[Ableza]

Hey all, I am going to circle back to a discussion from weeks ago about humming....

I finally have some free time on my hands to get my Vidar looked at, it's humming. And it's not a happy tuneful humming, more a deep, Back to the Future Scene 1 guitar amps humming kind of hum. Of course it's nowhere near that loud - and I haven't yet been thrown across the room when I play music - but that is the sound coming from my speakers that can heard in my living room up to about 6-7 feet away from my speakers (which are admittedly quite sensitive - Tannoy DMT15s). This is with just the Vidar connected, no leads other than power and speaker. I have also tried in another system in my office, with the same result, where I am much closer to the speakers so it's always a low humming in the background when no music is playing.

Before I take it into the distributor in Melbourne for a look-see, has anyone got any other suggestions for me to check??

Coming from your speakers, or from the amp itself? If from the amp I'd suspect a DC offset issue. Are there any dimmers, a refrigerator or freezer, or other large inductive loads in your home? If you are certain it's coming through the speakers and you have NOTHING connected to the amp inputs, it's just the amp all by itself, then yes it needs to be looked at.

 

[jimmers]

I see a healthy power supply, voltage regulators, voltage and current buffers, two sets of output devices on massive heat sinks... plenty of parts if you ask me.

I'm not sure I see voltage regulators, voltage and current buffers as such, but I do see more than a hundred components on the circuit board (lots of very small ones)

 

[Timster]

Coming from your speakers, or from the amp itself? If from the amp I'd suspect a DC offset issue. Are there any dimmers, a refrigerator or freezer, or other large inductive loads in your home? If you are certain it's coming through the speakers and you have NOTHING connected to the amp inputs, it's just the amp all by itself, then yes it needs to be looked at.

Yes, clearly audible from the speakers. Have disconnected the refrigerator from power and no dimmers in the house. Still the same, with just the amp powered up and speakers connected.
Guess it's going in for a check.

Thanks for the help

 

[Ableza]

Yes, if it's clearly audible from speakers with no input connected to the amnp, then it is coming from the amp.

 

[Brubacca]

Got what might be a stupid question so I'll apologize up front.

Can 2 different amps create the same bass energy in a given speaker if operated within the power envelope?

Meaning can a 30W Amp generate the same bass (all other things being equal) energy as a 100W as long as you are working in the range of the lower watt amp?

So if I working at low watts, like 2-5 will both amps from a max watts perspective put out the same bass?

I do realize that there are many other factors at play here.
The reality- I have a 30W naim amp with a pair of Monitor Audio RS8. I have been considering adding an external amp, or just getting a different amp all together. The gumby/naim combo is very pleasant on the ears, but I keep feeling like the bass couod be better controlled with a higher powered external amp (Vidar) or just a different higher wattage integrated amp (Rag 2, Naim Nait 5si).

The 30W naim falls below the recommended minimum for the speakers (this is driving me a bit crazy, ocd wise, min says 40W). I will try to listen to other options and Rag 2 isn't out yet.

My first question is really, do watts really matter when you don't seem to really be using them? From my reading I'm not really using more than 2-5 watts on that amp anyway.

Long winded ramble. Thanks for reading.

 

[Ableza]

Watts is watts, If both amps put 20 watts into the speaker, then the speaker will generate the same output level.

 

[rkw]

You sure it works?
I see so few parts.....

As Jason said, it looks a lot like the Vidar, which happens to work too!

 

[ScubaMan2017]

......{snip}........Long story short, after a massive cutover (9000 endpoints) we noticed that 911 call locations were intermittently not resolving correctly. Teachers loudly proclaiming "student safety" etc........{snip}......It's easy to scream when frustrated - but respecting the partnership, intentional or not, is always more productive

Your reflections cut close to the bone, @ImagesbyMurray . Re: migration of my teaching-craft into the online realm. Before I retire, I hope my canned courses can be almost completely virtual, thus allowing more high school wet labs! Student safety. I like to think we're making progress teaching teenagers on how to be civilized cyber-citizens. It still surprises my 15-18 year old students when I ask them to pull out their phones, and look at the tiny little Geo-Location icon on their screens.

There's another aspect to it... that I call professional safety... especially as a 49-year old, male teacher of Northern European descent. Anything I do in class, or even on my time off, can/will be recorded, and stored forever (or at least until the next 1859-esk, catastrophic solar ejection/eruption aimed at Earth or a electromagnetic pulse fries the telegraph [heh] wires). Without sounding like a drama-queen/king, I actively promote my online presence (or product)... "Students, this is Mister ScubaMan... (socially acceptable) warts and all".

...and using Tor software & VPN doesn't hurt my online privacy & travels to the nether-regions either. .

 

[Jones Bob]

Watts is watts, If both amps put 20 watts into the speaker, then the speaker will generate the same output level.

Watts is watts, but dampening factor may be different between two amps in extreme cases, ie: SET vs SS. That could affect different perceived bass quality between the two on the same pair of speakers.

 

[Brubacca]

Watts is watts, If both amps put 20 watts into the speaker, then the speaker will generate the same output level.

So if both amps are operating at the same volume level (assuming same gain in the amps) the bass Would be the same regardless of what the max Wattage was for the amps?

(Talking about solid state A/B amps specifically)

 

[Porteroso]

I’m not quite certain we handled that correctly. Admittedly, he did come in guns-a-blazin’, all ramped up on attitude, but I would prefer to think of this “space” as being a place that is not hostile to newcomers. Rather than giving him a few posts to calm down and get used to being around the new neighbours, we responded with a matching level of hostility that is perhaps not particularly worthy of good hosts.
.

A level of ration and level-headedness rarely seen in the wild (the internet).

 

[US Blues]

I’m not quite certain we handled that correctly. Admittedly, he did come in guns-a-blazin’, all ramped up on attitude, but I would prefer to think of this “space” as being a place that is not hostile to newcomers. Rather than giving him a few posts to calm down and get used to being around the new neighbours, we responded with a matching level of hostility that is perhaps not particularly worthy of good hosts.
.

I disagree. The initial responses to his/her/its posts were clear and helpful, and they were met with attitude. That did not sit well with the folks who tried to be helpful, and they named the the fact that their helpful suggestions he'd been met with vitriol, as did one or two others. An aggressive entry style is off-putting, responding to helpful and accurate responses with more aggression is a red flag.

This is an audio forum, and we generally have a friendly corner here. And we are not a psychotherapy depot, I personally charge a lot more than nothing for folks requiring therapy.

 

[jimmers]

Got what might be a stupid question so I'll apologize up front.

Can 2 different amps create the same bass energy in a given speaker if operated within the power envelope?

Meaning can a 30W Amp generate the same bass (all other things being equal) energy as a 100W as long as you are working in the range of the lower watt amp? ...

When it comes to amplifier specs and driving speakers Watts are not Watts.
The usual spec of output power into an 8 Ohm resistor is limited by the voltage output capability if there is sufficient current available for a resistive load of 8 Ohms, loudspeakers typically are not purely resistive and a 8 Ohm nominal speaker impedance may drop to 4 Ohms or lower and amplifier's ability to supply the necessary current may become more important in regards to power to the speaker.

 

[Ableza]

Watts is watts, but dampening factor may be different between two amps in extreme cases, ie: SET vs SS. That could affect different perceived bass quality between the two on the same pair of speakers.

But that wasn’t the the question.

 

[Ableza]

In terms of the dbSPL output from a given speaker watts is watts. In terms of how the system might sound that is a completely different topic and cannot be answered base don amplifier power.