Static noise when turn volume all the way up in phono.

S

scottyb70

Audioholic Intern
Hi,

I decided to try and hear how much static noise I could hear when I turned up the volume all the way on my Kenwood KR 7200 receiver wasn't playing a record and tested in phono 1 and phono 2. When I turned the volume all the way up I am getting a noise similar to what you hear when an old tube TV gets. That noise when you couldn't find a channel when you were using an antenna. I also very faintly heard the FM radio station playing. What is the problem. I did clean the potentiometers with Deoxit. I am using the basic copper and silver wire you get at Home Depot. When playing records occasionally the sound will go low then back to normal.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Why are you using an old Kenwood KR7200 particularly then? :) Maybe its just past its prime....altho not terribly unusual for some static/white noise to be present with no signal and volume twisted to full with some gear. Just how loud is it? Overbearing at your seat or do you need to put your ear up to the speaker? Is the static bothersome at any level with something playing?
 
S

scottyb70

Audioholic Intern
Not overbearing at my seat and I don't hear it while I am playing music. I just wanted to know what part of the receiver was causing the problem? I was going to buy this off ebay.

 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Not overbearing at my seat and I don't hear it while I am playing music. I just wanted to know what part of the receiver was causing the problem? I was going to buy this off ebay.

Recapping audio equipment from the 1970s has become a big business model and it's not usually needed. Yes, the capacitance drift, but unless someone has a pristine version to compare with, It's not necessary. If it sounds different from a newer piece, chalk it up to the fact that a lot of receivers weren't what we now call 'HiFi', but they may have fit that name at the time when they were new. This receiver is from the 1970s- don't expect miracles and don't believe people when they say/write that it was 'The Golden Age of Audio'. That's a lie and it's done to sell old equipment for more than it's worth. I have an old Fischer receiver- by comparison to newer models, it's nosiy and the sound is what could be called 'dark' (the opposite of 'bright') because the high frequencies are definitely attenuated.

The Phono section provides a lot more gain that any other section in a receiver, integrated amp or preamp, so it will generally be noisier. This can come from transistors, resistors or op-amps (operational amplifiers) and if you want, you could look into the parts used and their specs- that's about the only way you'll be able to find their noise specs IF you want to make it more quiet but the fact is, you should never need to crank the volume to max for ANY source input. This has carbon composition resistors and they tend to be noisier than metal film or other newer types.

Here's the Signal to Noise spec from HiFi Engine and by comparison with new equipment, it's not very good-

"Signal to noise ratio: 55dB (mic), 65dB (MM), 75dB (line)"
 

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