Unwanted radio signals

dcacc

When I turned my system on this a.m., I noticed sound coming through my speakers before I even turned on my CD player. I put my ear to a speaker and could hear classical music, which I'm guessing is from a local radio station. And it wasn't just faint; it sounded like I was playing a classical disc at low volume. I can't figure out where in my system it's getting picked up -- and more important, how to get rid of it.

The only change I've made recently was the addition of a Carver TFM 35 amp a few days ago. But I'm pretty sure this noise wasn't there until today, since one of the first things I did after connecting the Carver was listen closely to see if there was any buzz or hum, which there wasn't.

My system consists of: Onkyo 805, which I use to drive the center (CSi5) and surrounds, and the Carver, which is bi-wired to power my mains (RTi10s). I'm using an Oppo DV-980H as my CD player. I also have a PS3 connected. And it's all being run through a Monster HTS 3500 power center. I'm using Canare 4S11 14-gauge cables from bluejeans and Monster THX interconnects.

Anyone have any ideas why I'm suddenly picking up this noise -- and suggestions for getting rid of this?

By the way -- concerning this Carver: Holy $#%! I was skeptical that adding a separate amp could make that much of a difference over the Onkyo, with its supposed 130 watts per channel. The difference is night and day. The RTi10s, which I thought sounded pretty good before, now sound spectacular -- most notably, the highs are markedly smoother and less sibilant.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Somewhere, in your audio system, you are picking up radio frequencies (RF) and it is being amplified slightly and is produced by the speakers. The first step is to determine where the RF is getting into the system. Try removing the new power amp and re-connect the Onkyo receiver. If the RF were no longer heard then that would be the link in the chain where it is coming into. Let us know what you find.
Regards, Ken

comfortablycurt

You might want to try swapping cables around too. Sometimes RF can get in through an improperly shielded cable.

We were having the same problem at one of my friends dads houses a long time ago...we all kept thinking we were hearing the radio playing, when there wasn't a radio on. We all thought we were going crazy. He has a couple old Cerwin Vega floorstanders with 15's in em. Turned out it was coming through them. We swapped cables around, and that ended up fixing the problem.

thsmith

dcacc wrote: »

By the way -- concerning this Carver: Holy $#%! I was skeptical that adding a separate amp could make that much of a difference over the Onkyo, with its supposed 130 watts per channel. The difference is night and day. The RTi10s, which I thought sounded pretty good before, now sound spectacular -- most notably, the highs are markedly smoother and less sibilant.

I had a TFM-25 using my Denon 2808 and it made a huge difference. The TFM-45 I just added made even a bigger difference.

Those Carvers sound so sweet:D