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Post by flatpicker on Jan 25, 2015 17:22:08 GMT -5
First post for me. I recently returned my first ERC-3 due to a continual electronic clicking noise while listening to CDs. I also noted that the mechanical drive was abnormally loud. I'm comparing it to my Oppo BDP93 DVD player which is dead quiet. I've just received my replacement unit and find the mechanical noise to be even louder than the first one. Even with the stereo cabinet doors closed I can hear the transport noise. I'm considering returning this unit and just going back to my Oppo for CDs. I'd rather not as I like the sound of the ERC-3 through the balanced analog inputs to the XMC-1. Is this noise acceptable or am I right in expecting better from Emotiva? Any thoughts?
I've been emailing with the Emotiva folk about the noise in my ERC-3... and they acknowledge the existence of similar reports... but it hasn't reached a level where there is a consensus opinion on the origin of the condition. Since only a very small minority of ERC-3 owners report this, it sure makes me wonder if being dropped during shipping exchanges could be behind this... maybe the mechanism is a little delicate? I dunno... but I do know, mine is among those with the mechanical noise that competes with the music. I've had mine for several months and would have sent it back in the first month, but I only got to listen to it a few times due to being too busy at the time, and I even began to think, wow maybe everybody just accepts this. Also, mine is not the same level of noise all the time... I think it may be varying from disc to disc and from whether it is reading from an inner or outer track. I want to try a few things first, because I really like it otherwise... maybe, I'll try 20 or 30 discs to see if I can find even one that would be quiet.... but I'm probably sending it back this week. |
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Post by billwilson on Jan 25, 2015 18:32:54 GMT -5
Thanks for your reply Gary. Seems like good advise to call Emotiva and try one more time. I certainly don't want to give up on the ERC-3 yet. I live in Vancouver and drive to Sumas to pick up shipments from Emotiva. (free shipping in the USA) It's about three hours return so I prefer not to do the trip any more often than necessary. I'll ask them to check the next one before shipping and hope I'm third time lucky.
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Post by mrchisox on Jan 28, 2015 22:44:03 GMT -5
WOW... I've been thinking of retiring my Marantz in order to purchase this one. I guess I hold off a bit.
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ac120
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Post by ac120 on Jan 30, 2015 8:31:58 GMT -5
You shouldn't rule it out because of 1-2 people. Flawless for me.... Just like lots of other people. My experience is that if several people have this issue, I would have it too. It happened with my Outlaw 970 and the random freezing. It happened with my USP-1 and the remote volume that I just couldn't deal with. I guarantee that if I purchased a ERC-3 it would have the noise. |
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ac120
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Post by ac120 on Jan 30, 2015 8:53:47 GMT -5
My ERC-3 sounds EXACTLY like the audio clip. Emotiva took it back for a listen. They "were unable to duplicate the issues [sic]." They didn't offer another unit. Those of you who have not heard the noisy drive or who claim it's a rattling disc are shooting blanks. A rattling disc should rattle on other CD players. None of my discs rattle on other players. It is the drive motor and it is an ERC-3 issue and if some units do it and some don't, those that do are defective. Emo's doubling down on a defective product left me with a bad feeling about the brand.
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cawgijoe
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"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra
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Post by cawgijoe on Jan 30, 2015 10:53:42 GMT -5
My ERC-3 sounds EXACTLY like the audio clip. Emotiva took it back for a listen. They "were unable to duplicate the issues [sic]." They didn't offer another unit. Those of you who have not heard the noisy drive or who claim it's a rattling disc are shooting blanks. A rattling disc should rattle on other CD players. None of my discs rattle on other players. It is the drive motor and it is an ERC-3 issue and if some units do it and some don't, those that do are defective. Emo's doubling down on a defective product left me with a bad feeling about the brand. There is nothing wrong with Emotiva as a "brand" in my experience. They have been great with me. Did you send your unit back for evaluation? If you did and they can't find a problem, I would still call them back and talk nicely about it. let them know that it really bothers you. Even if you didn't send it in, call them and let them know this you are not happy with this issue. Be nice. I re-read your post....looks like you did send it in. Follow-up. |
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Post by mrchisox on Jan 31, 2015 11:17:48 GMT -5
I'm going to go ahead and take a chance on the ERC-3 in the coming weeks. I listen to music primarily on CD and have been very pleased with my prior Emotiva purchases. My wife bought me the XDA-2 Gen 2 as a late Christmas gift to replace an ancient Adcom GTP-450 Tuner/Preamp and I upgraded to the XPA-2 Gen 2 back in September. My Marantz has served me well for 5 or so years but I'm beginning to get the urge to upgrade it as well.
