Occasional pops even muted

Your active system is more sensitive. Don't forget fridge and freezers have noisy switches controlling an inductive load.

Franz, I get the same.  For me, the fridge is the biggest culprit.  I also have a separate spur.  However, I have a fridge near the main isolation switch.  This is a UK requirement and isolates the whole house, both circuits, and needs to be very close to the point power enters the house.  It was bad planning on my part to have a fridge located near this point.

The pops definitely originate within the snaxo/amp part of the system downstream of the pre. I disconnected the 4pin4pin snaic between prepsu and snaxopsu and still some discharges occur. My strong suspicion is it’s coming from the snaxo/scdr section and not from the amps. Powering down the snaxoscdr should confirm that. To single out the fridge as the culprit I will first mute  the fridge for while and see what happens then..

Franz, I did exactly the same test.  I though it was a new SCDR that powers the SNAXO.  Switched in an alternate - and similar effect.  The SCDR was also perfect working in another location.  

Now I can tie back the pops to the fridge.  Usually a second or two before the motor starts.  I also think the heating timer may be another culprit - although not in the summer months.

PS. I once had major problems with radio interference on a SNAXO 4-2 (Russian stations!). I had the RF kit fitted and it killed the sound.  Naim changed the SNAXO, an the new one was better. Fortunately, it was only audible when not in use.  Finally all was resolved when I moved.  

The SNAXO, as you know, is very sensitive.  I wish Naim would do a “500 series” version, as I suspect there is more performance that could be squeezed out.  Floaty suspension for DBL users; how about a Faraday cage in there; full width, so that the cable dressing on a Fraim could be improved.  I am sure there is more!

Gavin, thank you. I’ll check if I can attribute it to the fridge then also. With respect to floaty reference series Snaxo I think there are some threads on the forum. But I totally agree it’s a shame naim does not come up with a new version adequately addressing those issues as you mentioned. I heard some rumors though that a snaxo for kudos speakers may materialize at some point .. so who knows ...

Update on the popping here...pops persist even when all other electrical devices including frigde etc are shut down.  Discharges seem to originate in the snaxo. Any ideas?

KrF

I presume you’ve tried Snaxo turned off, to eliminate power amps (unlikely though they would seem)?

Earthing of Snaxo?

Can you tell if full range, or just bass or mid or treble, or two of the three? And both left and right?  (I.e does it relate to all or just one or two Snaxo’s six channels)

I have not done that yet ie looking at various channels, as it is a rather cumbersome... all right then ... will do.. 

I did the tests IB suggests for my setup. You hear in all channels, both left and right, but not when the SNAXO is not powered up. 

Ah Hah! I thought- the issue was with a newish SCDR. When I had the opportunity, I then tried an SC, and still heard it. My SCDR worked without pops in another system, so not an SCDR issue. 

That leaves just the SNAXO itself. But now I am listening for it, I can usually attribute the pop to a fridge starting up. 

On a side note - I can’t be completely sure - but I think the effect is more pronounced with an SCDR over an SC. 

Franz - good luck in your investigations. 

Franz K posted:

I have not done that yet ie looking at various channels, as it is a rather cumbersome... all right then ... will do.. 

You may be able to tell with one side isolated, depending how deep or high the noise goes - but I know that with some sounds it is difficult to tell.

Ok I can confirm Gavin’s findings. The pops will occur through each of the three power amps individually. Turned them off consecutively and the pops occurred just in the bass then in the mid and in the tweeter. So i think the amps can be excluded as culprits. I did not check for left right though but don’t think it will be just one side. The next thing I did now is to exchange the Supercaps as I have two,  one for snaxo one for Superline . Both are dr and about equal age. Again pops coming through with the other scdr and thus again same finding as Gavin’s. So it’s definitely the snaxo that’s causing the discharges . Only thing I can’t confirm is the fridge as a culprit. Maybe naim has some good answer ...????

I've been there too, Franz, and haven't found a way out yet.

I'm getting the odd 'pop' from the left chanel - I was convinced it was a preamp problem (552), so convinced in fact that I had booked it in for repair at Naim.  Two days before my repair slot, I packed up the 552 ready for shipping and replaced it with a NAC N272... and what did I hear?  Exactly the same (almost) pops, but a little muted compared to the 552's efforts.

So I cancelled my repair slot and reinstalled the 552.  I still get the pops, but again, a little more muted than before - maybe the cable dressing has changed.

I too have a separate 6mm mains spur for the Naim kit, but the lounge is right next to the kitchen wherein reside two fridge/freezers !  So they remain the suspects, but proving it will be difficult without defrosting a load of Sainsburys ready meals, Walls ice cream, Cadbury's ice cream on a stick thingys and a bunch of other stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for many months.

