Mds Je520: Audible Noise At High Amp Volume

[Colonel Samuels]

Several years ago I bought the MDS JE520 MD deck from Sony. Only recently I noticed something of which I'm not sure it is normal. The analog out from my 520 is connected to the tape in from my amplifier (Grundig V330). When the power of the 520 is switched on and I turn the volume of my amplifier up to the max. level (without an md playing of course) I very distinctively hear noise generated by the JE520. When I press the rec button of the md (again without an actual input signal - I don't want to blow up my speakers) the noise even gets a tiny bit louder (md on analog rec.). When I switch off the power of the md deck (while the volume level remains at max), the noise dissapears. I have tried this on all of the line in's of the amp (tape, video-aux, tuner, cd, ...) each time i get the same noise level. I have detached all other devices and did the test again ... the same result. When I do the same test with my cd-player, my tape deck, etc. no noise is audible. I also did the test without any device connect to the amp and I hear no noise (so it can't be the amplifier causing the noise). Of course I do get noise on the record player line in, but I think that is normal, right? In fact, the noise I get from the md is comparable to the noise on the record player line in (only slightly less loud). Since I don't have an optical line in on my amp, I can only do the test by using the analog line out of the md.

When I actually play an md with the amp at a normal level, I can't hear the noise but it must be there. So, basically my question is, is it normal that the je520 generates a certain level of noise, audible when the volume of the amp is at max level? Maybe my md has always done that? Who has a je520 and can do the same test? If this is not a common phenomena, what could be causing this? Thanks in advance for your inputs!