Question on phono input noise levels
Earlier this year, I had my Parasound P5 Preamp connected to my 35+ year old Bang and Olufsen turntable, with a moving magnet cartridge. I noticed that with the turntable connected (including the ground wire) I noticed quite a bit of hiss when not playing a record and the turntable was idle. In other words, the noise level was much higher when the input selector on the P5 was set to phono vs. other inputs. Later, I upgraded to the Parasound P6 preamp. I noticed the same hiss, when the volume was turned up. I just assumed it was the turntable, since the problem (albeit minor) happened with both preamps.
As some of you may recall from a recent posting, I just purchased a new turntable. Yesterday, I received it - my new Rega P8 turntable with factory installed Alpheta2 moving coil cartridge. The hiss is worse!! So now I have experienced this background hiss with two different preamps and turntables. is this normal? I'm wondering if the higher gain needed for the moving coil cartridge is adding to the noise level. Could I be expecting too much out of the phono preamp section of the P6?
Note that both the turntable and amps have power run through an Audioquest Niagara 1200 line filter, so I do not think it is AC noise. But the noise level is much higher on "phono" compared with other inputs. Do any of you all notice this with your equipment?
SUT-step up transformer http://www.kandkaudio.com/applications-guide/ I looked for the least techie article, but they all seem to be about the same. |
At normal volumes you should hear nothing. If you turn the volume up all the way you will hear some noise and it to try to play it at that volume you'll either blow an amp or break a loudspeaker. If you hear it at normal volumes then you have a noise source near your turntable. You have a lot of gain and can amplify almost anything. Don't take anything for granted. Unplug everything but the turntable, preamp and amplifier even the line conditioner and see what you have. Change the position of the turntable and see of the noise changes. If the noise disappears plug in one unit at a time and see which unit is causing the noise. Don't forget to make sure all your gain and load settings are correct for that cartridge. Good Luck, Mike |
