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How to Manage Rhea "Noise"

I have noticed excessive noise from my Rhea. The balanced out is noisier than the RCA out. Gain greater than 56db makes the noise completely unacceptable/clearly heard from my "sweet seat." This prevents use of ultra low output moving coils. Any suggestions. By the way my old PH-3 was dead quite. Go figure.
xagwell

Showing 2 responses by dan_ed

dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
"The balanced out is noisier than the RCA out."

That seems normal. Several folks have commented that the RCA outputs are quieter.

As far as noise increasing when you increase the gain, I would suspect that this is attributed to some of the stock tubes. I never cared for the Sovteks in my Rhea. I swapped them out for some of the new Tung-Sol 12ax7 and liked the sound alot more. The pairs in V1 and V2 will have the most impact on this.

I've never really had an issue with noise and I have used mine with a .25 mV Denon and balanced all the way.

Best,

Dan
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Stew maybe correct. The Rhea's gain stages are all tube so it is not going to be as quiet as a J-FET. Just to give a point of reference, I have to get my ear within a foot of the speakers at moderate volume to hear any tube rush. So if you're hearing more than this there could very well be something unusual about the unit you have or some other condition involved. Again, I've used my Rhea with a low output 103R and a MO Benz Glider and never had a problem with noise.
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