Query about Nighthawk

mahiruha said:
Hi,
thanks everybody for your feedback regarding Nighthawk phono. Looks like it needs an ideal environment for silent operation but it can be achieved.

@Pratim: I think to solve your hum issue. You must do two things. You must place the nighthawk as much away from the TT as possible. You must locate a place in your TT where you can solder a ground wire and that wire should be connected to the Nighthawk. I am not sure about magnetic feedback but you should check the manual if your TT can accept moving coil cartridges. I know some TTs cannot accept mc cartridges due to some reason.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi Mahirua,
Phonostage should be placed as close as possible with TT.TT interconnect should be low capacitance and as short as possible.Your phnostage should not be close to a power amp.

Regards,
Sachin
 
Guys. The nighthawk is usually not prone to hum. Just check your wires (phonocables). Check for ground loops. Try and ensure that only one power cord for one component is taking ground from the power socket. If you have multiple components taking ground you will have a hum issue.
 
jls001 said:
I agree with the fact that a properly designed and made phono stage must be silent even at its (phono stage's) highest gain setting. In my case, I have proven this by moving the DL103 cartridge to a different, recently acquired turntable. It is silent at a gain setting (on the line level preamp) which is 10 dB more than normal CD listening. I haven't bothered to try higher gain, but I guess I must do it. BUT, when a light switch is turned on-off in the same room while this new 'table is playing, there is still a popping pickup. Phono preamp remains the same.
Click to expand...

I take back my words - last night I listened more closely to the new turntable and the hum is there exactly like before. I don't how I missed this earlier :o

What I did subsequently to try and remove the hum was open the ground wire of the power cord of my line level preamp and left it open, and depend only on the grounding of the power amp for the full chain. Phono pre is fed from a wallwart adapter so there is no grounding from the power outlet. Even with the line level preamp floated, the hum stays. Earlier too, I had kept the line level preamp "Ungrounded" (there is a toggle switch which allows gounded or ungrounded to be selected).

So to recap (and unfortunately hijack Mahiruha's thread), I have done all that I know and understood to try and remove ground loops but with no luck. I need ideas and advices on how to tackle this further. Thanks in advance.

To completely eliminate the turntable as a possible source of the hum, I will try a third one.
 
I have a Nighthawk, connected to Rega P5 with Exact cartridge. I checked at full volume, and I did not notice any hum or any sort of noise.

Regards
Manoj
 
Hi Joshua,
just a question. Say in a set up we have everything battery operated. Lets have red wine audio amp, speakers , TT and nighthawk phono. We can also make the TT to operate through a battery. In this case can we expect hum ? I am just talking about a hypothetical situation from a theoretical point of view.

Thanks.
 
mahiruha said:
Hi Joshua,
just a question. Say in a set up we have everything battery operated. Lets have red wine audio amp, speakers , TT and nighthawk phono. We can also make the TT to operate through a battery. In this case can we expect hum ? I am just talking about a hypothetical situation from a theoretical point of view.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I can only answer part of that question: I used battery powered Hypnotoad MC phonostage for many months till one fine day it refused to operate. It had the same hum that I described earlier (when line level preamp gains are 6 to 10 dB higher than regular CD level).

I am not sure technically how ground loops would arise or be avoided in a completely battery operated setup. But pickups due to poor wiring has equal chance of happening as AC operated setups.

My limited understanding of turntable hum is that it is caused by either ground loops (grounding at multiple points) or by some part of the turntable, or tonearm, or tonearm wires, or TT-phono preamp interconnecting cables acting as a receptacle to receive unwanted electrical signal. In other words, there is poor shielding somewhere in the chain. This can be avoided by actually "plugging" the leak provided one can find it, or re-routing cabling.

Even in a completely battery run system, I still feel that a grounding to real earth will be beneficial. Every electronic circuit has a ground. This ground could be left "floating" or actually connected to earth. I feel the latter will be beneficial. I could be totally wrong, though.
 
Since Pratim bought the Micro Seikie from me, I have been in conversation with him on this issue from day one. As I suggested to him, he should consider borrowing another phono stage and see if the hum issue is still there. Mr. Pratim took the TT to check the grounding connection and it is understood from the person who checked the continuity, there is no continuity from the negative of the RCA pin to the body of the TT. This could be a reason. Another thing as Joshua mentioned could be the electrical grounding. Another option he can try is to try another MM cartridge. The next option is to try to change the RCA cord wire from the TT to the phono stage as there could be a capacitance mismatch . Such things can only be solved by trial and error. Anyway, it is now decided that my technician is going to visit Pratim to sort out this issue. I have compared the TT with my other TTs and the Micro Seikie is in the top bracket. With this issue put to rest, it should outperform many players costing 5 times the cost of this player if not more
 
jls001 said:
I can only answer part of that question: I used battery powered Hypnotoad MC phonostage for many months till one fine day it refused to operate. It had the same hum that I described earlier (when line level preamp gains are 6 to 10 dB higher than regular CD level).

I am not sure technically how ground loops would arise or be avoided in a completely battery operated setup. But pickups due to poor wiring has equal chance of happening as AC operated setups.

My limited understanding of turntable hum is that it is caused by either ground loops (grounding at multiple points) or by some part of the turntable, or tonearm, or tonearm wires, or TT-phono preamp interconnecting cables acting as a receptacle to receive unwanted electrical signal. In other words, there is poor shielding somewhere in the chain. This can be avoided by actually "plugging" the leak provided one can find it, or re-routing cabling.

Even in a completely battery run system, I still feel that a grounding to real earth will be beneficial. Every electronic circuit has a ground. This ground could be left "floating" or actually connected to earth. I feel the latter will be beneficial. I could be totally wrong, though.
Click to expand...

Hi Joshua,
thanks for your explanation. Yes there are too many parameters involved as we are combining equipment from different people. It is a trial and error process indeed and that makes this hobby interesting and confusing at the same time.
Thanks.
 
I once sold a high end Yamaha TT to a guy in Trivandrum. In that TT, there was an option to use any RCA cord from the TT which had RCA female socket at the back. I gave him old Japanese RCA cables to use. But he told me that these cables are an insult to such a player and instead put some cables which he purchased from Singapore. He called me a few days later to say that there is a hum noise. i told him it is because of the cables which he did not believe. I went there and fixed the old Japanese cables and the hum disappeared completely. What I am trying to say is that even such a simple thing can make a huge difference in vinyl playback. That is why it is so fascinating a hobby
 
+1 to Mr. Kuruvila's finding.

A lot of people have issues with TTs because of the lack of experience with the format or with electronics in general. Once one gets the hang of it, TTs are extremely easy and fun to work with.

There are numerous dependencies and variables when it comes to TT setup and operation. A fair understanding of these is necessary before one can try out stuff. If one does not know these, leave the task for setting up to the experts and just listen to the music :)
 
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