Wheezing & Drifting

halo

For several months my setup has been plagued by an intermittent and sporadic wheezing noise out of the left channel. Initially, I thought it was the capacitor(s) in the amp. Nope. Amp checked out just fine. Then I thought something was off in the preamp after running the source directly to the amp. Nope. Preamp checked out just fine.

As you may or may not know, I recently got a turntable. It has a built in preamp and I was using that initially. I upgraded to a separate phono preamp. I put it in the setup and all of a sudden most of the music is coming through the right channel. Some music was coming through the left channel and, occasionally, the left channel would drift in and then it would drift back out. I thought it sounded great when both channels were playing. So, I disconnected the outboard pre and turned the onboard pre back on - no more drift. The next morning, I swapped out the interconnect cables between the turntable and the pre and the drift was gone.

So I tried swapping out the IC from the preamp to the amp and the wheezing disappeared.

Boy oh boy do I feel like a class A goof.

Just want to relay my experience as it may benefit someone else.

mhardy6647

Yup. Occam's Razor. If there are many possible explanations for a phenomenon, the simplest one is usually (well... often) the correct one.

Case in point. I have a beautiful Yamaha CR-2020, which I bought as restored (from a very competent Yamaha fellow), some years back. Started using it and it sounded wonderful. Over time, though, it developed a nasty intermittent distortion in one channel. I thought sure that it had a bad (failing) driver or power transistor(s). I was pretty bummed. Long story short, it was a dirty pre/main coupling switch, no more and no less. Turns out, this back-panel switch is often and easily overlooked when cleaning pots & switches -- and it gets dirty and intermittently will wreak all kinds of havoc. Popping the top & cleaning the switch fixed it.

Or, as Roseanne Roseannadanna would say.

tonyb

Agreed, always start with the simple solutions and work your way up. Cables have a nasty habit of throwing everything off kilter. Glad you got it worked out though.

halo

Quick follow up question @tonyb & @mhardy6647 & @F1nut - If I am not the original purchaser / owner, is the lifetime warranty on MIT cables intact? Can I send he cables to MIT for a replacement?

F1nut

They should repair at no charge.

heiney9

I tried to get an I/C repaired as the 2nd owner and I got as far as having them ask for original sales documentation. I didn't have any as a 2nd owner

I have a feeling if I would have followed through they were going to do it no charge, but I never went beyond that point. I was dealing directly with Gavin at the time, who is no longer a rep/agent for MIT. I believe he handed me off to a Monica in the customer service department.

My cable is still broken w/an intermittent cut-out (Shotgun S1), but I never move anything around and you really have to jack with it to get to act up so I've basically just let it be at this point.

H9

halo

That's interesting @heiney9 because I haven't moved anything in a very long time and this just started to happen out of the blue.

At the $ of the shotgun cables, I'd be concerned if something were to happen to them without MIT standing behind their product but, as a second hand owner, that's the risk you run for saving $ buying items used to begin with.

heiney9

I'm with Jesse, in the end I think they will stand behind the product. You'll pay shipping atleast one way if not both.

My take on it is, they cost a lot initially so they should stand behind the very small percentage that might develop an issue regardless of if you are the 1st owner or not. There are no wear items that wear out over time. If the engineering and material quality costs extra (which I believe it does) then they need to stand behind the product and the stated lifetime warranty.

H9

halo

nbrowser wrote: »

I hate to be a major buzzkill but this excerpt taken directly from the MIT website states...

Limited Lifetime Warranty

Manufacturer warrants that MIT® Interfaces shall be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the MIT product, with the original purchaser. Your dealer will obtain a return authorization number for any defective product and send it to MIT. Manufacturer will, at Manufacturer's option and upon return of product, replace or repair, without additional charge, any product that does not comply with this warranty.

Located at, http://www.mitcables.com/warning-buy authorized/featured-articles/articles/warning-only-buy-mit-cables-products-from-authorized-dealers/menu-id-261.html

Just stating facts is all...

Thank you for the information!

I did contact MIT directly and they sent a reply. They are going to have someone contact me to see what can be done so we'll see. Doesn't hurt to ask. The worst they can do is say no.

halo

nbrowser wrote: »

Nope, never hurts to ask...just providing information as I see it is all. No harm no foul.

Oh, I appreciate it. Information is power!

heiney9

Just like Polk has replaced drivers, sub woofer amps, etc even when out of warranty or not the original purchaser. I get the vibe MIT is like that too. Just have to wait and see.

mhardy6647

halo wrote: »

...

Thank you for the information!

I did contact MIT directly and they sent a reply. They are going to have someone contact me to see what can be done so we'll see. Doesn't hurt to ask. The worst they can do is say no.

Exactly so.