Best soundproofing materials
Posted by: Top Cat on 22 January 2004
Hi folks.
I want to relocate a 250 into a cupboard as late at night its transformer has a tendency to buzz like an angry swarm of bees, and I can't find the culprit (it's on a dedicated spur on a dedicated CU, and our mains is generally good elsewhere). So, I'm going to locate it vertically in a cupboard but I want to really make sure that I can't hear that buzzing by surrounding it with an air gap (for cooling & ventilation) and then some sound insulating material.
What I want to know is what would be the best material to use to absorb the buzzing.
The sound is otherwise wonderful, and I know there's nothing wrong with the 250 - it has to be variations on the incoming mains surely - so other than changing the amp to a 'quieter' brand (which I don't want to do) the best I can do is to try to mask out the buzz when it happens.
So, what are the options?
Thanks,
John
I want to relocate a 250 into a cupboard as late at night its transformer has a tendency to buzz like an angry swarm of bees, and I can't find the culprit (it's on a dedicated spur on a dedicated CU, and our mains is generally good elsewhere). So, I'm going to locate it vertically in a cupboard but I want to really make sure that I can't hear that buzzing by surrounding it with an air gap (for cooling & ventilation) and then some sound insulating material.
What I want to know is what would be the best material to use to absorb the buzzing.
The sound is otherwise wonderful, and I know there's nothing wrong with the 250 - it has to be variations on the incoming mains surely - so other than changing the amp to a 'quieter' brand (which I don't want to do) the best I can do is to try to mask out the buzz when it happens.
So, what are the options?
Thanks,
John
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Laurie Saunders
Build a double walled box and fill the cavity with sand
Laurie S
Laurie S
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Top Cat
Thanks, Laurie, but I should have said that it's going to be in what we call a 'press', which is a shallow cupboard approximately 12" in depth. SO, space is limited, which is why I'm thinking about 2" or 3" max thickness of sound insulation, perhaps attached to the inside of the cupboard door - a photo would help to describe what I'm talking about, but I don't have one...
John
John
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by --duncan--
Martin Clark will probably be along shortly, and as he doesn't usually plug his excellent website, I will. My amateur view is that your first step should be to seal the cupboard: draught-proofing strip all around the door(s), use the nail-on plastic strip rather than the stick-on foam kind. You could also mastic any cracks between wood panels and at the point where the speaker cables exit. Once the cupboard is a sealed box, you might find the buzz is diminished sufficiently without needing any extra sound attenuation. I take it that you've done everything you can to the mains and set-up before thinking about this?
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Laurie Saunders
Can you still buy that bitumen-soaked foam used to deaden car body panels? Sound absorbancy is related to mass, so you want something reasonably dense
Laurie S
Laurie S
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Top Cat
As much as I know how to - the mains is a dedicated 6-way consumer unit with 4 spurs, the wiring is decent and the gear is setup with brains away from braun. Most of the time the amp is basically silent, but late on in the evenings - after 8pm I reckon, certainly after 9pm - the buzzing starts, and it's annoying to say the least.
John
TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."
John
TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Dev B
quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
As much as I know how to - the mains is a dedicated 6-way consumer unit with 4 spurs, the wiring is decent and the gear is setup with brains away from braun. Most of the time the amp is basically silent, but late on in the evenings - after 8pm I reckon, certainly after 9pm - the buzzing starts, and it's annoying to say the least.
John
_TC '..'_
"_Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time._"
You should send the 250 to Naim for a check up, or al least to Robert Ritchie. It should not buzz or rattle all the time (or at a specific time).
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by syd
TC
Do you have any dimmer light switches anywhere in the house or perhaps even interference from a near neighbours. Just a thought.
Yours in Music
Syd
Do you have any dimmer light switches anywhere in the house or perhaps even interference from a near neighbours. Just a thought.
Yours in Music
Syd
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Top Cat
No, we have an uplighter with a variable sliding switch but it's usually turned off and when turned on it doesn't seem to affect the 250. I have noticed a correlation with the noise and electric blankets - it's noisier with the blankets on - but the noise is there even when the blankets aren't on.
