Opinions on Power Regenerators and Tube Amps

I don't know enough about the VPI chassis to really advise you. Typically, the tonearm leads have five connections: two signal leads (from cartridge left and right) which each consist of a hot and ground conductor, covered by a braided shield connected (along with the ground conductor) to the "ring" of the RCA connector at the phono preamp end. In addition, there is usually a black ground wire bundled with the two RCA signal leads that you connect to the ground lug on the phono preamp. This wire goes into the tonearm and is usually connected to the armwand (if it's metal) in order to shield the internal signal wires inside the tonearm.

If the TT chassis is electrically connected to the tonearm, that should be enough, but if it's separate, then you should run another wire from the TT chassis to the phono preamp ground lug.

What kind of tonearm, cartridge, and tonearm cables are you using, and how do the tonearm cables connect to the tonearm?
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My apologies, this thread is moving in two directions now. Nsgarch, the table is a VPI Scoutmaster with a thick, I believe, mdf chassis. Cartridge is a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood. The head leads go to a junction box separate from the tonearm where the cables and ground are attached. interconnect is Synergistic Looking Glass. Amazingly, the VPI setup says nothing about grounding. It does say to try a shielded a/v interconnect, if there is hum. Don't wanna do that. I am going to read up on Exactpower, although they are sorta expensive.

I think the Synergistic ICs may be the problem. Are you using the active shielding? Is the active shielding connection at the preamp end or the TT end? (might try reversing it). If that doesnt help, try a pair of regular ICs just for comparison (with the arrows pointed toward the preamp)

I don't think you need to worry about grounding the VPI chassis, which is why the don't mention it.
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It is not normal for a tube system to buzz. Some hiss is normal and maybe a bit of hum but buzzing is not.

Glad to see you have isolated the problem to the phono. Now the hunt is on. Try moving cables around to see if the buzz changes, try it without the turntable plugged into the phono stage to see if it is coming from the phono satge or the table, try grounding the turntable to the phono stage, try it without, try grounding the turntable to the preamp, try different interconnects, try moving the phono stage and turntable, try turning off other things in your house like dimmers and appliances.

You get the idea. There is no universal solution so you just have to keep trying things until you get rid of it.

When I first hooked up my latest phono stage the hum was as loud as the music. After trying umpteen different combinations of things you now have to stick your head in the horn to hear anything.

I am using a power regenerator for the high voltage supplies in my integrated and for my phono stage. It does make it a bit quieter but the main reason I use it is my integrated bias is sensitive to changes in line voltage. For your system it may not make any difference.

Yup, can of worms. It definately has something to do with the active shielded cables, which are new to my system, btw. Turning off the switch to all the shielded cables makes a big difference. I have a non-active Looking Glass from TT to phono stage, and an active from phono stage to preamp. I switched those and it made it worse. I need to experiment some more. Herman, thanks for the input......what I have is a small buzz/hum at a very high listening level, with no music playing. it's annoying, but I can not hear it from my chair.