I had an intermittent noise problem on my main system that I originally attributed to a bad tube. I replaced all the tubes from phono stage, to the recherché rectifier for the phono, to the line stage (old stock DR 6h30s, no fun to source), to everything on the Lamm ML2s. Still the noise intruded. Sent one long interconnect back to Joe Kubala to be reterminated- XLR. That didn’t fix the problem either. Found a wanky tube socket on the Allnic phono stage and replaced it. Nope. Glad I did all this stuff, it was due, but still the noise.
Talking to Vytas from Veloce-- he said swap the battery backs in the line stage and see if the noise changes sides. Well, pulling up one pack, there was a feather of dust on the contact plate. I cleaned it, swapped channels/battery packs-- noise eliminated.
Moral of story for me- it’s usually something stupid.
Good luck- by the time you are done sussing it out, you will have given your system a good going over. Back when I was a car guy, they’d sort it out this way-- get the car to a place where you can open it up- floor it-- if something breaks, you’ll know. If it blows out black exhaust and then starts singing at full chat, you have performed what I learned to call the "Italian tune-up." (With respect). :)