The strange thing is that it's pretty quiet up until around 8pm-9pm and then it all begins.
Weird.
John
The strange thing is that it's pretty quiet up until around 8pm-9pm and then it all begins.
Weird.
John
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Dev B
quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
No, we have an uplighter with a variable sliding switch but it's usually turned off and when turned on it doesn't seem to affect the 250. I have noticed a correlation with the noise and electric blankets - it's noisier with the blankets on - but the noise is there even when the blankets aren't on.
The strange thing is that it's pretty quiet up until around 8pm-9pm and then it all begins.
Weird.
John
There is something wrong with your mains, sometimes in a poor mains installation turning a hairdryer on can create transformer buzz. I suspect your multi spur array might be responsible in some way. You could try plugging the amp in elsewhere to see if it is a problem with the amp or the mains installation.
In any event you need to check whether a distortion in the mains supply (which yoru 250 is telling you about) means that the 250 is not working as it should.
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Top Cat
Fair point, Dev, maybe there is something wrong with the mains, but certainly not with the multi-spur as it was installed by a pro who I trust implicitly. I can certainly try plugging the amp into a different spur on the same CU, or the ring main on the house CU.
Apparently 250s do this all the time, though, according to a close-to-Naim source... he suggested that it could be variations in the AC frequency or voltage.
John
Apparently 250s do this all the time, though, according to a close-to-Naim source... he suggested that it could be variations in the AC frequency or voltage.
John
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by ajalden
Hi John,
Another option would be to take it into your local dealer and ask them to tighten up the transformer!.......It might help?.
Rgds, Andy
Another option would be to take it into your local dealer and ask them to tighten up the transformer!.......It might help?.
Rgds, Andy
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Top Cat
Already tried that - it was tight as a... (complete using phrase of your choosing)
Thanks, though...
John
Thanks, though...
John
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Dev B
quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
Apparently 250s do this all the time, though, according to a close-to-Naim source...
They don't John 250s are generally silent. I would get the amp checked. It's either your amp or your mains.
ps. I assume you are running the 250 as standard (i.e with case fuses and no other tweaks)
Posted on: 22 January 2004 by Top Cat
Yeah, as standard. Plan to uprate but not done it yet.
I'll maybe get Robert to check it over next time I'm up that way.
John
I'll maybe get Robert to check it over next time I'm up that way.
John
Posted on: 23 January 2004 by Top Cat
Last night my wife went with a girlfriend to see a film, leaving me alone to enjoy a nice curry followed by a whisky and some music.
Anyway, at some point in the evening I unplugged my Marantz cd recorder as it was needed elsewhere, and I subsequently noticed that the 250 was a heck of a lot quieter than it had been on previous evenings.
Maybe it's a coincidence, I don't know, but what I'm wondering is 'could another component periodically fling enough muck back into the mains (on a seperate spur no less) that a 250 would react by buzzing?'
I'll try again tonight, and if there's no buzzing by the end of the evening (with cd recorder unplugged) then I think I may have found the culprit. A nuisance, but not as bad as it could be as I'd only really want to use the cd recorder for occasional recording from vinyl, and on those occasions I think I can put up with a bit of buzz.
Strange...
John
Anyway, at some point in the evening I unplugged my Marantz cd recorder as it was needed elsewhere, and I subsequently noticed that the 250 was a heck of a lot quieter than it had been on previous evenings.
Maybe it's a coincidence, I don't know, but what I'm wondering is 'could another component periodically fling enough muck back into the mains (on a seperate spur no less) that a 250 would react by buzzing?'
I'll try again tonight, and if there's no buzzing by the end of the evening (with cd recorder unplugged) then I think I may have found the culprit. A nuisance, but not as bad as it could be as I'd only really want to use the cd recorder for occasional recording from vinyl, and on those occasions I think I can put up with a bit of buzz.
Strange...
John