magoo
29-08-2014, 07:04
I recently bought a MCA11 (second hand) from The Audio Works to use with my Croft Micro 25R. I'd considered various step ups, but decided the flexibility and reputation for being more resistant to hum made the Albarry the way to go, especially at £300 rather than full price. However, so far this has been a frustrating experience.
Issue one is that the Albarry has excessive gain in my system, which didn't surprise me much as the Croft was already causing issues in that dept. - so I initially didn't worry, and sent the amp off to Glenn for the "R" upgrade, and he addressed the gain issues perfectly, at least via my mm cart and digital. Vinyl replay via this set up sounds absolutely wonderful and there is only the merest trace of tube rush with the volume at full. However, plug in the Albarry & a Denon 103R or a Cadenza Bronze, and anything beyond 9am on the vol is off limits. I've ordered some attenuators - but from the Albarry specs, I see it's giving 30db gain, and this seems rather high compared to most sut's etc.?
Secondly, wherever I position it there is a lot of hum coming throu, but it sounds oddly mechanical (I thought maybe caused by using powerline for internet, but nope, thats all unplugged & no change). I've tried every possible combination of ground wires and nothing gets rid of it.
Third, and the most alarming - if I turn the Albarry unit on or off, the EL34's in my Snappers flash for a couple of seconds, along with an audible thunk throu the speakers. No item of equipment has ever had this effect before, and as the unit is battery driven, I would assume it would be designed not to be "always on"? Again, no amount of repositioning etc makes any difference.
So I emailed Albarry, and got an out of office reply until sept 22. As I didn't fancy waiting that long, I tried to return the unit to AudioWorks. They set it up with a Rega tt and amp......and somewhat unsurprisingly, it failed to repeat the fault, what with the Rega amp having no valves it was a largely pointless exercise imho. There was still a hiss above half volume, but "thats perfectly normal" apparently. At this point I asked for a refund, and was told in no uncertain terms that as it worked on their system, it was my tough luck it didn't in mine and no refund would be offered. He did say he'd send it to Albarry, but as we've already established the good gentleman is away, that seemed pointless too, so I took my little red box and left.
If you discount the issues, it sounds great & I would love to get it settled in and working, so if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them, especially as I seem to be stuck with it & theres no chance of speaking to the maker until late sept. Even if its as simple as "It doesn't match your system"....at least then I could sell it on with a clear conscience :)
Issue one is that the Albarry has excessive gain in my system, which didn't surprise me much as the Croft was already causing issues in that dept. - so I initially didn't worry, and sent the amp off to Glenn for the "R" upgrade, and he addressed the gain issues perfectly, at least via my mm cart and digital. Vinyl replay via this set up sounds absolutely wonderful and there is only the merest trace of tube rush with the volume at full. However, plug in the Albarry & a Denon 103R or a Cadenza Bronze, and anything beyond 9am on the vol is off limits. I've ordered some attenuators - but from the Albarry specs, I see it's giving 30db gain, and this seems rather high compared to most sut's etc.?
Secondly, wherever I position it there is a lot of hum coming throu, but it sounds oddly mechanical (I thought maybe caused by using powerline for internet, but nope, thats all unplugged & no change). I've tried every possible combination of ground wires and nothing gets rid of it.
Third, and the most alarming - if I turn the Albarry unit on or off, the EL34's in my Snappers flash for a couple of seconds, along with an audible thunk throu the speakers. No item of equipment has ever had this effect before, and as the unit is battery driven, I would assume it would be designed not to be "always on"? Again, no amount of repositioning etc makes any difference.
So I emailed Albarry, and got an out of office reply until sept 22. As I didn't fancy waiting that long, I tried to return the unit to AudioWorks. They set it up with a Rega tt and amp......and somewhat unsurprisingly, it failed to repeat the fault, what with the Rega amp having no valves it was a largely pointless exercise imho. There was still a hiss above half volume, but "thats perfectly normal" apparently. At this point I asked for a refund, and was told in no uncertain terms that as it worked on their system, it was my tough luck it didn't in mine and no refund would be offered. He did say he'd send it to Albarry, but as we've already established the good gentleman is away, that seemed pointless too, so I took my little red box and left.
If you discount the issues, it sounds great & I would love to get it settled in and working, so if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them, especially as I seem to be stuck with it & theres no chance of speaking to the maker until late sept. Even if its as simple as "It doesn't match your system"....at least then I could sell it on with a clear conscience :)