Hello, I recently upgraded to a D’Agostino amp and am no longer using my Transparent Sound Conditioner/Surge protector. The issue is now when I change inputs on the Bartok my speaker make a soft popping sound (annoying). My first question is it harmful to the tweeter and second how can I get it to stop. Any suggestions would be most welcomed. Thank you, Tom
Hi Tom,
Some audible clicks and pops will be generated on rate changes and other operations that modify the DSP processing chain in the Bartók.
Activating the DAC’s buffer (via the front panel or the Mosaic app under Unit Settings) can reduce or eliminate these, but in some systems there’s no way to eliminate them completely. This is especially true of systems with DC coupled components, which I believe the D’Agostino amplifiers are.
The clicks and pops are nothing to be concerned about - no damage is caused to the system, and the buffer setting on your Bartók may well help to reduce them.
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Same here. I use D’Agostino Momentum Pre. When I remove the preamp from the chain, there is no popping sound.
Yes, pop’s can damage your tweeters if they are loud enough.
How is your gear connected to the mains? I cannot tell where you’re located from your profile but I will tell you a little story.
I moved to London for a few years, and when I did I took a bunch of equipment from the US together with a bunch of 220V → 110V transformers. Most things worked ok except I had some issues with my preamp which every now and then would have popping noises. Very strange.
Long story short: After some time, I realized that power cord adapters from US plugs to UK wall sockets get polarity wrong. So if you use one of these adapters to plug a US plug into a UK wall socket, Live will will be connected to Neutral and Neutral to Live. There are NO adapters that I could find that did not do this.
In many cases this does not matter but in many others it does.
I ended up making my own pigtail adapters to get the polarity right, and voila! No noise anymore.
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BTW, after this debacle I searched the internet for signs that other people bumped into this issue - I could not find ANYTHING! Amazing.
Thank you James, I activated the buffer and it did help. Still an electronic click but greatly reduced.
Thanks for you help Miguel. I am in the US with a standard setup. I am also surprised that no one else has experienced similar issues. Tom