ASL Wave 8 monoblocks

[audiobliss69]

Oh, and if it means anything, the seller said these are dead quiet

amps. So, there shouldn't be a problem with the amps themselves.

[3dzapper]

A three prong plug that you plug into the socket, two flat ones and a roundish one. A cheater plug is one of those things that the three prong plugs onto and only two come out usually with a screw lug on one side. They cost about a dollar at your hardware store.

You can still use the DSP modes in your Yami. It also was an offhanded question making sure you had the Waves plugged into the proper outputs on the Yami. The ones lables "front" on the pre-out section in the middle of the back.

Rick

[audiobliss69]

Oh, oh, oh. You meant the power cable. Ok, duh. I

feel stupid now. They are three-prong plugs. But I would

think that's not the problem, as when I took the Yammi out of the

equation and hooked up my CDP directly to the Wave 8's the humm went

away. So I guess that means the problem is either the Yammi or

the IC. I'm using some Acoustic Research IC.

I hadn't thought about my DSP's. To be honest, I rarely use them.

[3dzapper]

No, all it is is a ground loop problem between the Waves and the Yami. By using the cheater plugs all the system grounds will be carried by the Yami eliminating the potential ( very small voltage) differences in the system. If for two bucks or so you can use your remote is it worth it?

How do the Waves sound without the hum?

rick

[travisc]

3D is on to something here. The hum is not being caused by the reciever. Looks like you need to go to the hardware store. tell the guy that your house only has two prong outlets and you need to plug in a three prong device. He will know exactly what you need.

[fini]

" Well, I unplugged the CDP from the wall, the printer from the wall, and the pencil sharpener from the wall (all are sitting on top my desk beside the monoblocks). I even unplugged the lamp that sits on the lower area of my desk. No noted difference in humm."

Looks like the problem is licked. I was going to suggest unplugging the Wave8s...

[audiobliss69]

Eh? It's gone when I'm just using my CDP, but I'm still getting a

humm when I use my Ymaha as a preamp (which is what I want to

do...until I can buy a tube preamp).

Why would the 2prong 'adapter thingies' fix the problem? I'm not

questioning the suggestion, I just don't understand what that'll do.

Thanks!

audiobliss

[NOSValves]

Audiobliss,

trust everyone on this your experiencing the ground loop hum happens all the time with separates. I take it your Yammi has the 3 prong AC plug also. If you don't want to lift it from ground you can try using a power strip plug all 3 components into the power strip (Wave 8's and the Yammi) and then into the wall. Sometimes this will help get rid of it others time the only easy solution is to either lift the amps with cheater plugs or the preamp its your choice.

Craig

[audiobliss69]

Actually the Yamaha's plug only has two prongs, and I currently have

all three (the Yammy and the two Wave 8's) plugged inot a power strip

along with my CDP.

But, you think some cheater plugs will fix the problem? It

obviously has something to do with the Yamaha, as I have no humm when I

just hook my CDP up directly to the Waves (that's how I'm using them

now).

Thanks!!

audiobliss

[travisc]

ok try this then

plug the wave 8's into the outlets on the back of the yamaha and plug that directly into the wall(youll need the cheater plugs for this)

are you sure the yamaha has only a two prong? My htr-5790 is identical to your rxv and has a three prong power cord

[audiobliss69]

Yep. The cord for my Yammy is only a two-prong. Kind of surprising seeing that the HTR series has three-prong plugs.

Again, I'm not questioning any of the advice I'm getting, I'm just not understanding the reasoning behind it. Why would I want to plug the Wave 8s into the Yammy (which will, indeed, require some cheater plugs), and then plug the Yamaha into the wall? How will this be different from plugging it into a power strip? And how would that be different from plugging the Wave 8s (with a cheater plug) into a power strip? I guess the only real way to answer those questions is to get two cheater plugs and try it. Looks like I'll hafta give it a try.

Thanks!

audiobliss

[travisc]

My understanding of it tecnically is limited, but the grounds will all end up being common in a sense, try every combination you can think of. Plug the wave 8's into the wall with the yami hooked to the power strip or vise versa. It could very well be the power strip introducing the hum try not using it. Try everything.

