[wierddemon]

I have no idea what is going on, but here is what I have observed:

I hook up my RS1s to a receiver that is connected to a Rega turntable. I got a pair of RS1's a couple weeks ago and never noticed any issues. Today I got a new setup, a Azur 640p preamp and a Millett Hybrid Max headphone amp. After hooking everything up, I noticed that hardly any sound is coming out of the left side of my RS1's. I then plugged my RS1's back into the receiver and noticed the same problem (though a tiny bit more noise seems to come out). I then went back and plugged a regular pair of ibuds into the new setup and didn't notice any issues. Then (and this is what I don't understand) I plugged my RS1's directly into an iPod and noticed no issues at all.

What the heck is going on??? I'm so frustrated...

 

[kboe]

Could something be wrong with the Left interconnect between your source and receiver. Also try and turn the headphone jack in the amp, maybe something is inside the jack causing problems.

 

[Redo]

Are you positive your RS-1's 1/4" plug is pushed all the way into your amp?

 

[mrarroyo]

It could be many things like the jack in the amp is a bit loose, or the plug on the RS-1 is on its final leg due to damaged cable and it only makes full connection at a certain angle. I would go back and check all my connections before doing anything else.

 

[wierddemon]

Ok, took my table into the shop and it's perfectly fine on his speakers. I then took it back home and am still having the problem. Different headphones do the same thing, so it isn't the RS1's and different hook ups (receiver vs headphone and preamp) have the same result. I'm still beyond confused... How is this possible? My audio guy is also perplexed...

 

[JazzVinyl]

Let's try a different source going into the Millet Hybrid Max amp and confirm that the amp works 100%

...

 

[wierddemon]

Good idea jazzvinyl! I did that and my Millett and RS1's sounded perfect! I'm still not sure what the deal is with the turntable, it has to be the turntable right?

 

[JazzVinyl]

It's sounding more like the table. Have you ever heard the table sound 'normal' perhaps not via headphones (via speakers?) on YOUR system?

That's the next question...

...

 

[wierddemon]

I don't have speakers

 

[JazzVinyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wierddemon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, took my table into the shop and it's perfectly fine on his speakers. I then took it back home and am still having the problem. Different headphones do the same thing, so it isn't the RS1's and different hook ups (receiver vs headphone and preamp) have the same result. I'm still beyond confused... How is this possible? My audio guy is also perplexed...

Okay, the table plays fine when hooked up to a different Amp (as above) right?

So that leaves out the cartridge and the audio cables coming out of the Table.

Here is the rest of your chain (from your sig):

"Audio Set-up: Rega P1 Turntable --> Denon DL-160 Cartridge --> Onkyo TX-8555 --> Grado RS1"

So it's time to talk about the Onkyo TX-8555:

If you play a CD or radio or another source to the Onkyo, do both channels play okay?

If so....then it sounds like one side of the Phono Preamp on the Onkyo may have a problem. Phono carts put out a very low amount of signal and an extra preamp on those inputs are required to being the level up to what is normally present on your "Aux in" jacks. So we may be looking at a bad phono preamp stage in the Onkyo....

...

 

[JazzVinyl]

You also do realize that the Denon DL-160 cartridge is a Moving Coil cartridge and requires an "MC" phono preamp right?

Your Onkyo likely has an "MM" (Moving Magnet) style phono preamp.

Moving Coil cartridges output a fraction as much signal as a Moving Magnet cartridge. Most amps these days have a built in Moving Magnet phono preamp but not one suitable for a Moving Coil cartridge.

Compare these output specs for a Moving Magnet Shure cart and your Denon Moving Coil cart:

M97XE Technical Specifications:
•Output: 4.0mV RMS at 5 cm/sec

Denon DL-160 Specifications
•Output: 1.6mV

...

 

[wierddemon]

So, here's an update. It only gets stranger I'm afraid.

After more extensive testing I found that I do sometimes have an issue when it is just my headphones and headphone amp. To fix the issue, all I have to do is turn the headphone amp off and on while my headphones are plugged in and something is playing. So my initial thought would be that there is something wrong with the headphone amp or the headphones.

The problem is that I have tried this with a different pair of headphones and with my receiver (instead of the headphone amp) and have had the same problem (haven't tried it since I found the fix with the headphone amp, so I'm not sure if that fix of turning it off and on works with the receiver). What is going on?? How is this possible?? At this point it would seem like I am either going crazy or the headphone amp and receiver became messed up at the same time magically...

Is it possible that this could be a problem with the electricity coming from the wall socket in my house? I didn't think so, but I'm starting to go crazy and thinking that it could be evil elves coming from the cracks in my baseboards at this point. Nothing is out of the question!

 

[JazzVinyl]

All of the testing is with what as the source?

Just the turntable? Or does this happen the same with the Table, a CD player, and FM radio?

How about a source not running through the Onkyo...like an ipod connected to the headphone amp? Does that ever have "the problem"?
...

 

[wierddemon]

The 2 sources I have used are my turntable and my Xbox like so:

Turntable -> Receiver -> Headphone (2 diff headphones)

Turntable -> Preamp -> Headphone Amp -> Headphone (2 diff headphones)

Xbox -> Headphone Amp -> Headphone

All of these have the same problem with the left side of the headphone playing sound lightly or not playing it at all. As I stated above, if I turn the headphone amp off and back on while music is playing and the headphones are plugged in, the problem goes away.

It is also worthwhile to note that I have tried directly plugging my headphone into my iPod without any problems.

 

[JazzVinyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wierddemon /img/forum/go_quote.gif The 2 sources I have used are my turntable and my Xbox like so: Turntable -> Receiver -> Headphone (2 diff headphones)

Turntable -> Receiver -> Headphone (2 diff headphones)

The above scenario has no Millet Amp in it. And you DO still get the problem with the phones plugged into the Receiver???

The Millet is COMPLETELY out of the picture in the above scenario?
(Not plugged into the Receiver at all??)

Are you using a 1/8 to 1/4 inch headphone plug adaptor?

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