Along with the crackly connections you are getting, we seem to be following similar tracks with our Mk1s!

Did you catch the other place on this BBS where I solved the problem of the crackly connection? It was internal to the unit, and it was because the IDE cable from the second disk drive (Which I installed) was pushing on the differential amplifier sub-board. Rerouting the cable a bit solved my problem.

I wondered whether or not this was related to the additional current draw following the installation of a second disk?

If the playing song is getting desynchronized from the displayed track name, I highly doubt that's related to any current draw problems. Sounds like a simple software glitch to me.

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Tony Fabris