ARC Reference 2 MkII Preamp white noise levels

Well, 1K input Z, as soon asI saw that...this is the most likely problem. Too low for getting the best performance with ARC tubes.
Good luck,
JT

Actually the input is 10K Ohms, the balanced output is 440 Ohms for a 22x ratio...

I tried to track down the tech support agent at ARC but he was tied up. I'll try again Monday. Thanks all for your help.

The ARC uses tubes in the power supply, the Bat is SS power supply. There is your answer.

I agree with Reb1208. My Ref2 mk1 also has white noise and will go away when you mute the pre. It is also not variable through the volume control, as the original poster suggests.. I called Leonard at ARC and he said it is the power tube that is used in their design.

magnepanmike

At the risk of having all the ARC fans on my case: I see that Lamm also uses vacuum tube rectifier circuits in his power supply. Thus, far I have not read any Lamm preamp owner crib about excessive while noise levels. (if this is not the case, please point me to the appropriate post). I compare w/ Lamm 'cuz the Ref2 Mk2 is close in price range to the Lamm L2 Ref & is more expensive than the LL2 regular/deluxe.
It seems that if ARC was to charge $10,000 for the Ref2 Mk2, this noise aspect should never have been an issue. What if one were to use the ARC Ref2 Mk2 with a horn system? Problem exacerbated? I went to the Stereophile archives & dug this out from a year 2000 review. Seems like it was on the Mk1 version but,unfortuntely, it seems that it's applicable to the Mk2 version too. Your experience, Classicjazz, seems consistent:
"The Reference Two was quiet for a tube amp, with just a trace of thin white noise when no signal was fed it—a far narrower spectrum than the usual "tube rush." Still, there was a slight price to pay for the raised noise floor compared to the best solid-state preamps: on classical recordings, lower resolution of very-low-level information such as back-of-the-stage reverberant events; and on pop and rock, a de-emphasis of electronic studio effects. The latter was actually a blessing; most of this studio detritus is not supposed to be so obvious in the mix, and isn't with the kind of gear it's usually played through."