[3dzapper]

For whatever reason, the ground for your Waves and Yami are at different levels and a 60Hz current is passing from one to the other.. With 100db efficient speakers and 24db of gain in the amplification, just 75uV (0.000075V) could mean a hum of about 78db from your speakers.* What you are attempting to do is to put all of the grounds at the same potential. In this case the Yamaha's.

If you were able to use balanced interconnects, the ground loop hum would be cancelled out. RCAs are "unbalanced" and can allow the loop to be audible.

Oh BTW I have a just barely audible ground loop hum in my Bottlehead foreplay; Wright Mono 10; Belle Klipsch set-up. It is inaudible with any signal at all so I am not going crazy over it.-)

Rick

* Math: 75x10(-6) x 14= 1050x10(-6) = 1.050x 10(-3) or 1.050milli volts. That is approx 22db down from 1 watt or 100db- 22db= 78db..

[audiobliss69]

Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

Wow. Some of that math even makes sense. But not all of it. Can you break down what some of the numbers mean and where you got them?

Thanks!

audiobliss

[audiobliss69]

NOTE: All the below comments are based on what I hear running my

(portable) CDP directly to the monoblocks, completely avoiding use of

the Yamaha, as I have no humm that way.

I still haven't had a good listening session with these ASL's yet, so

I'll refrain from posting a 'review'. However, I have listened to them

for probably around an hour or so now, and I'm pretty sure I hear some

differences.

One of the biggest things that stands out to me is the bass. It's just

totally different from the bass I had with the Yamaha. I always had a

pretty good amount of bass (enough for me to marvel at), but I'm now

addicted to the bass I get with these monoblocks. It just oozes from my

speakers, and it just doesn't stop. It's a smooth, continuous,

relentless source of bass. (I'd like to point out that it in no way

seems to be 'inflated' or 'boomy'. Just more pronounced.)

I originally listened to some Eric Clapton and Bruce Hornsby on them,

and that sounded quite good. However, I then popped in some Anna

Nalick. Now, let me say this first. When I'm listening to someone sing,

I want to be able to hear their enthusiasm in the song. I want their

voice to scream (not literally) that they're 'into' the song and aren't

just going through the motions. Paul Simon, Mark Knopfler, Jack

Johnson, and Norah Jones can do this 'quiet thing' and still

convey some emotion quite well, but pretty much everybody else has to

be really belting it out for it to seem from the heart. Did I make that

clear at all? Probably not, but oh well...

Anyhoo, when I listened to Anna Nalick, it didn't seem like she was

really into the music. The highs and the vocals seemed to just be there

without much enthusiasm or life being injected into them.

Unfortunately, I don't remember if this is how she sounded on the

Yamaha or not. I commented on this to Russ (the seller), and he said the Ei tubes

were brighter, so I rolled them in to compare things.

(One of the reasons some music is seeming to be lifeless may very well

be due to the fact that I'm practically running a passive pre. I'm

thinking that by adding a tube preamp, I could add some life and body

to the music and gain whatever little bit I've lost back. Comments on

this?)

At this stage I still can't say anything definitively, but I am pretty

certain things were brighter with the Ei tubes. I can't say that Anna

Nalick had anymore enthusiasm this time around, but the 'brightness'

was very appearant when I popped Bruce Hornsby back in. Every cymbal

clash and everything else similar to it was very pronounced. Those

sounds effortlessly punched through the air and pierced my ears. It was

really amazing the impact they had with these tubes. Based on the fact

that I didn't notice that with the Sovteks, I'm going to conclude that

the Ei tubes are brighter. One interesting thing to note is that the Ei

tubes are running considerably

cooler than the Sovteks did. Either that or something happened to the

monoblocks. There is no way the difference in heat is in my head - it's

an appreciable difference

The overall impact of the monoblocks is very amazing. They just fill

the room with sound so well, and everything has new weight and

emphasis. The overall presentation and greater impact has got to be the

biggest difference, and it's pretty indescribable - so, I'll stop

trying to describe it.

Just so you know, the albums I listened to were:

Bruce Hornsby - Here Come the Music Makers (disc one)

Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II (The Stranger)

Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day (Breathe, Citadel, Paper Bag)