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burat
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Post by burat on Feb 11, 2015 17:36:58 GMT -5
I just got mine yesterday. It is noisy, but I believe this is "normal" noise (as opposed to anything being defective) from the motor spinning the disc, albeit augmented because of the vent holes on top of the case.
It is annoying - I am 57 years old, w/ "normal"hearing, and in a quiet room, I can hear it up to 6 feet away (of course, it is almost inaudible from there, but at <3 feet, quite noticeable).
I am sure it won't be noticeable w/ normal background noise or even the quietest musical passage, esp from > 3 feet away.
Having said that, I may not keep it.
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Post by Jim on Feb 11, 2015 18:30:08 GMT -5
For anyone who thinks the ERC is "noisy" I'd be curious to see what a Spl meter shows. One of these days I'll measure mine.
Granted mine is in an enclosed rack, but I would like to see "noisy" quantified.
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Post by teaman on Feb 11, 2015 18:37:34 GMT -5
I really enjoy my ERC-3. It does happen to be one of the players like yours with considerable motor/transport noise but I don't find it distracting enough to return it. I listen loud enough to drown it out.
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Post by Gary Cook on Feb 11, 2015 18:40:40 GMT -5
For anyone who thinks the ERC is "noisy" I'd be curious to see what a Spl meter shows. One of these days I'll measure mine. Granted mine is in an enclosed rack, but I would like to see "noisy" quantified. For comparison purposes; I finally had a few minutes to dig out the trusty SPL meter and measure the ERC-3 noise levels. With ambient around 40 db, occasionally 50 db (it's spring time and the Kookaburras are chuckling) I can't get any reading from the ERC-3 even with the SPL meter microphone 1 mm away from the loading tray. I tied the Panasonic BD player, it's about 1 or 2 db above ambient also 1 mm away from the loading tray. The Toshiba DVD player is the same, around 1 to 2 db above ambient. The Oppo 103 is also below ambient. All of them were tested with both a CD (Steve Winwood) and a hybrid SACD (Legends), playing the first, middle and last tracks. None of them are technically silent, but since they are at or below ambient they are most certainly inaudible. If you have a particularly quiet room then maybe you'll get a different result. Cheers Gary |
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Post by brutiarti on Feb 11, 2015 18:48:46 GMT -5
I got mine on Monday and besides other problems that i have with the unit, the spinning noise is not one of them. Go figure..
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burat
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Post by burat on Feb 11, 2015 19:29:27 GMT -5
FWIW, when I block the topside vent holes, the noise is barely audible at 2 feet. Again, one must listen in a totally quiet room. However, even in a "fairly quiet" room, it is still audible.
I grant that normal listening (at both volume listened to, and typical distances from the player one listens at - assuming one is not tethered to the player via a headphone) renders the noise completely inaudible.
