[Orpheus]

hi. has anyone tried the monarchy sm-70 with your akg k1000?

even thought the volume is good for my AKG K1000 headphones, the sound is extremely bright. Now, I dunno if that’s because of the headphones or the amp. Is it possible that connecting this amp to a 120ohm headphone could cause it to become brighter?—or is it more likely my headphones are simply that way? sometimes even when the volume is at a normal level, when the singer makes a “ssss” sound… or something like cymbals crash, the resulting sound actually hurts my ears… so, I’m not exaggerating

well, i know by most reviews here the akg k1000 is a little bright.... but is it really that bright?--or maybe it's the amp?

also... for those who have used the amp,... do you have buzzing problems? i mean... you would figure for an amp of this high quality and with so many incredible reviews, it should be dead silent. it's pure class A with no global feedback.... and it runs HOT HOT HOT. i mean, you could cook an egg on top of this thing. anyway.... it really shouldn't be buzzing right? i've changed outlets/filters/cables/positions/.... etc.... nothing helps. i even connected it with a cheater plug, disconnecting the ground.... i even turned off every electrical appliance in the house besides the fridge, and still nothing helps...

dean

 

[aeberbach]

It sounds like that particular amp might be having trouble with the 120 ohm load. Toroidal transformers aren't known for their buzzing either. Perhaps you could email the manufacturer?

 

[sacd lover]

I own the sm70 pro, upgrading from the sm70. Both amps have ground loop problems. You have to use a cheater plug. Once I did that the sm70/sm70pro were dead silent in my system. If you look up the sm70 on ECOUSTICS website you will read similar comments about hum.
The sm70s are warm amps that are lively but not bright, it sounds like your particular amp has compatibility or internal problems. Most sm70s REQUIRE a cheater plug but once you use one all is well.There is sometimes some residual hum that goes away once the amp warms up,but only for a few minutes. Make sure the cheater is inserted completely and make sure the IEC connector is tight. Try a cheater on your other components one at a time and see if that breaks the groundloop, but keep a cheater on the sm70. HOPE THIS WORKS!

 

[sacd lover]

HEY I FORGOT. Flip the polarity on the cheater. This amp is much quieter with the polarity reversed. Try to get a cheater with a tab instead of another pin that you can bend/ break off, so you can REVERSE your cheater plug.TRY IT BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU GIVE UP!!

 

[Orpheus]

Hi. Well, I've already tried the cheater plug thing (disconnecting the ground)... and it didn't make any difference. I don't have the right type of plug to try reversing the polarity... but it seems strange to me that an amp of this caliber would have any noise at all.

...i'm gonna call up mr. poon tomorrow and see what he says.

It might all be related to the stupid USPS... I went out to greet the delivery woman... and she seemed like she was in a bad mood... didn't say nothing to me. Anyway, when she went to get the package from the back, she couldn't reach, so she used this pole thing to roll it towards her! So, I said, "hey... that's $1000 there!," smiling. But she ignored me, and kept doing that... then I said, "Here, let me get it..." but she wouldn't get out of my way. welp, after banging the thing around for a bit, she finally got it to the front of the truck.

I didn't think about that incident till today... it's possible the bad handling knocked something loose. Anyway... we'll see.

...i forgot to mention, when i plugged in my interconnects, the hum got twice as loud!... now, i know that i do have quite a bit of a humming problem in my studio (too much equipment,) but this humming is much louder than it should be. anyway, with these symptoms, does anyone have a suggestion of what might be wrong?... i'm gonna open the thing up and see if anything's loose.

...this is all so unfortunate... i was expecting so much from this class A amp!... like what aeberbach said, with a toroidal transformer, (and Mr. Poon said he even went out of his way to fill the holes in the toroid with some kind of filler to dampen vibrations)... this thing really should be dead silent.

thanks.

 

[aeberbach]

I was thinking of mechanical hum actually but a toroid should radiate less electrical noise too.

Unfortunately the gentle handling with a pole that you observed is likely to be the gentlest that it received on its way to you

 

[Orpheus]

heh he.... yeah man... i think that we should avoid putting on those fragile stickers all together: "Hmm, it says fragile. ha ha... let's drop it a couple times and see how fragile it really is!" yup... my friend works at UPS, he says they aren't much better.