Preamp Deal of the Century

Hello Simon,

I am using a Denon 103R (0.25mV). My Chenin was set to Low gain. The phono section currently have the Mullard M8080 and Siemens 6922. I have plenty of gain! The phono gain knobs(pair) are just 1/3 setting and I can get 89 to 90 dB SPL with the linestage volume control to almost half. That is a lot! I have no tube rush or hum. I can put the phono knobs at max (both) and linestage max and cannot hear the hiss (all tubes does you are right) at about 4 feet away from a 90-91 dB sensitivity midrange driver actively driven of my Orions. If I placed my ear next to the speakers, yes there's some tube rush but no hum. That's it.

I think, its either you have a very noisy phono tubes or the FET input is out of whack. Just my opinion of course.

Goodluck

Hello Simon74,

I have the ZYX Yatra cartridge with .24mv in my system with my Supratek Cortese. I have more than enough gain with no noise problems. Granted the phono stage is not as quiet as some ss phono preamps, but it is much more musical than most. Pretty much the same way LP's may not be as quiet as cd's, but I find them to be much more musical.

Simon,

I'm also running a Denon 103R at 0.25mv on my Syrah, and I have more gain than I would ever use, and the hum and tube rush are both non-noticable when music is playing.

It sounds like something fishy...

Simon74, Slowhand, Amandarae Thanks very much for the valuable advise. I will play around with a few cords.

I took Amandarae's tip on the Sovetek KT66 tubes & got a pair 3 days back from Tube Store. WOW ! I simply did not expect this much improvement. The difference is more than my move to the expensive W.E.300B tubes for my amps. There are improvements in ALL areas of the sound. I too use horns, Mauhorns/Lowthers. Makes me wonder if my previous EH6L6 stock tubes were dying out!

This again makes me think that all Tubes equipment users
should have a Tube Tester handy( I don't have one ). Any ideas on where I can find one which does 300B, 6SN7 etc? This may also be a good business idea if someone can market a 'new production' cheap tube tester!
Cheers,

Hi Guys,
neither tube rush or hum are problems.
Just the emphasis on surface noise through the Syrah
as compared to the Quicky.
Can't be the turntable set up and with the gain
levels set my cd volume is pretty much
as I would expect , the phono needs a tad more
volume.
It's not the end of the world, just a bit annoying.

Dilly - like the idea of a cheap tube tester but I've
found that even tubes that test well sometimes go noisy
after a few days or weeks use.
I think Mick gives good advice about tubes - I've
wasted a lot of money on NOS tubes.
Nice as some of them sound, there not much use when
they die after a few days !

Simon