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ALPS blue direct replacement

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Hi guys my auralic taurus mk ii ALPS pot recently become scratchy and when turning it may have some kind of hum which is not heard if the pot stays untouched, I am thinking to replace it and gets sort of tempted to replace it with a DACT, but anyone have idea whether it's pin compatible or extra wiring have to be done?
 

raindance

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That's a good pot. You should look at fixing the issue. Normally noise when turning these conductive plastic pots is due to a DC offset at the input of the device.

Hum when touching the shaft is due to inadequate grounding. The body of the pot needs to be grounded to the chassis of the device.
 
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YSC

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Thanks raindance, but any idea why would it only appears after a few years of use? I wanted a replacement because when the hum sorry of noise appears it’s actually feels like some kind of dirt is at the wiper contact, after a few turns of the pot quickly to push those grit away it usually feels ok for a while
 

Matias

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Or just replace it with the same part?
 

SIY

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Normally noise when turning these conductive plastic pots is due to a DC offset at the input of the device.

Very important point- first determine if the old pot fell or was pushed. Otherwise, the root cause remains unrepaired.
 

raindance

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The Alps blue is not sealed and has adequate access for spraying contact cleaner inside it. Try blowing it out with canned air first. DON'T USE WD40! I hope this fixes your issue.

I've had zero failures from these pots in many years of using them. As I suggested, they do seem very sensitive to DC, but I'm not sure why this would suddenly become an issue unless your device has input coupling caps that have failed.

Proper grounding of the threaded part fixes hum 100% of the time, if it occurs.
 

ElNino

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Even if you wanted to replace it, the Alps Blue in the Auralic Taurus is soldered to the main PCB, and it's a bear to desolder this part. (If you did get it removed, there is enough space to replace it with a small imitation Dact-style pot though.)

If you still have hum when you touch the pot after tightening the nut against the chassis, I'd suggest sending it back to Auralic to repair. I know I'm in the minority here, but I had one bad experience in the past with a genuine Alps Blue pot that I could never get properly grounded. Probably from a bad batch, but if that's also the case with your unit Auralic would probably need to replace it.
 
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Even if you wanted to replace it, the Alps Blue in the Auralic Taurus is soldered to the main PCB, and it's a bear to desolder this part. (If you did get it removed, there is enough space to replace it with a small imitation Dact-style pot though.)

If you still have hum when you touch the pot after tightening the nut against the chassis, I'd suggest sending it back to Auralic to repair. I know I'm in the minority here, but I had one bad experience in the past with a genuine Alps Blue pot that I could never get properly grounded. Probably from a bad batch, but if that's also the case with your unit Auralic would probably need to replace it.
Thanks for the advice, I am asking the official dealer here and they think they can check it if needed for around $100 USD, personally I just opened the case up and use a blower to blow off all dirts and it sounds fine ATM, I will try it a while more to see if dust is causing the grounding problem (possibly some sort of minor shorting on the dirt? or maybe the case fixing screws have problem)
 
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The Alps blue is not sealed and has adequate access for spraying contact cleaner inside it. Try blowing it out with canned air first. DON'T USE WD40! I hope this fixes your issue.

I've had zero failures from these pots in many years of using them. As I suggested, they do seem very sensitive to DC, but I'm not sure why this would suddenly become an issue unless your device has input coupling caps that have failed.

Proper grounding of the threaded part fixes hum 100% of the time, if it occurs.
Sorry I somehow feels the huming is not a 100% correct term for my problem. In one channel there is more like some kind of low freq pressure to my bone inside my ear canal and behind my ear, like "feeling some blood pumping hard" thing. I am not sure is that what DC coupling caps fail would do?
 

raindance

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Sorry I somehow feels the huming is not a 100% correct term for my problem. In one channel there is more like some kind of low freq pressure to my bone inside my ear canal and behind my ear, like "feeling some blood pumping hard" thing. I am not sure is that what DC coupling caps fail would do?

I'm not sure what you're describing, sorry!
 
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