Rega fono mk3 issue

[Dannish]

I have just acquired a new to me Krell KAV400xi. This had no phono stage so I bought a new Rega fono mk3 to tide me over. I was playing  CD but when I powered up the fono, it made the sound reduce in volume and distort. Then I played a record and all seemed ok. It was then I noticed that fono was audible on all inputs despite it only being connected to one. So I turned off and played another CD. With the fono off but still connected, the sound from the CD player is distorted. I thought the amp was the problem but when I disconnect  the fono, the distortion goes. Could it be the earth ground cable? The tonearm cable has a ground wire and the fono has a ground post.  However the fono has no earth. Any ideas?

 

[Rockchild]

I have just acquired a new to me Krell KAV400xi. This had no phono stage so I bought a new Rega fono mk3 to tide me over. I was playing  CD but when I powered up the fono, it made the sound reduce in volume and distort. Then I played a record and all seemed ok. It was then I noticed that fono was audible on all inputs despite it only being connected to one. So I turned off and played another CD. With the fono off but still connected, the sound from the CD player is distorted. I thought the amp was the problem but when I disconnect  the fono, the distortion goes. Could it be the earth ground cable? The tonearm cable has a ground wire and the fono has a ground post.  However the fono has no earth. Any ideas?

Try the tonearm earth on one of the screws on the back or bottom of the Krell.

Having said that, your description isn’t in line with just an earthing issue. 
What input on the amp are you using?

 

[Dannish]

Amp was faulty. Returned and got full refund. Oh well , the Krell sounded great for the few moments it worked. 

 

[Rockchild]

Amp was faulty. Returned and got full refund. Oh well , the Krell sounded great for the few moments it worked. 

Oh dear.. could it not be fixed or was it a private sale?

 

[uzzy]

Amp was faulty. Returned and got full refund. Oh well , the Krell sounded great for the few moments it worked. 

Did it really sound that much better (if at all) than the Copeland it says you have in your profile? 

I know the Dynaudio are inefficient (86db) but I would have expected the Copland to do a fine job (especially after reading a member of another forum telling of his comparison of the Copeland against; Adyton Opera  Classe, Elecrocompaniet, and Primare A30 driving a pair of Magnaplanar (that soak up the watts) and he loved the Copeland.

Perhaps it is just me and my ears but Krell after the KSA 50 80 and 100 were not my cup of tea (and very speaker dependent IMO) 

 

[Dannish]

Dealer can't find anything wrong. I wonder if it's my interconnects? Had  crosstalk with TT and cd player then tuner and cd player. Also had distortion with the Rega connected but not powered. I used the same interconnects on the Rega and the tuner. With just the CD player connected, it was bliss. 

 

[rabski]

I assume they're the same interconnects you used with the last amplifier, so it doesn't make sense.

Crosstalk that bad says 'amplifier fault' to me. Distortion on the input you're listening to when you plug something into another input and it isn't even turned on says 'amplifier fault' to me as well. Make sure the dealer tries to replicate the fault in that they connect more than one source. If they just plug one thing in and it works, that is not the fault you've described of course.

 

[Dannish]

Did it really sound that much better (if at all) than the Copeland it says you have in your profile? 

I know the Dynaudio are inefficient (86db) but I would have expected the Copland to do a fine job (especially after reading a member of another forum telling of his comparison of the Copeland against; Adyton Opera  Classe, Elecrocompaniet, and Primare A30 driving a pair of Magnaplanar (that soak up the watts) and he loved the Copeland.

Perhaps it is just me and my ears but Krell after the KSA 50 80 and 100 were not my cup of tea (and very speaker dependent IMO) 

Sorry profile out of date. Sonus Faber 1.5s now. I am now thinking the amp was ok as the dealer can't find anything wrong. I suspect a dodgy interconnect. I think the Copland hid the issue a lot better but when I put it all back together, i felt I could hear the distortion. It was like the Krell has shone a spotlight on it and now I know where to look and I think it's present now. I will remove the suspect interconnect and listen again.

 

[Dannish]

I assume they're the same interconnects you used with the last amplifier, so it doesn't make sense.

Crosstalk that bad says 'amplifier fault' to me. Distortion on the input you're listening to when you plug something into another input and it isn't even turned on says 'amplifier fault' to me as well. Make sure the dealer tries to replicate the fault in that they connect more than one source. If they just plug one thing in and it works, that is not the fault you've described of course.

Agree but dealer has done as you said and found no fault. He has offered to show me and test my cables to see if we can replicate the fault. I put the Copland back in and connected everything as before and it seemed fine to start with. But now the Krell has shown me where an issue was,  I think it's there with the Copland albeit at a much lower level. Could be imagine it though? I am going to remove the suspect interconnect and listen again. I can put a meter on them too to see if something is up. 

 

[rabski]

If the dealer is local, then I'd go there with your cables and your phono stage and CD and try it all (take your sources. If it's all as described, then you don't even need to connect a turntable for the fault to be evident). Even if one set of cables has possibly a broken ground connection, I'm struggling to see how it would cause all the problems, but every day in this hobby brings new surprises when it comes to faults

 

[DaveyTed]

I don't know if this could apply to the Krell.

I have seen a similar fault when someone connected to the "direct Input" phonos, bypassing the input selector, whilst having other inputs connected.

 

[JANDL100]

The Krell is a lovely amp - definitely worth making sure where the fault lies before giving up on it. 

As per DaveyTed above, I wonder if you were plugging things into the wrong holes. 

 

[rabski]

You could just about achieve that effect if you plugged one source into the 'tape out' sockets I suppose...

 

[rabski]

Or the ones marked 'preamp out' for that matter.

 

[Nopiano]

Not quite the same, but I had a Krell KAV-300i for twenty years, and successfully added a Rega Fono Mini when I returned to turntable use in 2011.  I used one of the unbalanced inputs labelled S on my model.  I think it stands for Single ended, to contrast it with the one B connection for the Balanced input.  I had no such issues as you report, which does sound like using the wrong connection, as already suggested  

In this picture, you can see the Fono tucked behind the turntable, and the CD player - which once stood on the top shelf - temporarily relocated atop the amplifier. 

 

[Dannish]

So just checked the suspect interconnect and one end has a failed solder joint. I don't understand how that causes my issues but there we are. Another 80 mile drive tomorrow to collect the Krell and a new set of interconnects.

 

[JANDL100]

Good luck, I hope that is somehow the problem. Seriously weird. 

The Krell is worth some more time, effort and petrol money imo. 

A short period of music so far, you probably don't realise yet how good the Krell is!