Apart from going to Argos and buying the one with the most buttons....

[MrGongGong]

I am using the transformer recommended by Bose, so presumably I am doing the right thing.

Transformer or adaptor ? not the same at all
and is there a voltage switch (i have some US equipment with this)

looking at the link Micky

110 - 120 V AC • 220 - 240 V AC would suggest to me that it's switchable rather than capable of working at all of those voltages and current differences


It's also odd that a few of my Keith Jarrett and Glenn Gould CD's seem to have this humming noise as well !

[VodkaDilc]

It's also odd that a few of my Keith Jarrett and Glenn Gould CD's seem to have this humming noise as well !

All of my Gould discs have a humming noise!! But I think you mean a different sort of hum.

[Panjandrum]

All of my Gould discs have a humming noise!! But I think you mean a different sort of hum.

Whenever I put on a Colin Davis CD, I always think a soft porn soundtrack has somehow got superimposed.

[Tony Halstead]

a soft porn soundtrack

[Dave2002]

It sounds like you are running a 120v (60hz) model on European mains which is 230v (50hz) which without the right transformer is definitely NOT recommended at all .........

I suspect that if there were a real mismatch, this kit would have fried long ago, but I could be wrong.

It is possible to make multi voltage equipment. Presumably it detects the supply voltage and adjusts, or maybe if it uses high frequency switching techniques this is irrelevant as long as the transformers and other components can cope with the highest voltages to be applied, and the PSUs have their own internal reference for the output. Apple used to supply multi voltage PSUs for use worldwide.

I can't tell what the exact situation with this Bose equipment is, but I still doubt it would have gone on this long if there had been major problems with the input supply.

[MrGongGong]

Indeed Dave
In my experience it would either
a: Work normally
b: Not work at all
or
c: Smoke a bit and make worrying fizzy noises (which is what the old Sony recording walkman used to do when used with the wrong voltage power supply I am reliably told !)

In my experience equipment is sometimes more sensitive to current than voltage, I have an effects unit that worked fine in Japan (without a step up transformer) in most modes but wouldn't function as a reverb at all without distortion (my geekwizard friends thought that it was something to do with it using the cycle as a clocking device).....

[MickyD]

Thanks, folks for the input (no pun intended!). I have taken the Bose machine to a friendly local electrical dealer and he tells me I am using exactly the right sort of transformer for the power supply here. The humming on the machine was odd - very loud to begin with at the start of the CD, then it stopped completely as the disc continued. Now it doesn't do it at all! But every now and then the disc refuses to eject. I suspect I have just got a rogue machine.

[Dave2002]

Have you tried a cleaning CD in the player, or can you actually get at the laser lens thing to clean it?
Might solve some problems.

[MrGongGong]

I suspect I have just got a rogue machine.

I think you are right there
They are usually the ones with BOSE or Behringer written on them

[MickyD]

Have you tried a cleaning CD in the player, or can you actually get at the laser lens thing to clean it?
Might solve some problems.

I've got a CD cleaner, so will give it a go, Dave. I wouldn't dare trying to open the machine!

[cloughie]

Whenever I put on a Colin Davis CD, I always think a soft porn soundtrack has somehow got superimposed.

Don't try Erroll Garner then!

[MrGongGong]

This is one way of dealing with iffy CD's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UACmvCVDdg

Nic is a genius IMV

[OldTechie]

Does anyone know, are 'Bose' and 'Roland' related?
My otherwise excellent Roland piano has developed a nasty humming noise with a definite pitch, sounding a low A flat an octave and a third below middle C. Even nastier, it sounds that note at 'classical' pitch ( A 430).

That Ab based on A=430 is 101Hz - that is almost twice mains frequency. I think you need a new power supply - which will probably fix the tuning as well. I don't think Bose and Roland are related. It's worth fixing it and it will cost a lot less than a Steinway.

I wish I could get the BBC to fix the hum they insert on Radio 3 at my local radio relay station (though it's not loud enough to drown out Glenn Gould's vocal accompaniment when they insist on playing his discs.) It's an octave lower than your hum, and pretty well midway between G and Ab on my piano.

[MrGongGong]

That Ab based on A=430 is 101Hz - that is almost twice mains frequency. I think you need a new power supply - which will probably fix the tuning as well. I don't think Bose and Roland are related. It's worth fixing it and it will cost a lot less than a Steinway.

I wish I could get the BBC to fix the hum they insert on Radio 3 at my local radio relay station (though it's not loud enough to drown out Glenn Gould's vocal accompaniment when they insist on playing his discs.) It's an octave lower than your hum, and pretty well midway between G and Ab on my piano.

Un Loup de Terre n'est pas

(I know I know ............ but I did say this once to a Belgian sound engineer many years ago when my French was even worse than it is now )

[Ariosto]

If you want decent sound then don't buy anything British. (The exception is one or two fine small companies that build equipment in their back rooms).

Miss out anything that says it's from Cambridge, as most of this Hi Fi equipment is rubbish. (Cyrus, Arcam and all that lot of overpriced junk).

Some American and Japanese equipment can be excellent, but get rid of most of the speakers you see around, and use medium quality headphones. Then you will hopefully get the real sound. The rest is cotton wool.