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McIntosh C11 Volume Pot Noise On One Channel

johnnytheg

johnnytheg

Active Member
Hi everyone, I have a McIntosh C11 with an annoying problem. When I turn the unit on and turn the volume up I get a slight noise, nothing too bad but a slight soft hissing crackle out of only the right channel. The unit has been in storage for 15 years so I sent it to Audio Classics to get it back to factory specs. I told them of the problem with the volume pot, but when I got the unit back the problem remained. The problem is, if I use the unit a lot the noise becomes less and less. In fact if I play the preamp for over an hour the noise disappears, but if I shut the unit off for a several days and turn it back on, the same problem is back. I contacted AC and made them aware of this, they of course apologized but didn't think it was anything serious enough to cart up the unit and ship it all the way back. They suggested I just spray the pot with a cleaner they will send to me. My question is, if a volume pot is just dirty wouldn't the noise be on both channels? Also, what is the best cleaner for pots? Deoxit fader f5 or Deoxit D5?
 
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Being stereo (2 channel), it will have a double stacked control meaning one for the left channel and one for the right channel. The right channel pot needs the cleaning but if that doesn't work then the entire volume pot would need to be replaced.
 
cademan said:
Being stereo (2 channel), it will have a double stacked control meaning one for the left channel and one for the right channel. The right channel pot needs the cleaning but if that doesn't work then the entire volume pot would need to be replaced.
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Thanks for your input. Is there a specific place in the pot that I should spray? I think there are two little square holes on the pot if I remember correctly.
 
Hi, as long as you can get it inside the pot, it really doesn't matter which hole is shown or not shown. Even though you only need to deox one of the pots, they could both use it anyway.
 
Following up on this thread. Back in late September, I did spray deoxit in the volume pot and the unit was as quiet a church mouse for a little while anyway. It's been seven months and a little of the noise is back, not nearly as noisy as when i first posted this thread, but there is still a little spit like noise on the pot. Does this mean I didn't clean it well enough originally? Also, is there a danger of over spraying if I attempt to do it again?
 
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