swt61

What was this thread about again?

I'm not so sure there is an industry standard though.

Does it come with roofies?

LOL!

Poor people like me can only dream of hearing a pair at a meet some day.

I tried the cheater plug on the speakers, but not on the subs. I'll try that later.

I just remembered I'm babysitting some long SE ICs for plaidplatypus. I hooked 'em up and the buzz returned.

Uhm no I haven't tried it. I don't have any SE ICs. But my buddy Scott will take it easy on me.

Yes absolutely. The PCA-2 has 2 sets of SE outputs as well, and the subs have RCA inputs too. I'll get Scott to make me some SE ICs. Thanks for your help!

Yeah buddy! A Bloodwood overlay would be sweet!

Marc whatever you were thinking was right, the buzzing stops when I unplug the subwoofers from the PCA-2's second pair of balanced outputs. What does this mean, and will I need to leave my subs unplugged until I want to listen to them? In any case that's far more simple for me.

I would think that putting your money into a pure transport instead of a CDP will usually warrant you a better transport. I can highly recommend the HiFiDIY transport. If Renato has the time to put it together you just can't do any better for $400.00.

It does have a mute, and it still buzzes with mute on when the volume is at zero.

Source: HifiDIY CD Transport/Zapfiltered Twisted Pear Audio Opus DAC Preamp: PS Audio PCA-2 Amp/Speakers: Paradigm Reference Active 20 (built in amps) and AV123 Rocket UFW-10 powered subwoofers (2) Headphone Amp: 4 Channel Balanced β22 w/dual sigma22s in separate case Headphones: Modded AKG K340, Modded AKG K240 Sextette, Chocolate Donuts (Modded Yamaha YH-100 Orthodynamic drivers in custom wooden housings), Modded Sennheiser HD 580. All phones are cabled balanced The chain is as follows... The CD transport digital coax output is connected to the digital coax input of the Opus DAC. The Opus DAC balanced outputs are connected to the β22 balanced inputs. The β22 balanced outputs are connected to the PCA-2 balanced inputs. One pair of the PCA-2's balanced outputs are connected to the Paradigm Active 20's balanced inputs. The other pair of the PCA-2's balanced outputs are connected to the pair of AV123 Rocket UFW-10's balanced inputs. I hear no buzz or ground loop through any of the headphones. I also hear no buzz or ground loop through the subwoofers. The only place I hear the buzz is through the speakers, and then it's only when the preamp is set on zero volume (where it automatically is set upon startup), or when I turn the preamp off (the speakers are always left on, but only power up upon receiving an input signal, same for the subwoofers). The PS Audio PCA-2 does have some unique features, for example the active volume control. I'll link PS Audio's PCA-2 info page for reference. http://www.psaudio.com/products/pca2_overview.asp

I'm not sure how I'd determine this, you're talking to a complete simpleton when it comes to electronics. And would there be an easy fix in either case?

Yes I think powering off the preamp (PS Audio PCA-2) is effectively the same as dropping the volume to zero.

Well the 3-2 prong converters on the speaker power cords don't help either. As I stated, if I turn the volume dial to even 1 the hum goeas away, but after I shut down my gear it comes back, and I have to disconnect my speakers. It's kind of a pain. Any other ideas?

Nothing connected to pin 1 at the speaker end, so I guess I'll buy some 3-2 prong converters for the power cables and see what happens.

Good ideas Nate. I'm off to work, but I will try that when I get home and let you know if it works. Thanks!

Jay, If the Zapfilter is removed from your E5-SE (if you're going to be using it as a transport only I'd imagine you'd want to reuse it in the DAC), then I'd imagine you'd have more than enough room to add the AES/EBU output to the E5. That would probably be the cheapest and certainly the slickest way to go.

Very interesting read Kevin, thanks. Bridged output does seem to be more accurate. I seem to have a ground loop hum only noticeable in my active monitors. If I turn the volume up just one step the hum goes away, but if I turn off my gear I get the hum. So I have to disconnect the XLR cables from my speakers when I'm not using them. I never thought that the problem might be related to the balanced configuration of my gear.

Thanks, I feel like I'm finally set for a while. Maybe some K1000s if I can find a pair for $1,200.00 or less.

So how will you go about this? Powder coating? I do remember someone powder coating their K1000 grills, but they did have a problem fitting them back in place, as the powder coating made the grills slightly larger. The leather straps would be uber cool!

Sure. From top to bottom HifiDIY CD transport, and next to that my S2 Audio Dockit wooden iPod dock. Four channel balanced β22 w/Joshua Tree stepper. Dual σ22 power supply. PS Audio PCA-2 balanced preamp. Twisted Pear Opus DAC in dual differential configuration w/Zapfilter. Tice Audio MB3 power conditioner.

That unit is currently owned by yours truly, and it performs beautifully! For the money it's an absolute bargain. I'm sure looser101 could manage the task of building the unit provided you can ply him with something. It is a top loader though, so I'm not sure how that would work in your rack. So does this mean the lovely Bloodwood trimmed E5 SE will be finding a new home?