Thanks for all the valuable input. I think everyone who’s contributed has had influence on the remedy. A ground lift, a little reorganization and quiet as can be and I got away with one power supply. No more audible noise with or without the display. Thanks again gang
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Congrats. Good work! 
GH’s removing night time nasty Gremlins, resulting in nice and smooth result, like this daytime cutie: Felted Gizmo Mogwai Gremlin/Gizmo art doll/Gremlin toy/Gremlin sculpture/Needle felted creature/Wool gift/Gremlin gift | Needle felting, Wool gifts, Art dolls
GH’s removing night time nasty Gremlins, resulting in nice and smooth result, like this daytime cutie: Felted Gizmo Mogwai Gremlin/Gizmo art doll/Gremlin toy/Gremlin sculpture/Needle felted creature/Wool gift/Gremlin gift | Needle felting, Wool gifts, Art dolls
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Well, perhaps I misspoke earlier but maybe not. I want to bounce off the group the scenario and see what the brain trust can conjure up. As I’m sure some may have read I got my BA2018 quiet late last night by adding the ground lift and reconfiguring the layout. I initially tried it on an old NAD2200 I had laying around which I use for testing. The noise disappeared. From there I brought it down to my listening room and plugged into (2) other higher end commercial amps and again total silence and amazing how it sounds. I had my F5Tv2 disconnected at the time. I connected the BA2018 up this morning to the F5T and now I have the same noise issue I had before going through all the surgery. I removed the Muses circuitry from the main psu and installed it and the display on its own psu with no success. Any thoughts on why nosy with the F5T? Any thoughts on what I should look for or how to remedy? The F5T is quiet on its own or with other pre’s. Thank you in advance. Joe
If it was me, I will try the following:
1.) Disconnect the display entirely and see if the noise remains.
2.) Disconnect the BA2018 PSU ground to the chassis ground and see if the noise changes.
If either of the two changes the magnitude level of the noise, it is definitely a grounding (wiring) issue.
Also, for the display with a separate PSU, connect the ground of the display PSU to the Muses PSU ground only and not to the chassis ground. So in summary, if you choose BA2018 ground as the star ground, then VC ground is connected to display ground then one wire from here connects to star ground, then one wire from here connects to chassis ground.
Hope this helps!
1.) Disconnect the display entirely and see if the noise remains.
2.) Disconnect the BA2018 PSU ground to the chassis ground and see if the noise changes.
If either of the two changes the magnitude level of the noise, it is definitely a grounding (wiring) issue.
Also, for the display with a separate PSU, connect the ground of the display PSU to the Muses PSU ground only and not to the chassis ground. So in summary, if you choose BA2018 ground as the star ground, then VC ground is connected to display ground then one wire from here connects to star ground, then one wire from here connects to chassis ground.
Hope this helps!
I will these ideas tonight when I get home. The one thing I know for sure is the noise doesn’t change with the display powered up or not wired with separate psu or not. One thing I did do is connect the grounds of both psu together. I will try them isolated and the ideas about removing the chassis ground and the idea about the display ground etc. I’ll post my findings this evening. Thanks again
The easiest test to exclude or confirm that, is doing what I suggested before: disconnect the wire between the audio gnd and chassis completely. Just disconnect it. Then put Muse digi crappy gnd at chassis star, and see what happens. However, if they meet only at chassis star gnd, and the loop breaker separates them allready, this test is futile. But again, keep audio gnd clean from digital gnd wires, put the shitty digi gnds at chassis star only, with a loop breaker between that and audio gnd.
Remember the speach at the end of Team America? You are the D, and digi gnd is the A.
Sorry if this has allready been tried. As I read your previous posts, I thought you might have not. Good luck chasing!
Regards,
Andy
Remember the speach at the end of Team America? You are the D, and digi gnd is the A.
Sorry if this has allready been tried. As I read your previous posts, I thought you might have not. Good luck chasing!
Regards,
Andy
Somewhere previously there was a similar problem presented and it turned out to be a misbehaving WiFi access point or router that was leaking RF. When it was touched, the noise instantly went away.
