Hi there, I’ve a pair of Adam A7 that always produced a fixed frequency hiss.
I’ve heard other friends monitors like Genelec 8030 and a pair of Focal, and more than the usual amp noise floor you get if you crank up the volume at max, I did not hear any hiss like on my A7.
Here a screenshot of a measurement done with a smartphone app:
The monitor was connected to a wall socket of my home (220V EU), where nothing else were connected.
No cables, no sources, just the power socket and switched on at -17db level.
As you can see the hiss is fixed at 8.021KHz, and sometimes is louder for minutes, then goes quiter for less than one minute till going back louder.
Sometimes it is slightly modulating too, and although I’m used to this hiss since a lot of time, using the monitors at low levels give me really an high hear fatigue after some time, as the hiss is really present more than the sound source.
I’m forced to use them at high volume in order to cover that hiss (and of course as soon as I’ll stop one of the Elektrons, the hiss will be there at his best shine!)
I live in a quite new flat (2011), with modern eletrical installation, all safely grounded, inside a large building with other ~70 flats.
I don’t know if this behaviour is normal on these A7 monitors, or there’s some kind of electrical interference coming from the entire electrical system of the building (other electrical devices in my flat, other flats devices, etc).
Perhaps I should try some power conditioners, filters or something else, but I don’t have knowledge on this topic. I thought also about some kind of UPS in order to have an indipendent power source, but I don’t know if it is feasible and I’m still investigating and search infos about it.
An 8 kHz tone cannot be reasonably described as a “hiss”. Is the noise that is annoying you a discrete tone (like a sine wave) or a broadband noise (like a white noise)?
Sorry Peter, I always have this problem defining it as hiss/whistle/noise, dunno the correct english term to define it, thought that hiss was fine.
Anyway, if I should describe, it’s like an high frequency sine.
Not noise at all. To hear unpleasant white noise I need to cranck up the volume a lot more than 0db, and this is a normal behaviour.
Nothing, to test it I just put the power cable to the wall socket and switched on.
The behaviour (the tone) is the same as when they are connected to the power strip with other devices and with XLR cable connected to the Motu828 mk2.
Yep, although no power conditioner like a Furman or a Adam Hall, everything comes from a single wall socket where I have 3 cascade power strips.
I’ve no ground loops problems and with the Adams, the hiss/tone is happening already when directly connected to the wall socket.
So I think that the next test could only be a power conditioner + stabilizer.
But I would like to get some advices on these devices.
…yep…one single wall socket for everything…start all ur cascading power socket supply from there…start that chain with one simple multisocket powerstrip that has a built in conditioner/stabelizer and additional fuse…no need for special brands…just clean off from the phase of the rest of the house…
Contact the Adam people. They are great folks. One of my 5 years old A7 broke and I was living in Berlin. I drove direct to them and they were very cool and funny guys. Repaired it for free without asking anything. Top class !
I have a pair of Adam A3X and also experience the buzz you’re describing. It has a certain tone, and it’s not really a hiss.
In my case, it’s a good thing that it only comes out one speaker; from time to time, and it’s not always present. Switching the speaker on and of real fast makes it louder, but sometimes it does the trick and gets rid of it - temporarily.
Good thing I bought my speakers used, otherwise it would have bummed me out to hear this is normal - I read it somewhere, but I can’t remember where.
Yep, already wrote before, definitively it is a tone.
Tried, no luck, never unfurtunately.
Anyway, I loaded on soundcloud a 10 seconds sample:
Today seems more modulated than yesterday.
Perhaps sunday morning there are more washing machines in function?!
Mine is doing its job, I’ll try to sample the monitor once finished.
…how do they call it…? their non wave guide hi range tweeter…x art or something…
some love it…some hate it…but all frequencies beyond 2,5 khz do the crossover jump to this special tweeter construction with these endless array of inner lids…that’s their thing…
and if it’s on both sides, it’s no broken tweeter…it’s an electrical response sort of thing…
so, washingmachines sounds pretty plausible to me…
Yep, did a test 1hr ago trying to power cycle an hover connected to another wall socket.
Listened to a tone raising in frequency till stabilizing to that 8.021KHz as soon the hover was switched on.
So, I think that the ~8KHz tone I hear is coming from the electrical system, consequence of all the electrical units connected in my home, so it’s an unresolvable problem if I don’t find a tool that filters the power for the monitors.
I don’t know if using an UPS and a power conditioner will solve the problem.
Possibly internal voltage regulator oscillating, they can oscillate when on their way out or if the capacitors need replacement. Seen it on other speakers before, might be worth investigating?
Well, as far as I remember thay always had this problem, sometimes louder, sometimes less loud, sometimes disappear for some seconds to appear again after.
Sent email with same screenshot and audio sample to Adam support.
Let’s see what they will say.
Check for the source of error first?
Take the speakers to a different building, if you can. If the problem persists: it’s probably the speakers.
If not: electrical system of your building.
Maybe try that, before you buy a power conditioner?
As others have said it sounds more like an issue with Adam speakers (or some at least) rather than your wiring at home. Maybe they skimped on the power supply filtering? Or they’re prone to issues with it (as @darenager mentioned) if you’re getting issues with noise on the mains getting through to the audio path.
You’ve alluded to it in that your ‘star’ earthing and don’t have any issues with earth loops. If you’re getting clicks etc when you turn other appliances on and off then it’s an issue with the speakers and not the mains supply.
Mains supplies are noisy, especially if you’ve got computers on that supply. Inductive and capacitive loads can cause spikes and reverse EMF’s. Fluorescent lighting exhibits this when the ballast field collapses immediately after switching on. Old/dry caps in the fitting will only exacerbate the issue. Likewise the increase in the use of low voltage (transformer fed) LED lighting isn’t helping either. Switch mode power supplies are well known for being noisy too.
Top and bottom is manufacturers know line supplies are noisy so should be designing adequate filtering imo. Most do but it sounds like at least some Adams are falling short.
(and of course as soon as I’ll stop one of the Elektrons, the hiss will be there at his best shine!)
