I just got the Active Mixcubes and there is noise (a little buzz) and its kinda annoying considering my control is very quiet and these mixcubes are the only thing making noise in here.

I have read about a few others guys having the same issue.

whats the deal Avant?

I don't have ground loops in my studio, electrical was done right isolated ground etc... and all my other gear is noise free not to mention I had a
set of Aurotones hooked up in here a couple years back with no noise
issue.

My main monitors don't make any noise what so ever and I have hooked up
other monitors at the same time before with no noise like this.
I could almost live with the noise but I don't want to!

anyone else?

Does this noise come out of the driver or out of the amplifier? Is it transformer buzz that happens with no input level and the volume down?

the noise is coming from the speaker

no buzz when xlr is not plugged into it,
buzz starts as soon as I plug in the XLR from my control room outs
of my console.

buzz is less with mixcube system gain dial all the way to left but it is still there
no to mention that is is way to quiet turned that far down,
to get good level I got to crank up the dial a bit and the noise becomes an issue for me.

yes it sounds like a ground loop issue

but

that same xlr cable plugs into a few different sets of monitors with no buzz issue. I have a ground rod, isolation transformer and isolated grounds and no ground loop issue in here ever till now?

I tried an XLR with pin 1 lifted and that didn't work.

oh yeah whats up with the power supply it is gigantic!

when I go back I'm going to try a 3 prong to 2 prong AC ground lift for a quick test and hope lighting doesn't strike!

Well I wouldn't leave it with a hazardous ground lifter like that. My next tries would be Ebtech hum eliminator or humX isolation transformers.

I rec'd mine and got the hum too
unplug it for now until them weekend
so I can figure it out

Wow good news, thanks Peeder!!!!!

I had a Ebtech Hum X that has never worked
in many situations and I thought it was worthless.

It finally worked and fixed this situation

I will report back on my thoughts on the fully functional mixcubes with 0 noise

heres the link if anyone needs an easy fix

Ebtech Hum X | Sweetwater.com

I emailed avantone last night so I will await their response..
Until then I will check out the Ebtech Hum X thingy

Got an email from support:

Please call us if you need any help on this... we would have called you if we had your tele#...
Please read the info below for correcting your ground loop/hum scenario...



There is a common problem in studios where sooner or later a combination of different gear can cause a hum (called a ground loop.)
Should you experience a ground loop/hum scenario when hooking up your Active MixCubes please understand that there are several ways to address ground loops.
The fastest way (although not the “proper/long term solution) to test the situation is to use a 3-to-2 AC ground lift plug at each wall plug on the humming gear.... (ie one or both MixCubes).
If the hum goes away you have confirmed and eliminated the ground loop.
Quite often, using only one AC ground lift plug solves the problem in both monitors/channels.

Some people choose to leave the ground lift plugs as the permanent solution…. However, we must say that there is a more proper, safer long term solution.
If one lift plug does the trick, then for a long term proper fix we recommend (1) of the product below-(EBTECH HUM-X)
If it requires two ground lift plugs to correct the hum/loop , then 2 HUM-X units will be needed for the long term "proper" solution.
The Ebtech Hum X filters out unwanted voltage and current in the ground line that cause ground loop hum while simultaneously maintaining a solid, safe ground.You no longer have to run your audio signal through any type of filtering which can result in loss of volume, tone or both.
Some devices simply remove the ground, which is never safe!
Simply place the Hum X on the end of the power cord of the equipment that has a Ground Loop and plug the Hum X into any standard 15 amp outlet. Ground Loop is gone and audio signal remains intact. Easy to use, easy to install and completely effective! The Hum X is the safest way to get rid of ground loop hum.
This will correct the loop while leaving the AC GROUND INTACT. (120V ONLY)
It is the easiest & safest solution...This will take care of any hum issue.

Those little Hum-X deal-i-o's are a neat little trick to have.

War

Though remarkably, even with a few hundred interconnections in my studio, I have managed to completely avoid ground hum and the use of any hum-fighting doodads like that. The only exceptions in my studio are reamping into guitar amps (I simply use the lift setting on the reamp box) and using two guitar amps at once (I use the Hum X). I have the passive mixcubes powered by an old RA100 and no hum of significance.

