Noisy headphone output on Sound Devices MixPre
 

Hi all,

I recently bought a SD MixPre on eBay. When I tested it I found the headphones output rather noisy.
With the gain pots of both preamps at 0 and no mics connected, the noise became very apparent when the volume pot was over 30%. I would expect this to not be normal?
When turning the gain of the preamps up to 100% there was a barely noticeable increase in noise level, so my guess is the preamps are fine.
The high noise level is not recorded by the way, so it must be something in the headphones amp.
The limiter was off.

I use a Sony 7506 headphone for monitoring the audio.

I did some recording tests with a AT2035 and AT897 which went fine when I found the right recording levels on the MixPre and the Sony PCM-M10 I use as recorder. The MixPre TapeOut was connected to the M10 Line In.
I think the M10 does add a little noise to the recording, anyone has similar experiences?

Thanks,


Andre.

Testing for circuit noise with no mics connected at the inputs doesn't really tell you much. You need to short the inputs before the noise you hear in the phones really means anything.

SD has really good service ... if you think there's a problen a quivk trip back to the factory with get it tuned up for a reasonable fee. They cater to the working pro, a far cry from consumer grade service.

Andre--

I just did a quick check on my MixPre, with Sony 7506 headphones.

With the Mic gains at zero, I had no noise at any setting of the Phones volume - quiet all the way. With the Mic gains set at 12 o'clock, I could begin to hear some faint hiss at 1 o'clock on the volume. I did not try shorting the inputs, since I had no noise until I brought-up the Mic gains.

As Steve mentioned, I'd contact Sound Devices.

Cheers -

Hi Steve, Vic,

Thank you both for your input.
There is a SD authorized service center in the Netherlands, so I'll check with them what they can do for me.

Regards, Andre.

Andre. It may be a whole lot easier than that.


With your phones on and a mic connected, move the "TAPE RTN" switch. You may have it set in the wrong position. I think it should be switched to the right when you are NOT returning audio in from the camera to the "TAPE RTN" socket.

If the switch is in the wrong position, you will hear audio but it will be a lower level with a high noise level. I experienced this when I first used the mixer.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your suggestion! That was the problem indeed!
The TAPE RTN switch was switched to the left and when I switched it to the middle position the noise disappeared and the mixer is working perfectly :)

Another stupid user error solved...

Cheers,


Andre.

Good on you, Bob! It never occurred to me to have Andre check that switch -- mine has never moved from its original position. Saves an unnecessary service call.

Cheers --