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Tinnitus issues with different amps

djnagle

djnagle

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi all, I’m have three amps and two have to go. I have an Eagle 2, a Bedini 150/150 MKII, and a Carver M1.5T. They have all been gone through.

they all sound great and very similar but the Carver and Bedini light up my Tinnitus really bad.

I will obviously keep the Eagle 2 but what about the other two amps causes my tinnitus flare up so quickly and massively?
 
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It is weird how it works. I have Tinnitus also and have found I can listen to my Fisher 400 receiver all day with no issues. Fire up my SX-1250 or even my DIY First Watt F6 and sometimes it just does not sound right. That said, other times they sound great.
 
Mine acts up after listening to metal domes, STK based amps and crappy digital recordings. Another thing I noticed is a few amps with OP amps in pre circuit also ignite it. I can calm the ringing by stretching my back and neck so if you are having lingering ringing give it a try.

I find I can listen to a lot of those vintage pieces that some say are warm and veiled all day long without any issues. But there also is a more recent integrated amp that some say is glassy and bright that sounds absolutely great to me and causes me no issues but it does not use op amps in it.
 
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The sound of an amp has much to do with feedback and stabilization, some of which may be proprietary.
 
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Interesting question. I suffer from pretty bad tinnitus as well, and it’s particularly aggravated by edginess in the higher frequencies. A Monarchy NM-24 dac was absolutely unlistenable to me, which surprised me since it’s a tube dac, or at least one side of it is. The Monarchy produced kind of a crackle in my ears that was absolutely intolerable. I have no idea why.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried a good tube amp in your rig? It would be interesting to see if it produces the same kind of issue. Without getting into a tube vs SS debate, I generally find that tube equipment aggravates that crackle issue far less, although my current dac is all SS and doesn’t aggravate it at all.
 
Yes, these are the first SS amps I’ve had in my system. I am building a tube amp that I’ll try soon. I never had an issue with my 300B SET amp.
 
Amps or speakers with pronounced mid-range really irritate my tinnitus.
I prefer tubes but I do like my S/S Marantz 1060 with the midrange tone control knocked down a notch or 2 from flat.
 
tomlinmgt said:
I had an issue with my 300B SET....
...the price of tubes.
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You ain’t lyin’, tomlinmgt. My Antares runs on KR842VHD tubes, which are kind of a modified 300B, but more $$. Fortunately, they tend to run about 10K hrs, but it’s still a significant outlay when you have to replace them.
 
tomlinmgt said:
I had an issue with my 300B SET....
...the price of tubes.

Sorry D...couldn't resist. I'm still kinda bitter about it after all these years.
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no, I get it. I ran Electros for a year and was ready to sell it until a friend brought over a pair of KRs. I couldn’t buy a pair fast enough. $800.00 for the pair. I ran them for 3 years and sold them for $900.00.
 
2FarGone said:
You ain’t lyin’, tomlinmgt. My Antares runs on KR842VHD tubes, which are kind of a modified 300B, but more $$. Fortunately, they tend to run about 10K hrs, but it’s still a significant outlay when you have to replace them.
Click to expand...

When I realized it was going to cost me more money just to roll in better than decent tubes than the amount of money I had tied up in the monoblocks themselves......time to eject. Lol
 
I understand. In my case it was the 2008 meltdown that forced me to sell them and the amp.
 
koolkat62 said:
Wow! I had no ideal whatsoever that music from certain amps, units can flare up tinnitus!
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Everyone is different. I have terrible tinnitus that never changes. But that means it's always there, and always bad (mine is a cluster of high-pitched squeals at a perceived level of about 80 dB SPL). Sure, some systems and recordings can give me listener fatigue, but I've never experienced what the OP is hearing.
 
I have an easier time with 2 way speakers that have a bit of a "hole" in the midrange. Mine is always there too, but high volumes aggravates it considerably, especially loud upper midrange stuff.
 
Funny, I have tinnitus also but when I am listening to music it doesn't seem to bother me until I turn the music off and then I notice that my tinnitus is louder than usual. After about 20-30 minutes it is back to what I hear all the time.
 
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