One thing that was interesting was that I panicked as I was repatching my studio because I listened for ground hum and got plenty. But as I continued to patch everything in it went away. It's possible that it's not too many connections that are causing it, but not enough connections. Get everything hooked together the way you want it, with no lifts or transformers or nothing, and then see if there is a problem.

I have a new pair of the Avant MixCubes as well (active). Same issue - noise. And, I run a very clean dedicated 30A circuit just for my monitors - my main monitors being Barefoot MM27s (which have 0% noise).

The ground loop hum was very noticeable and when I applied a pair of humX transformers, it went away - completely! Interestingly, you can go a long way by simply applying the humX to one of the two Avant transformers. This will completely silence the attached monitor and NEARLY silence the second one. But I applied two of them and now these babies are dead silent.

This suggestion came directly from Avant and it worked like a charm.

Oh while on the topic, I really like these things! The Barefoots are fantastic, but I'm finding that a trial mix on the Mixcubes translates even better to "consumer grade" gear especially bass challenged stuff like an iPod. In other words, these little gems really deliver on the goods!

same problem, and successful solution here too. 2 hum-x's=dead silent monitors..phew

just rec'd two today
will hook them up later

i've got a pair of active avantones on order right now; oddly enough on the same order is a Hum-X to help with another ground loop issue i've got.

question - if i plug both the avantones into a furman, can i just put the hum-x on the furman and kill two noisy birds with one stone?

thanks!

It would depend on the topology, but I wouldn't do that in any case. They really ought to redesign the mixcubes amps to offer better filtering probably. Just use a Humx on the mixcube power cord(s).

they work

Is there anyone *not* having this hum problem with the Actives?? this sounds like a design flaw to me....

I'd email my rants to Avantone for spending a extra $100+ to get rid of the noise problem

Sorry for the slightly off topic, but how do the passive avants with say an RA power amp compare to the active avants? any difference in usefulness?

cheers
Dave

I am waiting for mine at the moment. At least I got a solution if there will be any buzz in my place

I have not used the actives. I have the passive Avantones connected to a very nice Ashly SRA-120 (60 wpc) amp, no noise problems at all, excellent sound. The package is now for sale for $295, will post in Classifieds.

Steve

I guess if you have no rack space at all free then you're stuck getting the actives but I just don't see how people think it's okay to spen an extra $100 to fix an improperly designed product.

I know it is not the proper way to fix the problem but the noise was killing me.
We have several power strips sitting around with the ground pin removed for those "why is the amp so noisy" sessions. I plugged them into one of those and the noise went away as expected.

Oddly we had a slight noise in our mackie monitors when the volume was up really high. Those are still plugged into our grounded system but now there is no noise at all in those as well.

I realize I could use one of those little orange adapters but we always misplace them. Our tracking eng. suggested we put a hubcap on them like a gas station bathroom key

Same problem here.

Really seems to be a factory problem.

Avantone what are you going to do about that ? (except recommending to buy a filter)

Soon you'll have plenty of cadavers around too. tutt

Wuz up Fellas! im new at Gearslutz .. i have a suggestion that has worked for me, desconnect your D-Plug and rip out the Ground pice and plug it back in! ... let me know if it works for any1!

Think evolution by natural selection no longer applies to humans?

I'm with AudioA -- when is Avantone going to do something about this?

I purchased a pair of Actives two months ago and have the same problem. I think it's unacceptable for the company to tell its customers to spend $60 to $90 on a Hum X, or perhaps twice those amounts for two, to fix a problem caused by Avantone's faulty design or engineering.

Like previous posters in this thread, I've been careful to avoid creating ground loops in my studio, and I've had no problems with them until I brought in the Actives. I realize those of us posting here are the recipients of the early batch of Active Mixcubes, and perhaps Avantone will work out this problem for future production. But I think the company should do more than suggest we shell out additional money to get the most out of our purchases. Besides, I believe that right is reserved for Steve Jobs.

dfegad

Apparently they are now reworking the design for the next batch which is now delayed again. Not sure if the noise was the reason..