2. analog
  3. 1411076098

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

Showing 2 responses by zd542

zd542
5,339 posts
 
The noise issues in the above posts are probably from improper setup. It sounds like there is too much gain. Try lowering the gain on whatever input you are using on the Rhea and see if that helps.

You can also have a problem with mixing balanced and se components. Can you post a list of your system? Make sure to include everything. Cables, tweaks etc.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I still think that what I said in my first post could be the problem. I've dealt with these types of problems before. Its worth looking in to.
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