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Time to blast off from Rhea

I made an impulse purchase 1.5 years ago of a Rhea phono preamp. I have a low output MC cartridge, and was actually saving for an AR Reference 2. The dealer sold me his demo for a good discount. Upon getting it home, with my smaller room and efficient speakers, heard the noise. Dealer not willing to take it back as it was a demo sale. I replaced all the tubes with a set from Jim Mcshane which made the situation tolerable, but with limited use, these tubes became intolerably noisy. Put in some vintage RCA tubes in the V1/V2 and it sounds great again. Is this just the price to pay for pure tube amplification of 56 db? Should I just sell it, and buy the Parasound JC3 and be done with it?
tennisdoc40
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
2,651 posts
 
Your title appears to say that you have already made your decision.
davt
499 posts
 
though I no longer listen to vinyl I used to have a Herron phono stage, VTPH-2 and it was dead quiet. I did demo the Rhea and really preferred the Herron. You can have you cake and eat it to. I have heard the AR, forget which and it did not have much of a tube rush either.
jperry
1,408 posts
 
An all tube phono preamp amplifying a LOMC, and using high efficiency speakers is probably going to have some tube rush.

I have 2 suggestions for you. Talk to Andy at Vintage Tube Services, if you have not already done so; and try a SUT, maybe Bob's Devices, with your Rhea. It obliviously will not be all tube phono amplification any longer, but if you like the sound of the Rhea, it may be a good solution.
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