tomy2
New member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 131
The speakers just get a very slight hiss on the tweeters, mids are dead silent. The amps themselves still have the buzz.
I am using a Cardas xlr adapter for my single ended IC's.
Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....
- Thread starter joeinid
- Start date
The speakers just get a very slight hiss on the tweeters, mids are dead silent. The amps themselves still have the buzz.
I am using a Cardas xlr adapter for my single ended IC's.
Jack
Active member
Tomy
I get a slight hiss from the 6SN7's within six inches and that is with four tweeters per side. With the preamp off nothing and I checked before I turned the preamp on. I have a very acute sensitivity to any sort of electrical hum.
I get a slight hiss from the 6SN7's within six inches and that is with four tweeters per side. With the preamp off nothing and I checked before I turned the preamp on. I have a very acute sensitivity to any sort of electrical hum.
Guys,
I'm out of ideas. Looks like you'll need to take this up with Colin.
I just came back downstairs and shut off my preamp and unplugged power from it. This leaves the Nord amps on and connected to my 94db sensitive loudspeakers. I hear nothing from the amp chassis themselves with my ear pressed up against the face plates. I hear nothing from the tweeters or midrange drivers on my loudspeakers either, but they have metal perforated grilles so my ear is not touching the drivers themselves.
With my tube preamp turn on and unmuted I do get some slight tube rush but its very low level and doesn't bother me even at very low listening volumes.
I'm out of ideas. Looks like you'll need to take this up with Colin.
I just came back downstairs and shut off my preamp and unplugged power from it. This leaves the Nord amps on and connected to my 94db sensitive loudspeakers. I hear nothing from the amp chassis themselves with my ear pressed up against the face plates. I hear nothing from the tweeters or midrange drivers on my loudspeakers either, but they have metal perforated grilles so my ear is not touching the drivers themselves.
With my tube preamp turn on and unmuted I do get some slight tube rush but its very low level and doesn't bother me even at very low listening volumes.
Randy Myers
Well-known member
Mentioning another brand was taken as a shameless plug, instead of it's true intention which was to point out that Class D amps are not inherently prone to hum as some rumors would have one believe... therefore the post has been retracted.
Jack
Active member
Randy
Not really sure what the point is of another W4S plug and this is coming from someone who owns three pieces of their gear including the "big brothers" to your amp. You drove down the road and picked you amp up at the factory and didn't have it subjected to the transcontinental shipping thugs at UPS. If you had found a problem when you got it home you would have gone back and Tony would have fixed it. I am not going to even address the "sound" differences and there are some. ICE and Hypex amps are different animals with different strengths and weaknesses. Nuprime/Nuforce and Paschal different still. So hear more than one type first.
Not really sure what the point is of another W4S plug and this is coming from someone who owns three pieces of their gear including the "big brothers" to your amp. You drove down the road and picked you amp up at the factory and didn't have it subjected to the transcontinental shipping thugs at UPS. If you had found a problem when you got it home you would have gone back and Tony would have fixed it. I am not going to even address the "sound" differences and there are some. ICE and Hypex amps are different animals with different strengths and weaknesses. Nuprime/Nuforce and Paschal different still. So hear more than one type first.
Thanks Jack.
Randy Myers
Well-known member
Jack, I was not comparing the sound or build quality between the two. Sorry if it came off that way. I was only pointing out that Class D amps as such are not subjected to hum as I have heard people claiming in other forums. Just a simple point...
Jack
Active member
Randy
You are correct they are not by nature subject to hum or noise any more than any other "Class" of amp or for that matter any other audio component. When I built this house I substituted the never used formal living room for an "Audio Room" with three dedicated 20 amp circuits. It may not be as big as my dreams would have it but it is big enough. It is and has been generally electrical noise free. Still occasionally I insert a component that causes a problem. That includes a W4S component that I talked to Tony about multiple times. It was completely silent balanced but noisy running SE so I worked around it. Twice since I have had a similar problem with tube gear and that was resolved by re-routing wiring where power wires and grounds were crossing over each other. As it applies to Tomy and Devg either Colin got a bad batch of power supplies from Hypex or it is a simple wiring polarity issue. They both had to get almost on top of the amps to hear it so not a crisis but still needs to be resolved. Mine is dead silent as were Joe's pair when I had them. Bottom line is they are a great product from "another good guy." You need to remember that Colin is just a single guy trying to provide a good product on this own at a fair price. He doesn't have the likes of Rick Cullen and Bascom King in the wings to help him.
You are correct they are not by nature subject to hum or noise any more than any other "Class" of amp or for that matter any other audio component. When I built this house I substituted the never used formal living room for an "Audio Room" with three dedicated 20 amp circuits. It may not be as big as my dreams would have it but it is big enough. It is and has been generally electrical noise free. Still occasionally I insert a component that causes a problem. That includes a W4S component that I talked to Tony about multiple times. It was completely silent balanced but noisy running SE so I worked around it. Twice since I have had a similar problem with tube gear and that was resolved by re-routing wiring where power wires and grounds were crossing over each other. As it applies to Tomy and Devg either Colin got a bad batch of power supplies from Hypex or it is a simple wiring polarity issue. They both had to get almost on top of the amps to hear it so not a crisis but still needs to be resolved. Mine is dead silent as were Joe's pair when I had them. Bottom line is they are a great product from "another good guy." You need to remember that Colin is just a single guy trying to provide a good product on this own at a fair price. He doesn't have the likes of Rick Cullen and Bascom King in the wings to help him.