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Post by Jim on Feb 11, 2015 19:30:41 GMT -5
For anyone who thinks the ERC is "noisy" I'd be curious to see what a Spl meter shows. One of these days I'll measure mine. Granted mine is in an enclosed rack, but I would like to see "noisy" quantified. For comparison purposes; I finally had a few minutes to dig out the trusty SPL meter and measure the ERC-3 noise levels. With ambient around 40 db, occasionally 50 db (it's spring time and the Kookaburras are chuckling) I can't get any reading from the ERC-3 even with the SPL meter microphone 1 mm away from the loading tray. I tied the Panasonic BD player, it's about 1 or 2 db above ambient also 1 mm away from the loading tray. The Toshiba DVD player is the same, around 1 to 2 db above ambient. The Oppo 103 is also below ambient. All of them were tested with both a CD (Steve Winwood) and a hybrid SACD (Legends), playing the first, middle and last tracks. None of them are technically silent, but since they are at or below ambient they are most certainly inaudible. If you have a particularly quiet room then maybe you'll get a different result. Cheers Gary Thank you Gary. I'm glad you replied - I missed your post. I got my room as quiet as 37-38 db - and the ERC-3 read between 42-43. Maybe 44db at loudest. That's in a rack - but open spaces above and below it. Keep in mind, that's without any outside noise, the furnace blower off, and not even a whisper. Even a whisper would mask it. So sure - it might be noticeable if you have a low noise floor and you don't have anything playing. I have a door on my rack - so closing it masks all noise (not the reason I have the door though).  |
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Post by Jim on Feb 11, 2015 19:35:35 GMT -5
FWIW, when I block the topside vent holes, the noise is barely audible at 2 feet. Again, one must listen in a totally quiet room. However, even in a "fairly quiet" room, it is still audible. I grant that normal listening (at both volume listened to, and typical distances from the player one listens at - assuming one is not tethered to the player via a headphone) renders the noise completely inaudible. Is the running noise from the ERC-3 why you might not keep it? I can hear mine across the room in a silent room - when I'm listening for it (I also don't have any speakers hooked up at the moment). But it's all relative to the noise floor. I don't know how it compares to other high end players - I'm sure there are quieter ones, but I'm also sure they're more expensive. |
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burat
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Post by burat on Feb 11, 2015 20:00:22 GMT -5
I expect ANY player w/ vent holes on top, when laid atop a desk, will be audible to within a few feet. Whether this noise is sufficiently distracting/annoying/unacceptable is entirely a personal matter.
I probably will end up keeping it, only because I am a lazy SOB. Truthfully, when I put it in a rack, there will probably be other, much more important things to worry about (like ISIS) than the minimal noise it produces.
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Post by flatpicker on Feb 11, 2015 21:11:20 GMT -5
I really enjoy my ERC-3. It does happen to be one of the players like yours with considerable motor/transport noise but I don't find it distracting enough to return it. I listen loud enough to drown it out. Mine was one of the noisy ones too... I tried to get past the noise, but it gradually just wore me down and I had to send it back to TN as a trade-in on a 1L.... it's a shame because other than the noise it was definitely a keeper. |
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Post by stlaudiofan1 on Feb 15, 2015 16:53:48 GMT -5
Mine makes some noise as well when spinning. It is roughly 8 feet from the listening position. In even the most quiet passages...I hear nothing from my chair.
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Post by dvbeav on Mar 18, 2015 9:47:59 GMT -5
I finally sent my ERC-3 back after a year of listening to transport noise. Tech advised that my unit was "normal" and that Emotiva knows their unit is nosier than others. This does not explain owners who comment about how quiet their unit is so it's very hard to know what's really going on here. One of the folks I spoke with at Emotiva stated that they were too busy to look at the Lounge posts which was pretty disconcerting but at the same time they give great customer service. I had a hard time listening to my old player (AMC cd8) for the month the ERC was out. There's never been any question about the exceptional bit-perfect reproduction of the ERC and I will enjoy listening to most of my library until an ERC-4 is offered. I put on the Vaughn Williams "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tillis" last night and just pretended I was at an open-air concert where the orchestra had a diesel generator(ERC-3 transport)running back stage.
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Post by Gary Cook on Mar 18, 2015 13:41:40 GMT -5
My ERC -3 sits in a fully open cabinet, at ear level, about 2 metres away from my listening position and there're no way I can hear it over the ambient noise, even late at night. My trusty SPL metre confirms that my ears aren't completely shot yet, even with the mike at the loading tray it shows nothing, not even 1 db above ambient. So perhaps it's not a volume thing but frequency related, the guys that complain about noise maybe more sensitive to certain frequencies than the majority who don't. Worth a try, I'll fire up the frequency analysing software and give that a try.
Cheers
Gary
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