Dear Raven Heads....Just recently my Nighthawk has developed an occasional cankerous snap, crackle, and pop hum buzz upon start up. I always have the volume completely down on start up. (Old habit) This began about a month ago. I thought I was hearing things but it is becoming louder and more than occasional. Nothing else has changed. Same everything....any ideas? My wife said, "Hey, whats going on with THAT?" I'm not sure. It never happens while playing. Sound is still perfect. Both channels are same volume. Imaging is stellar per usual. Going to try and recheck all power, interconnects....
I would check to see if any of your tubes are lose.
How old is the amp? Does it happen in both channels? As mentioned above. Shut it down to cool then remove and reseat all the tubes.
Hi, this is James at Raven. Please contact me and I will help you get this resolved.
Yep... This is going to be tube related I bet. Sometimes it is also tube-socket related where I had to reseat the preamp tubes. A simple fix I suspect.
DT
Dear Raven Heads.....Snap, Crackle, Pop is GONE. James C. called me and made several suggestions. So, I tried the easiest. He suggested replacing some tubes. First, up front sat a pair of my beloved Brimar 50's Black plate (CV4024). Out they went and were replaced by some 60's Mullard Copper plate Charcoal anode. Instant cure. I hate to admit it but there must have been a problem with the Brimars from the start. OR....I just like the Mullard sound ALOT better. I won't bore you with aural descriptions of the improvements but its BIG. Thanks James C. for the personal help. Surprisingly, my vinyl playback has been so transformed I've let the CD's get dusty. And as Rave Dave says, its so fun to swap tubes out. New sound all around. Much more bass, separation, slam....sorry, couldn't help but say something about the sound transformation!!! Thanks Raven Audio..you guys are beyond super.
