@atmasphere, I don't believe in miracles. ARC put tube "prophylactics" (damping rings?) on the tubes. I have no idea if this cuts "microphonics"
@lewm , I'm not talking about hitting the tubes with a baseball bat, just light tapping. Yes the PH3-SE is a hybrid design. I think it uses a FET front end. At some point you have to rely on experience. (and people you trust)
The next question is if tubes are microphonic how much energy or input does it take to make them sing and how does this affect sound quality. Will putting a tube phono stage on an isolation base change the degree or level of microphonics and can this be quantified. What about solid state. My preamp is digital. When I get home I'll put a wooden block on it and bang the block with a hammer to see what happens. That is way more energy transferred to the chassis than anything being transmitted by air or through it's feet. Once turntable is set up I'll do the same to the phono stage, the Oppo and the Apple mini to see what kind of noise I can generate. Next, I'll put my cell phone's volume up all the way and put it on speaker phone. Then I'll put the phone directly on each piece of equipment and I'll run a slow frequency sweep through the phone (what ever frequencies the phone will transmit). With the phone in direct contact with each unit that should transfer more energy to the unit than any system can. The the volume on my system turned all the way up we will see if we can hear anything!
@lewm , I'm not talking about hitting the tubes with a baseball bat, just light tapping. Yes the PH3-SE is a hybrid design. I think it uses a FET front end. At some point you have to rely on experience. (and people you trust)
The next question is if tubes are microphonic how much energy or input does it take to make them sing and how does this affect sound quality. Will putting a tube phono stage on an isolation base change the degree or level of microphonics and can this be quantified. What about solid state. My preamp is digital. When I get home I'll put a wooden block on it and bang the block with a hammer to see what happens. That is way more energy transferred to the chassis than anything being transmitted by air or through it's feet. Once turntable is set up I'll do the same to the phono stage, the Oppo and the Apple mini to see what kind of noise I can generate. Next, I'll put my cell phone's volume up all the way and put it on speaker phone. Then I'll put the phone directly on each piece of equipment and I'll run a slow frequency sweep through the phone (what ever frequencies the phone will transmit). With the phone in direct contact with each unit that should transfer more energy to the unit than any system can. The the volume on my system turned all the way up we will see if we can hear anything!