Rhea Noise

I have read several posts, both here and on Audio Asylum, about the Rhea being slightly noisy. Tube rolling will solve some, but not all of this.
My friend had the Rhea, and he tried a few different sets of tubes, which did solve some of the noise issues. (Sorry, I can not recall which tubes he used. He has since moved on to a battery powered solid state phono preamp - the ASR Basis Exclusive, I believe.)

I suggest you post over on both the vinyl and tube boards at the Audio Asylum for suggestions as to which tubes to try.

Good Luck.

The answer is most-likely lies in integration between cartridge and phono preamp if the unit functions OK. The variable gain settings in many cases cannot be done successfully since it may cause gain stages go out of stability i.e. oscillate. Selecting a best fixed gain and eliminating this flexibility feature could result in vast performance improvement(some small surgery required)

Gathering opinions on this post you may find folks who are more or less tolerant to the noise you're describing, but to be more precise in best gain value you must consult manufacturer who probably has knowlege about the best gain value i.e. with minimal vulnerability to oscillation and maximum stability and performance certainly with no exception to suggest inspecting the unit for possible service.

I had to replace the original tubes on my Rhea for the same reason.

Swapping tubes can be helpful, but the Rhea is noisy compared to the best phono stages available. It is a very good phono stage, but I don't think you will eliminate that problem.

Sometimes you have to take a little bad, along with a lot of good. To get something more quiet that sounds as good, you're going to have to spend a good chunk of cash.

Thanks all for your feedback. Refer to the other post for additional info, however I never heard noise with the PH-3. The stock ARC/Rhea both use sovtek 6922.