[blinx]

EDIT: so i found out it has nothing to do with my mapletree, but rather the zhaolu itself

everytime i try plug my interconnects in, the signal just goes out... its the weirdest thing

it wont go out if the RCA's arnt plugged into anything, but right when i plug them into my mapletree the signal is gone

can someone help me?

 

[blinx]

also, sometimes when the coax is connected (im using coax incase i forgot to mention) the signal light isnt on and neither is the mute light.. but when i touch the IC it turns on the signal light

 

[blinx]

so i kinda confined the problem, i moved the zhaolu as far as i could away from the amp and put a magazine and tin foil between them

haha im trying everything... now im getting pop's and clicks in the music about every 2 seconds or so

 

[Herandu]

The unit is faulty. I suspect an earthing problem myself. If you just bought it you should contact the seller and get a replacement.

 

[blinx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif The unit is faulty. I suspect an earthing problem myself. If you just bought it you should contact the seller and get a replacement.

the thing is, there was never a problem with my millet...only my mapletree

but i know the mapletree isnt the problem, since one time i skipped the DAC and it worked great

 

[Ori]

I'm reading this thread for the first time and now I realize that you have more severe issues than DC offset, as I suggested in the other thread. It sounds like a ground (or as Hearndu said - the earth...) problem or coupling issues. What interconnect and coax are you using? If your ICs are the unshielded ribbon-type Mapleshades then try something shileded first. If you don't have shielded cables then "steal" the el-cheapo cables from your VCR to try.
In general, it is advised to use a magnetic power line filter for the digital source. You can regularly find a used Tripplite unit around $100 on ebay. It makes no sense to skimp on that isolation device in a quality system!
One more thing.
If your Zhaolu is a D2.5 then the noise issue is likely to be resolved by isolating the coaxial input with the pulse transformer. I include this with my mods and you could install one yourself, but it's a tight space and somewhat an invasive procedure.
It might be interesting to note that the D2 had a pulse transformer (although a cheap one!) and Zhaolu with their great "wisdom" removed it in the D2.5. They call that progress...

 

[blinx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ori /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm reading this thread for the first time and now I realize that you have more severe issues than DC offset, as I suggested in the other thread. It sounds like a ground (or as Hearndu said - the earth...) problem or coupling issues. What interconnect and coax are you using? If your ICs are the unshielded ribbon-type Mapleshades then try something shileded first. If you don't have shielded cables then "steal" the el-cheapo cables from your VCR to try. In general, it is advised to use a magnetic power line filter for the digital source. You can regularly find a used Tripplite unit around $100 on ebay. It makes no sense to skimp on that isolation device in a quality system! One more thing. If your Zhaolu is a D2.5 then the noise issue is likely to be resolved by isolating the coaxial input with the pulse transformer. I include this with my mods and you could install one yourself, but it's a tight space and somewhat an invasive procedure. It might be interesting to note that the D2 had a pulse transformer (although a cheap one!) and Zhaolu with their great "wisdom" removed it in the D2.5. They call that progress...

yeah, they are unshielded cables and i have a cheap 15 dollar "top quality" rat shack digital coax. I have it running from my x-fi with the rca to mono 1/8th adapter. It's also a lan modded D2, the "non-zhaolu" is what i heard its called or something

yeah it is actually a ground issue, i'll try all of this! thanks very much

 

[SayNoToPistons]

Make sure your Zhaolu is getting clean power (do not plug it in with yoru TV, computer and such). I had a problem with my D2C when i plugged it in with my computer hardware and TV together in a power strip. I would loose signal after now and then and i had trouble getting coaxial signal during start up (had to restart it a few times). It was all fixed when i plugged it into a separate socket.

 

[Zenja]

Yeah, some sort of noise could have something to do with it. When you plug an analogue signal into the analogue-in RCAs on the back, it mutes the DAC. This mechanism might be getting triggered somehow.

 

[blinx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenja /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, some sort of noise could have something to do with it. When you plug an analogue signal into the analogue-in RCAs on the back, it mutes the DAC. This mechanism might be getting triggered somehow.

the thing is, it worked perfectly fine with my millet that i had last week...

 

[blinx]

maybe the cheapest route is to just get rid of my x-fi and get an emu, so i can use optical

 

[blinx]

also to add to all of this, the signal is totally out when i space the amps more then 2 feet away from each other..

like i said, as soon as i put the RCA to the zhaolu, it freaks out and loses signal!
this is making me uncontrollably frustrated and very angry! i saved up for months for this freakin amp and all it's doing is causing me problems!

i hate high school wages

 

[blinx]

one thing i forgot to point out was that the coax never fit in all the way.. when i pushed it in it would always lose signal

so i've always hung the cable in there and taped it to the DAC

 

[Ori]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinx /img/forum/go_quote.gif one thing i forgot to point out was that the coax never fit in all the way.. when i pushed it in it would always lose signal so i've always hung the cable in there and taped it to the DAC

You may have a bad connector. This affects the termination of the signal (supposed to be 75 ohm - a resistor inside the DAC) and can cause all sorts of problems.

 

[blinx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ori /img/forum/go_quote.gif You may have a bad connector. This affects the termination of the signal (supposed to be 75 ohm - a resistor inside the DAC) and can cause all sorts of problems.

well, i tried hooking up the zhaolu's amp and it sounds good. no pop's or cracks or anything!

so the test now was to hook up the mapletree while i was listening through the headphone jack on the zhaolu.. i plugged in the interconnects on both ends... it still sounded good. Then right when i touch the power cable to the mapletree the signal starts cutting out and distorting (i mean bad!)

so its obvious theres something about these 2 components that hate each other, im just trying to figure out what it is..