Background noise

Sorry, I didn't pay much attention to your original post........

If you are getting tube rush/hiss without a TT connected, then you have either a phono stage with a high(ish) noise floor, noisy tubes, or very efficient speakers which will reveal noise floors not readily apparent with less efficient speakers (like 102db v 86db speakers). Ask some owners of horn speakers. Some time ago I had 82db speakers and every thing was quiet. Then I got some 92db speakers and discovered all kinds of hums and buzzes. :-)

The only way to figure this out is get some phono stage quality tubes tested for low noise. If you still get the hiss you've just got a spare tube or two, or four, etc, and a different decision to make.

I'll add that the Shindo units I have heard are astonishingly quiet, so that would also make me lean towards a noisy tube as the culprit.

Noise even with the table unplugged?

I going with noisy tube or tubes in the phono section.

yes...i'll look into the tubes. Actually, i just opened it, and noticed that the housing of one of the tubes is a bit loose. so, that might be the culprit...or one of the tubes. i'll keep you posted. thanks.

Do you own a tube tester? IMO, it'd be good to have one. You wouldn't be able to test for noise, per se, but you'd at least be able to identify tubes that were strong, and had no grid emissions or shorts.