Just checking to be sure that there are no RF generators in the vicinity of the problem equipment . . .
Just checking to be sure that there are no RF generators in the vicinity of the problem equipment . . .
Sorry guys, had to get away from this thing for a couple days. Andy & Amandarae, I pretty much have done exactly as you guys suggested. In fact this is what I’ve done and with each had NO SUCCESS. Before doing anything I removed the filter capacitors and resistors at the power input to the BA2018. Next I removed the ground from the psu to the ground lift isolating it totally. Then I put the second psu back in and connected up the Muses back to it with the display NOT connected and it noy grounded at the earth ground. I them disconnected the Muse VCM and disconnected the BA2018 from the main psu and ran it through the second psu I have and connected the Muses to the main psu. I removed the ground from the BA boards, the hum was gone but now I picked up a lot of hiss. I’m assuming because I don’t have the ground reference for the +/- supply. I connected a wire back to the boards and started touching different ground points each of them bringing back the buzzy hum. Lastly I disconnected everything from the main psu and ran everything through the psu I got from Academy Audio which is powered by 5vdc. I still have the noise.?
As a last ditch effort I tried one more thing. I feed line voltage to the BA2018 through a balanced transformer. My F5Tv2 is plugged into a box made up of (3) duplex 20A hospital grade outlets, good quality wire and a good quality power cable goes to the wall. The balanced T-former was plugged in at the wall with the plug from the made up box. I removed the balanced transformer from the wall outlet and plugged it into the same box with all the other cords and wtf…Voila, the annoying buzz is gone and so is the low hum. I also changed the wall outlet to a hospital grade 20A outlet. I can’t believe this is. It’s been almost a week since I made this change and I played the BA2018 every day since. It’s still silent and IMO, it sounds better and better everyday. Coincidence? Perhaps, but very happy meanwhile. I still don’t understand why only the F5Tv2 was so sensitive to the grounding issue vs my commercial amps but not going to lose any sleep over it. Thank you all for the help. Joe
As a last ditch effort I tried one more thing. I feed line voltage to the BA2018 through a balanced transformer. My F5Tv2 is plugged into a box made up of (3) duplex 20A hospital grade outlets, good quality wire and a good quality power cable goes to the wall. The balanced T-former was plugged in at the wall with the plug from the made up box. I removed the balanced transformer from the wall outlet and plugged it into the same box with all the other cords and wtf…Voila, the annoying buzz is gone and so is the low hum. I also changed the wall outlet to a hospital grade 20A outlet. I can’t believe this is. It’s been almost a week since I made this change and I played the BA2018 every day since. It’s still silent and IMO, it sounds better and better everyday. Coincidence? Perhaps, but very happy meanwhile. I still don’t understand why only the F5Tv2 was so sensitive to the grounding issue vs my commercial amps but not going to lose any sleep over it. Thank you all for the help. Joe
1: Congrats! Good job!
2: Maybe Gremlins have their own way of creeping into the F5T. You once said you can hear things you’ve bever heard before with the F5T
iOW, we should all have such a truth machine if for no other reason than using it as final confirmation problem is solved. And luckily at the same time it also sounds good 
Main thing is you solved it, on your own more or less. Meaning one minus point for GH status and one X kudos for Zardoz status.
Edit: no coincidence. WLS does sound better every day, then you will marry it. And then install H2 generator to give nescessary variation not to be seduced into infidelity.
Regards,
Andy
2: Maybe Gremlins have their own way of creeping into the F5T. You once said you can hear things you’ve bever heard before with the F5T
iOW, we should all have such a truth machine if for no other reason than using it as final confirmation problem is solved. And luckily at the same time it also sounds good Main thing is you solved it, on your own more or less. Meaning one minus point for GH status and one X kudos for Zardoz status.Edit: no coincidence. WLS does sound better every day, then you will marry it. And then install H2 generator to give nescessary variation not to be seduced into infidelity.
