Aesthetix IO Eclipse

Had the IO Sig for a couple of years. I did find it noisy even with Jim's recdommended tubes. More important though is the perspective of the soundstage it throws. at first it sounds huge and it is. only when I switched to another phono stage did i realize that the IO is not so focussed and you might miss a more precise staging of the music. I put the IO n the same category as ARC phono stages - big sound highly impressive, but artificial if you want to replay a quartet on stage. Not saying it is bad or even wrong, but that is the characteristic of width and height versus depth and precision.

If a key requirement for your enjoyment is "dead silence" from the electronics, the Io will likely never satisfy your need. It is generating 80db of gain all from tubes. There are tradeoffs in doing this as compared to a solid state phono stage or a tube phono stage that uses a transformer gain step up device.

To my ear, the Io's all active tube gain sonics are consistently superior in naturalness, timbre and micro-dynamics - a sense of "life" to the music.

The downside to this all active tube gain is that a certain amount of tube rush is going to show through if you are using a very low output cartridge or if you are consistently playing at very high volume levels. The demand on the first gain stage tubes for low noise is significant and not to be underestimated. Even with "perfect" tubes, some people will continue to complain that the unit is noisy. For me, this is NOT the case. But, I've listened to vinyl and tubes for 40 years and am somewhat less concerned about dead silence in the background than others may be.

As to expressed reservations about soundstaging and precise imaging, I find no fault and only praise for the Io in these areas. I listen primarily to classical (orchestral and chamber) and small ensemble jazz. The ability to precisely and accurately reproduce the players and their instruments in space (horizontal, vertical and in depth) are high priorities for my listening enjoyment. And the Io is able to meet my very high expectations in these areas.
.

Has anyone compared the IO to the Rhea Sig? The latter, from my readings, hasn't had any noise problems and is a single chassis unit with great conveniences. Of course the actual sonics are what ultimately counts.

The Rhea Signature is very good. The Io Signature is materially better. I'd also prefer the standard Io over the Rhea Signature, particularly knowing that I can update it at any time.

Please don't misunderstand the noise point.

The Io is VERY quiet. There are NO "noise issues." It is simply a question of 80+ db of gain coming entirely from tubes. If you run the Io "flat out," there will some tube rush as compared to a solid state or transformer based gain stage device. At reasonable listening volumes and with reasonable output cartridges (e.g., 0.24mv and above), the Io Signature or Eclipse will be very quiet and one of the very best phono stages available.
.

Hi Rushton, while I'm not in the immediate market for an Io, I've had a peruse of the owners manual and was surprised by the unusually long warm-up before use. Specifically, I'm referring to these instructions:
A. Turn power on.
B. Wait at least fifteen minutes for power supplies to fully stabilize before unmuting preamp.
C. Begin playing record.

I'm used to tube phono and preamps muting for 30-45s after power-up - but 15min(?) seems a bit excessive/inconvenient. What have you found?