Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Update on KPAC noises

I have gotten the Pioneer 9500 II tuner to work properly by using a direct 300 ohm connection straight from 300 ohm antenna.  For some reason, perhaps opened balun in tuner itself, or lousy cut RG-6 cable, I couldn't get decent performance through the 75 ohm connection (there is no F connector, you have to cut open a cable in a tricky way).

For the last couple of days I've been comparing the 9500 II and my Kenwood KT-6040.  The Pioneer is noticeably noisier overall in stereo, but still acceptable for background or maybe serious listening.  The Kenwood is quieter, but makes the buzz sound much more noticeable.  In A/B comparison, the noise from the Pioneer is about comparable to the buzz from the Kenwood.  Actually I find the buzz intolerable, but on the Kenwood the buzz can be almost eliminated with high blend which doesn't reduce highs (only high frequency separation).  The Pioneer only has a "noise filter" switch which reduces highs enough to bother me.

It seems like the stereo noise from the Pioneer may be simply a less transparent rendition of the buzz.  The Kenwood reproduces it perfectly, whereas the Pioneer blurs it slightly, making the buzz into a peaky sounding hiss which is actually less annoying than the buzz itself.

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