 months to go. When does Jan's sales action end???

Not that I'm looking or anything, but Feb 21st at midnight. At least that's what I heard.

 

[Kman]

I have mine hooked up on the bottom inputs and no troubles. I am going to experiment a bit though.

Regards,
Kman

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Thanks Kmon. Make sure to report in with your findings. Maybe we can track serial numbers to see if there's a pattern here.

 

[evilcthul]

This is a bit off the topic (or maybe) but is it me or the RKV doesn't have an input selection switch?

The Nites you have look the part but the RKV's jacks really could do with a bit of spacing. I bet you get lots of problems with other preamps too?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by evilcthul This is a bit off the topic (or maybe) but is it me or the RKV doesn't have an input selection switch? The Nites you have look the part but the RKV's jacks really could do with a bit of spacing. I bet you get lots of problems with other preamps too?

There is no input switch, the two inputs are connected in parallel so that you can just hook something else up directly to the amp for feed through. I currently have my CDP hooked up to the RKV using the Nites, and then I hooked my Klipsch 4.1s to the second set of RCA plugs on the RKV to get the benefit of the IC. Didn't do anything as they are not that good to begin with, but it was worth the try.

The thickness of the Nites does make hooking them up a little difficult at times. That's why I have them connected to opposite corner RCA jacks. They fit onto the CDP with no problem, but the RKV has a little tighter spacing, which makes hook-up a little more troublesome. I guess that is something to look out for in future amp choices: decent jack spacing.