Signal too hot?

[Bullett]

For my birthday I have just been given a Cambridge AXC25 CD player.

I already have a Quad Vena2 amp wired up to speakers and a ProjectOne turntable.
I’m getting distortion on the left channel only. Changed the wire (rca), switched the aux in channel used, switched the red/white plugs over one at a time on both ends.

I’m assuming that the signal is overdriving the amp what I find weird is it’s only the left. Ch of the amp impacted.


Is this a send it back and get something else with lower output or is there anything else I can do?

[Tony1963]

I didn't read your post properly, so Ive deleted my reply.

Amp...

Can you plug something else in there? Borrow another CD player, or a tuner, for example?

Edited by Tony1963 on Thursday 9th May 09:08

[heisthegaffer]

Bullett said:

For my birthday I have just been given a Cambridge AXC25 CD player.

I already have a Quad Vena2 amp wired up to speakers and a ProjectOne turntable.
I’m getting distortion on the left channel only. Changed the wire (rca), switched the aux in channel used, switched the red/white plugs over one at a time on both ends.

I’m assuming that the signal is overdriving the amp what I find weird is it’s only the left. Ch of the amp impacted.


Is this a send it back and get something else with lower output or is there anything else I can do?

Sounds like it's the amp if you've alternated the RCA plugs.

Doest it display the same behaviour with the turntable?

[Tony1963]

heisthegaffer said:

Sounds like it's the amp if you've alternated the RCA plugs.

Doest it display the same behaviour with the turntable?

Yes.

Ignore my reply above, I missed the bit about swapping just the plugs over!

I'll edit.

[Tony1963]

OP,

You might not want to read this:

https://forums.whathifi.com/threads/my-quad-vena-h...


That sounds as bad as it can get for customer service.

[Bullett]

The Turntable plays fine and I plugged in an Alexa I had handy (2.5mm to RCA) also fine.

Mine is a Vena 2 - the fault shows up instantly when I play a CD but not otherwise but then only on the left channel. Weird.

[Tony1963]

I’d be looking to try another lead, cheap or free will do.
Only swap one end’s connections at a time.

Is the turntable being plugged into the phono socket on the amp, or into an aux socket from a phono amp?

[Bullett]

Turntable is on phono.

I've tried two different RCA leads, same result.

[Tony1963]

If the fault is with the cd player, I can’t see how swapping the leads over doesn’t swap the distortion to the other channel. The amp doesn’t know or care which channel is being fed to it. Weird.

[heisthegaffer]

Somehow an issue with the digital aspect as the phono working well?

Either way not sound great OP. Hope you get it sorted easily.

[megaphone]

Reading your posts, it appears the left analogue input channel of the amp may have an issue.

Edited by megaphone on Friday 10th May 08:01

[OutInTheShed]

Is there no option to reduce the output level of the CD player?

If the problem is not caused by simple ovlerloading, then you may be looking for something more subtle like HF noise or DC offset.
Or even a bad connection. Try a different RCA cable?

[ribbit]

It won't be a signal overload, because it's a standard modern CD player connected at line level to a standard modern amp.

If you swap the L & R at the amp end, does the fault move to the other channel? If so, fault lies with CD player.

You could verify this by connecting only the channel (left) that distorts, using either just the red or just the white at both ends.

Your amp has two line level inputs. If you have the same issue using either of these, then that says the CD player has a fault.

If you try a different line level source on either of the amp inputs and it does not distort, it says the CD player has a fault.

[ribbit]

And obviously, a final test would be to try the CD player with someone else's amp

[Bullett]

ribbit said:

It won't be a signal overload, because it's a standard modern CD player connected at line level to a standard modern amp.

If you swap the L & R at the amp end, does the fault move to the other channel? If so, fault lies with CD player.

You could verify this by connecting only the channel (left) that distorts, using either just the red or just the white at both ends.

Your amp has two line level inputs. If you have the same issue using either of these, then that says the CD player has a fault.

If you try a different line level source on either of the amp inputs and it does not distort, it says the CD player has a fault.

I've done all these things.
It only happens with this CD player and only on the left channel of the amp.

I have a passive volume control I use between my computer and powered monitors. When I put that in-line everything works fine. I've ordered some RCA inline attenuators. Should be here tomorrow.

[ribbit]

Bullett said:

I've done all these things.
It only happens with this CD player and only on the left channel of the amp.

If the fault is confirmed as being on channel only, attenuators are not the solution. The CD player is faulty. Potentially one channel could be outputting a higher voltage, but regardless, that is something for the manufacturer to resolve.