[NeoParticipant]

Hi XYZ and many apologies for not replying earlier.
I had originally replied via my mobile and just realised it never posted.

Short answer is that it went in for service and is repaired now. Internal PSU replaced. Good as gold now !
However I am looking to upgrade to the very latest avantis console so the SQ7 + Dante card is for sale.

Best,
Peter

[NeoParticipant]

Hi Danny – I just noticed that you are looking to dive in and get an SQ.

I have an SQ-7 for sale (topic in the SQ forum on here), could make you a good price. The SQ-7 is only slightly larger than the SQ-6.
I am upgrading mine to a DLive – I bought my SQ-7 in Jan this year – had only studio time since/never gigged/pretty much mint.

Tx,
Peter

[NeoParticipant]

I really didn’t want to have to take the mixer out of the desk but you are correct that is one thing I haven’t done and need to do to make sure there is no local interference, very unlikely as I have a fairly significant amount of gear racked and all playing nicely, very nicely indeed in terms of noise floor. Some of this gear is decades old some of it is new.

I will have to try and relocate the mixer completely when I get a chance.

Tx,
Peter

[NeoParticipant]

Hi Steffen, sorry just coming back to your earlier point about which bus I am using – I have nothing connected to analog IN or digital IN, basically no inputs. I have nothing connected to the analog OUTs except for a balanced pair of cables from analog outs 1 and 2 to STR2L/R for example, e.g. the shortest possible path to see whether there is any noise on the analog outs. I could connect four cables also to Outs 1/2/3/4 and STR1, STR2, etc … I really notice the noise through my summing mixer as it sums all 16 outputs and then amplifies as well — at first I thought I was having a nasty groundloop in this mixing chain but through trial and error reduced it back to the mixer.

What’s most puzzling is that the interference is not present immediately but only if I unplug the power cable and move to a different socket (any socket, I have 10+ sockets all on the same HQ dedicated earth ring) as almost if disconnecting the earth for a moment discharges a component or resets a component inside the mixer PSU == at least for a little while…

I am travelling right now so will open a support ticket when I am back at base.

Many thanks indeed for your help so far.

Best,
Peter

[NeoParticipant]

Many thanks Steffen.

@barryjam – thanks Barry, these are indeed very valuable pointers, I have made sure that I haven’t got a naughty neighbour running a HAM radio or something silly to pollute the electricity from the ‘outside’. I run a number of very sensitive pieces of analog equipment in racks right next to the SQ as well, so I’d expect there to be some interference to if there were any external issues. But indeed very good thinking.

[NeoParticipant]

Tx Steffen, how do I go about the ticket? Sorry for the stupid Q, couldntnfind any obvious links or places in the forum.
I have gotten in touch with the retailer though who sold menthe desk.

Tx,
Peter

[NeoParticipant]

Also, before I forget, unit is not connected via USB (either back or front) and I have never had any issues with the usb multi track recording facility that have been reported on here. Works actually quite well, definitely no digital noise in the system.

Real shame as I very much like the SQ7 and it fits into my workflow perfectly. Hope I can get this one sorted as the noise floor if this is the stock behaviour isn’t good enough for studio work.

[NeoParticipant]

Indeed. I have a dedicated electrical circuit (mains sockets) + earth, clean, 2 year old installation running quite abit of gear off it without no issues of interference, hum, noise, etc. We purpose built this studio from the ground up. Have tried cable that came with the mixer, a high end GBP 250 Belden bespoke power cable a two quid Kenable cable from amazon. All same result. And yes, everything unplugged, connect output 1 and output 2 to STR2L and STR2R for example, then crank the trim to +24db on the STR2 channel – 3/4 minutes in – a noise hum starting to appear, first a few ticks, tacks, then the whole brrrrrrrrrr (sorry for the silly wording) … electricity hum but starts out with a few ticks/clicks (not digital). Can replicate this noise on headphone port, A/B out and AES digital out. So it’s not in my monitor chain (post mixer) and it’s not in my analog summing chain (analog out -> balanced snake -> summing mixer -> 2bus back into SQ7). Can replicate by connecting to out 3/4, 5/6, etc and the TRS ports at the back (STR1 and STR2).

What’s telling me that there is a problem somewhere in the mixer is the fact at the noise (the electrical hum) is not present when the mixer is turned on, but switching off / disconnecting / re connecting mains power or any of the analog summing chain components has no effect, then starts to feed in a short while after – almost as one / two or some components in the mixer PSU oards (caps maybe) get charged up properly (sorry I am not an electrical engineer).
Just for fun, and to make sure my expensive earthing system isn’t to blame I ran a 20 meter extension into the main house and plugged the mixer into a kitchen outlet, different earth, different circuit – same exact result.

I haven’t not and won’t open up the mixer myself but from experience I’d say I have heard this kind of interference from noise fan supplies / dimmers, etc (have no dimmers anywhere in my supply circuit) – just the two fans on the SQ7 – they do run very silently though – I would not have thought that in a brand new released mixer, A&H would have designed a noise fan electrical supply circuit.

[NeoParticipant]

Have exactly the same issue. Latest available firmware with release notes saying that scribble strips now update channel names in DAW. I only get the first channel in a group of 8 to show the name from the DAW. Others do not update whatever I do. Have also reinstalled and reset pretty much everything on the mixer and on my computer rig.

[Author]

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