Large torroids are susceptible to mechanical noise. The torroidal transformers and capacitance of these amps are huge. The M300s are fully balanced so the first thing is to give them a balanced input signal. A single-ended signal with rca-XLR adapters will not work due to ground issues. If you are coming out of a single-ended preamp you will need to use Jensen rca-XLR transformers, which work great and are very quiet. Do not use a power conditioner - run them straight from the wall. If you still have noise I suggest contacting Wilson Shen (owner/designer at Clayton) directly as he is one of the nicest people I have worked with in audio. He does offer a power supply upgrade for M300s that he did to my amps. I believe the upgrade includes better torroids, increased capacitance and other improvements. The result was an improvement to the already great SQ and elimination of any mechanical hum. Unfortunately the upgrade was not inexpensive but I am happy to own the M300s because I have heard nothing SS that sounds better (although there are many I have not heard).
Mechanical Hum from Class A Amplifier Clayton
Hi All,
Need some advise,
I have a paid of Clayton M300 Monos,
Speakers Tested on were Danley SH50 Horn 100db and Legacy Audio Whisper XD 94db
I noticed one of the mono block has a louder Mechanical Hum and tends to get hotter. The amps are giving off a Hiss sound with some mechanical buzz noise in the midrange drivers.
The other mono block has hiss and slight hum with a much lower Mechnical buzz from the amplifier. What concerns me is the Hiss noise. Its not only a hiss but some buzz mixed into it.
I tried connecting the amps directly to the wall socket and to a AC Regenerator and nothing seems to sort the issue out. Is this normal noise for a Class A amplifier to make a loud hissing noise? My Tube amps have a lower noise floor specially the Bob Carver which are dead silent, The ATI amplifier is Also Dead Silent.
Need some advise,
I have a paid of Clayton M300 Monos,
Speakers Tested on were Danley SH50 Horn 100db and Legacy Audio Whisper XD 94db
I noticed one of the mono block has a louder Mechanical Hum and tends to get hotter. The amps are giving off a Hiss sound with some mechanical buzz noise in the midrange drivers.
The other mono block has hiss and slight hum with a much lower Mechnical buzz from the amplifier. What concerns me is the Hiss noise. Its not only a hiss but some buzz mixed into it.
I tried connecting the amps directly to the wall socket and to a AC Regenerator and nothing seems to sort the issue out. Is this normal noise for a Class A amplifier to make a loud hissing noise? My Tube amps have a lower noise floor specially the Bob Carver which are dead silent, The ATI amplifier is Also Dead Silent.
Showing 2 responses by mitch2
Good points Timrhu, my speakers are only 90dB sensitive and need the high power to drive less than 4 ohms impedence at lower frequencies - I missed how sensitive the partnering speakers are. While these are great sounding amps in my system, Clayton makes smaller amps that may work better with such sensitive speakers. Regarding temp., here is a link to an interesting post where someone measured their heat sink temperature over time to document how long it took a pair of these amps to achieve full operating temperature http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=101551.msg1026780#msg1026780 |