Randy Myers
Well-known member
I have a ton of respect for Collin and I very much wish him all the best. I certainly never have nor would I ever say anything disrespectful towards Nord. Honestly I would have nothing to base any such comments.
Folks, especially Randy
Its not that W2S products are defect free
I have had STP-SE, ST-1000, mAmps, DAC & USB recovery before I replaced with other products. The STP-Se had developed problem with the volume knob and one notch twist to it would increase the sound by quiet a few decibels which is abnormal. We all acknowledge that these kinds of defects happens once in a while and remember that its not the manufacture's intention to have these defects in the first place. I am sure we will find a solution for this problem but it doesn't take away the fact that these Amps are really especial at this price. I haven't felt with way with the W4S amps. Owning class D before and having a sour taste, I was very very skeptical with another class of class D but this forum convinced me to try it and I am thankful for it.
I am not trying to start a flame war between the W4S and Nords but......I would agree the W4S amps are silent and you couldn't even hear a hiss from the speakers but they are far less musical compared to what I am hearing from the Nords. I am willing to live with this slight buzz, which I cannot even hear from a ft and can only hear with my ears close to the chassis, than get something less musical. I have had quiet a few solid state Amps - W4S, Parasound, Mark Levinson, Symphonic Line and Pass Labs but honestly I am not missing anything from the Nords. Given the price to performance and the flexibility to tailor the sound to fit system needs, I would say they are overachiever and far above anything that I have owned or heard in my system.
I would urge you to try one
-- Dev
Its not that W2S products are defect free
I have had STP-SE, ST-1000, mAmps, DAC & USB recovery before I replaced with other products. The STP-Se had developed problem with the volume knob and one notch twist to it would increase the sound by quiet a few decibels which is abnormal. We all acknowledge that these kinds of defects happens once in a while and remember that its not the manufacture's intention to have these defects in the first place. I am sure we will find a solution for this problem but it doesn't take away the fact that these Amps are really especial at this price. I haven't felt with way with the W4S amps. Owning class D before and having a sour taste, I was very very skeptical with another class of class D but this forum convinced me to try it and I am thankful for it.I am not trying to start a flame war between the W4S and Nords but......I would agree the W4S amps are silent and you couldn't even hear a hiss from the speakers but they are far less musical compared to what I am hearing from the Nords. I am willing to live with this slight buzz, which I cannot even hear from a ft and can only hear with my ears close to the chassis, than get something less musical. I have had quiet a few solid state Amps - W4S, Parasound, Mark Levinson, Symphonic Line and Pass Labs but honestly I am not missing anything from the Nords. Given the price to performance and the flexibility to tailor the sound to fit system needs, I would say they are overachiever and far above anything that I have owned or heard in my system.
I would urge you to try one
-- Dev
Randy Myers
Well-known member
I am very sorry I mentioned another brand... Jesus.... sorry guys.... I was only making a point that Class D amps are not inherently noisy... please guys, you are being way too defensive... I did not say a single bad word about Nord or NCore in general I only said that my W4S was quite... my God people, stop being so defensive. I have nothing but good things to say about Collin and Nord....
They all have good and bad points. Some people like B&O amps, some don't, some like NCore, some don't. It is all how they are implemented... neither is better or worse than the other...
NCore is a very good sounding amp, but it also has it's issues. There is a reason that EJ decided not to use them (and he has several in his office, he showed them to me) and it had nothing to do with sound quality or costs. In fact his new amp is a brand new Class D design; proprietary and is not going to be sold to OEM at this point. He designed it from the ground floor up and it will be released to the market within a few months; after winning best of show at RMAF and getting rave reviewed at Newport.
They all have good and bad points. Some people like B&O amps, some don't, some like NCore, some don't. It is all how they are implemented... neither is better or worse than the other...
NCore is a very good sounding amp, but it also has it's issues. There is a reason that EJ decided not to use them (and he has several in his office, he showed them to me) and it had nothing to do with sound quality or costs. In fact his new amp is a brand new Class D design; proprietary and is not going to be sold to OEM at this point. He designed it from the ground floor up and it will be released to the market within a few months; after winning best of show at RMAF and getting rave reviewed at Newport.
Again, you are mentioning some useless information....an Amp that doesn't exist in the market and no one can buy. We all know how best of show works. It hasn't been once that I was able to stay in W4S room for more than 10 secs every time I had been to the CA Audio show. Their system frankly caught me headache. Lets keep this as the Nord thread, so that it benefits Nord's existing and future owners
nc42acc
New member
My Nords are dead quiet
jadedavid
New member
Tommy, by using a Volt/Ohm meter, you could check from the center of the RCA input and determine which pin that you have continuity to. That is then your XLR "hot" pin. The pinout diagram is easily available online and easier to understand than me trying to explain to you. {not sure how to provide links)
tomy2
New member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 131
Thanks for the tip! I'll try that in a little bit.
I just just hooked the passive pre back up and the hum is not as substantial as it was last week with the passive in the chain. Left channel hum is still noticably louder than the right which correlates to what I hear from the amps themselves.
Randy Myers
Well-known member
tomy2 I assume your passive pre does not have balanced outputs? If it does definitely use an XLR cable instead of the adapters. I have read warnings about using caution with adapters primarily in regards to polarity.
tomy2
New member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 131
Its the cheap little Tisbury passive with SE only. When I hook it up to another amp with 34db gain I get silence.