Tubes per se don't hum (in the electrical sense of the word, which refers to 60Hz noise created by a ground problem); they just fade away like old soldiers. However, tubes can be microphonic, wherein they will pick up any environmental vibrations and amplify them through the speakers. But it is not clear what you are hearing that irritates; can you amplify on your definition of "hum"? Is it really 60Hz or is it more like a "buzz" composed of mixed frequencies? "Hiss" might (just might) be treatable by changing VTA. Try lowering the tonearm pivot wrt the LP surface. And so far as I can tell, you have not mentioned what phono stage/linestage you are using, except I gather it is tube type.
Love / Hate relationship with vinyl?
Ok, I do love the sound of vinyl, but with my LOMC (Lyra Kleos), I hate the noise (low level hum, and hiss) levels I'm getting. I own a Hagerman Piccolo head amp that I haven't used in a couple of years, so I thought I'd hook it up, and see what happens. Well, still got the hum (at high levels), and the hiss. However, I do like what it's doing for the sonics! I've tried moving cables, moving the head amp, but I only get incremental improvements. Is this just the nature of the beast (LOMC's), or is there something I'm not doing that could improve these noise levels? Of course, another option is to go with something that has more output, like a HOMC, of a MM? Thoughts?
- ...
- 44 posts total
- 44 posts total