I too wish you luck Franz because if you figure it out, chances are mine will be the same solution 

Rjstaines, thank you .. in a certain way it’s actually encouraging as am not the only one with this odd observation.  It seems a rather ubiquitous problem in active systems. I will again look if i can attribute it to other electrical devices by shutting everything else down for a few hours. I did it actually already but just want to make sure. My feel is it’s Independent of fridges ... now if that’s the case i think it’s naims turn ... maybe a strong case to come up with this reference series superduperfloatysnaxo  ????

Franz K posted:

 ... now if that’s the case i think it’s naims turn ... maybe a strong case to come up with this reference series superduperfloatysnaxo  ????

.... in a Faraday cage 

I was also with this problem a while back. For me it was a boiler ignition - fixed it with suppressor at point of cause which is best. Then later a new Boiler and no problem. Then a while later my neighbour's  heating caused the RFI although less-so.

The airborne RFI gets in through input leads and speaker leads, the latter can act to pick-up and conduct RFI into your Power amps and then it causes pops. Careful running of the separate runs to the speaker seems to have largely removed the problem, apart from occasional small clicks. Run the speaker leads side by side a little bit apart but not in big open loops to each other. SL Speaker cable was also better at reducing the effect compared to NAC A5 I used to use.

DB.

So I’ll try to summarize my findings so far. 

Occasional unforeseen pops occur through the speakers at about a 10 to 30 minutes intervalls. They appear to occur without connection to any other electrical device turned on or off. These pops are noticable since I gone active with snaxo scdr 500 dr. 

I ruled out any origin but the snaxo itself. 

1 pre is muted volume 0 empty channel selected .. pops happen

2 552psu shut down and 4pin4pin snaic to the scdr of the snaxo disconnected... pops

3 two of three amps down with consecutively just bass then mid then tweeter on ... pops in all three settings 

4 shutting down all spurs from the whole apartment .. all fridges heaters and others dead, except the system ... still pops

5 exchanging scdrs between sl and snaxo .. pops 

6 the pops wth all amps up are more pronounced than with just one on and two others off. 

If it was the speaker cables picking up rfi origin It would be the amps releasing the descharges. My findings however point to the snaxo as the culprit. 

I live in a noisy rf environment, and would hear pops and other spurious noises especially when playing phono with mc cartridge. Going active made the situation noisy even at line level.

I tried clamp type ferrites on power cords and interconnects and this solved the problem for me. Interestingly, the clamps on the power cords to the amps (amp end) made the biggest reduction of in noise in my situation.

Also, I hear no performance drop with the use of ferrites.

Darke Bear posted:

I was also with this problem a while back. For me it was a boiler ignition - fixed it with suppressor at point of cause which is best. Then later a new Boiler and no problem. Then a while later my neighbour's  heating caused the RFI although less-so.

The airborne RFI gets in through input leads and speaker leads, the latter can act to pick-up and conduct RFI into your Power amps and then it causes pops. Careful running of the separate runs to the speaker seems to have largely removed the problem, apart from occasional small clicks. Run the speaker leads side by side a little bit apart but not in big open loops to each other. SL Speaker cable was also better at reducing the effect compared to NAC A5 I used to use.

DB.

DB, interesting what you found in your system, ie boiler ignition and RFI through speaker cables. From what I understand is that the discharges you observed originated in your power amps. This is however contrary to what I can report. I can rule out my amps as culprits. The popping stops when I shut down the snaxo/scdr but leave all else powerd on in particular my 3x500DRs. Actually I could rule out everything else also heaters fridges and washingmashines and "prove" pops originate in the snaxo itself.  You have the BMR floaty snaxo I assume so would be interresting if you could rule out that your pops originated in your snaxo then.

Quads posted:

I live in a noisy rf environment, and would hear pops and other spurious noises especially when playing phono with mc cartridge. Going active made the situation noisy even at line level.

I tried clamp type ferrites on power cords and interconnects and this solved the problem for me. Interestingly, the clamps on the power cords to the amps (amp end) made the biggest reduction of in noise in my situation.

Also, I hear no performance drop with the use of ferrites.

 

 

I was nor aware of ferrite clamps but seem an interesting concept I had to look up. Can you maybe give more detail which types brands you used?

Kr F

Gavin L posted:

Franz K posted:

 ... now if that’s the case i think it’s naims turn ... maybe a strong case to come up with this reference series superduperfloatysnaxo  ????

.... in a Faraday cage 

Gavin

I actually thought about putting my snaxo into a DIY farraday cage ie metal mesh cover for cakes and some tin foil underneath and then see if it has any affect...

Hi Kr F

The ferrites I bought had no name or identification on them. Most likely sourced from the same maker.

I bought the type that open up and clamp shut. Rings are also available. 

An assortment pack with varying diameter (when closed) might be a good place to start. 

Rather quick and preliminary update on my popping investigation. It may well be that the 17pin burndey between SCDR and Snaxo is responsible. I will need it a little more time to be confident about my findings, yet the story is actually more complicated than it seems..

Cheers F

Have you found a way to reduce the effect?