Thnks,Tvad. I hate being out there alone on this. The following is a TRUE statment.--Goes back to the late 80's. It was my first tube pre.The AR9. I was getting all this noise from the phono. I took it to them. They kept it for 3 weeks. They couldn't find anything wrong but I payed 40 bucks and it still had the prob.--- A day latter I discovered on my own, I needed a new tube.That was all!! Great Techs huh??------BTW, Howard, over there on Ventura Blvd ain't much better---(re. time and money) Tube gear ?? Take it to Monrovia.