Hegel hum?
Spent a week or two enjoying my new H400 and noticed a faint hum between the time I turn it on and before I play music. Also there when I pause after playing a while. Note that the hum is only apparent when I bring my ear a foot away from the amp. I’m quite pleased otherwise but am wondering if this is normal?
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- 27 posts total
Unfortunately I seem to have really dirty mains, had a H590 on demo, which hummed and then a loner H390 again hummed and finally my new H390 which again hummed, definitely DC issues which the Puritan drastically reduced (great equipment shame about the price). The H400 seems to have a buzz and I am wondering if its from the secondary small transformer and I am betting it doesn’t get the same mains feed as the main which has the DC blocker and is quiet. So now I think the culprit is the small transformer that I think is used to power sundry stuff. The unit was an ex demo and will contact the dealer but will give it a few days, maybe will ping Hegel direct. When I put my ear close to the amp the buzz is on the right side as you look at the amp from the front which again indicates the small transformer - perhaps it is picking up DC that the Puritan isnt killing. The H390 hum was the big transformer and the H400 is silent in that respect so am convinced its the small transformer. @baconboy do you think the buzz is the small transformer in your unit, mine is constant and maybe its just "normal" transformer hum |
Might be of use but I also have a H400 and its internal DC blocker completely gets rid of the hum that plagued my H390 (eventually the Puritan 156 solved that) The H400 is not plugged into the Puritan156 (Hegel says not to use DC blockers with the H400) but I do get this low level pulsating hum that is only heard close to the unit or sometimes when its very quiet. I asked Hegel and they kindly replied with an explanation which was that there are two small toroidal transformers for standby and the pre amp. Apparently these can be affected by high voltage and in the UK some areas have high voltage as a norm. It is not DC offset and they have looked at other types of transformer but they said it affected sound quality. As the hum is very low and sometimes not apparent I am happy enough as it isn't like the H390 and the H400's DC filter works incredibly well. |
@ richmon wrote:"My solution to the nest of wires (I have the Hegel H20 amp) is to seperate all interconnects and speaker wires from AC cables. I put that black foam pipe insulator with the slit in the middle (cut into several pieces) to seperate all the low power interconnects/speaker wires from AC cables, just slip it over the interconnect and AC cable, cheap and effective." That's what I do as well. Thought I was the only one! Not only does it help isolate all cables and wires on my carpeted floor but, since my speakers are 7 feet from the front wall, they are more visible and my dog and I are less likely no trip over them. Easily visible in my profile picture. Cheers. |
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