I have a set of Paradigm Mini-monitors with an Arcam A65 Plus amp and an Arcam CD73 Cd player. I've had the system for about a year. I've really enjoyed it, but just recently I noticed that when the CD player is paused or in between songs there is a buzzing noise coming from the speakers. I can also hear it when the volume is really low. It isn't teribbly annoying (I have to be within 6 feet or so to hear it), but if there's a way to fix it I would like to take care of it. Should I take the amp into the dealer? After a year is there anything they could even do about this? Or is this just normal?Thanks for your help.
So I called my local shop where I purchased the equipment. They are great. Within a few seconds he knew the problem. He had me disconnect my cable tv feed, and the problem was fixed just like that. He said I needed to go purchase a ground breaker for my cable. Nice to work with a good audio shop. Thanks for your help.
There are several explanations for noises through a system. The most likely is a grounding problem. This will typically be heard as a 60 or 120Hz "hum". If the noise is higher in frequency, then there could be problems in the equipment or the incoming AC line.
The first thing to do is to clean all the contacts as Nuck suggested. Disconnect the interconnects and re-make the contacts. Gently twisting the connector on the jack will clean a bit of crud off the mating surfaces. This should be followed by general maintenance which cleans all the connections in your system. Normally it's not necessary to clean inside an amplifier or CD player; and unless you are quite confident of your abilities, I would leave this for a technician.
You could have a problem with the incoming AC line which is causing a buzz through the system. If any appliances or new dimmers have been installed recently, this would be my first guess as to the source of the problem.
But you really haven't given us enough information to go on beyond generalities. You need to do some troubleshooting on your own to hunt down the source of the noise. Do you hear any noises on any other inputs? What happens if you connect the player to another input on your amplifier? Do you have a surge protector with RF/EMI filtering included? If so, use it to filter the incoming AC line. Is there still noise? Try isolating the source of the noise to either the player or the amp and then you can proceed to solve the problem by working on just one unit. Once you've found the suspicious unit, I would take that piece into your dealer and ask them to hook up the component to their equipment. If you still have a noise in their shop, you probably are in need of a repair.