Regards,
Andy
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No reason to thank me, my advice was only one of many and tbh it seems you pulled this one off mostly by yourself.
H2 gen: https://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_h2_v1.pdf
Sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening. Tadaaaaa
Edit: Mighty
H2 gen: https://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_h2_v1.pdf
Sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening. Tadaaaaa
Edit:
Mighty
In addition to what Andy mentioned, there's also this version, which
may at the store soon:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/376337-h2-v2-build.html#post6767740
The BA2018 is already H2 dominate according to Wayne and your F5Tv2 uses P3 to adjust the H2 amount. Nelson warned about "to much of a good thing".
Try adjusting P3 on each channel first.
If it's not enough to your liking, build the H2v2 with unity gain and use interconnects between preamp and amp ( H2v2 is also adjustable for H2).
H2 will make the soundstage 3D, depth and width increase when adjusted to your room and listening preference. It's what makes the B1 Korg so interesting as a preamp.
Try adjusting P3 on each channel first.
If it's not enough to your liking, build the H2v2 with unity gain and use interconnects between preamp and amp ( H2v2 is also adjustable for H2).
H2 will make the soundstage 3D, depth and width increase when adjusted to your room and listening preference. It's what makes the B1 Korg so interesting as a preamp.
Showing off... and Troubleshooting Question
Well, here it is! I've really spent quite a long time procrastinating, but I have a (partially) functioning BA18 in my system. The first picture shows it in situ, plus pictures of the guts (L to R: Wayne's BA18, TentLabs attenuator, dual board Salas Simplistic RIAA) and the Sigma22 PSU in its separate enclosure. I didn't have the foresight to snap pictures of the backside, but it's about as you'd expect -- RCA connectors and a heavy-duty 7-pin umbilical.
So, here's the issue: it works really well, except that for some reason, my music comes through in mono. Not just one speaker working -- somehow, I managed to get it to sum both channels, or else, even more baffling, it takes the input for one side and plays it through both speakers. Listening tests seem to indicate this may be the case. I'm sure my rat's nest wiring doesn't help as far as diagnosis. But it is dead silent, so at least there's that.
Any ideas? I'm totally stumped, if only because I'm sure I did everything right.
While I'm asking questions, the DC offset seems OK but could be better. One channel seems to wander around between +/- 25mV, is that acceptable? I'm not super worried for now because the amp I'm going to use is the power section of a McIntosh integrated, which very likely has an input capacitor to deal with exactly this kind of thing. But one day I'd like to build an F5T, which might not be so tolerant. Of course, even just taking the lid off to measure can cause it to drift, but is it high enough that I should be trying to reduce the offset?
Thanks to everyone, you've all been immensely helpful!
Well, here it is! I've really spent quite a long time procrastinating, but I have a (partially) functioning BA18 in my system. The first picture shows it in situ, plus pictures of the guts (L to R: Wayne's BA18, TentLabs attenuator, dual board Salas Simplistic RIAA) and the Sigma22 PSU in its separate enclosure. I didn't have the foresight to snap pictures of the backside, but it's about as you'd expect -- RCA connectors and a heavy-duty 7-pin umbilical.
So, here's the issue: it works really well, except that for some reason, my music comes through in mono. Not just one speaker working -- somehow, I managed to get it to sum both channels, or else, even more baffling, it takes the input for one side and plays it through both speakers. Listening tests seem to indicate this may be the case. I'm sure my rat's nest wiring doesn't help as far as diagnosis. But it is dead silent, so at least there's that.
Any ideas? I'm totally stumped, if only because I'm sure I did everything right.
While I'm asking questions, the DC offset seems OK but could be better. One channel seems to wander around between +/- 25mV, is that acceptable? I'm not super worried for now because the amp I'm going to use is the power section of a McIntosh integrated, which very likely has an input capacitor to deal with exactly this kind of thing. But one day I'd like to build an F5T, which might not be so tolerant. Of course, even just taking the lid off to measure can cause it to drift, but is it high enough that I should be trying to reduce the offset?
Thanks to everyone, you've all been immensely helpful!
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