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$1,500 phono upgrade worth it?

I'm having the itch to upgrade my phono stage. I currently have a Rega P6,  Ania Pro cart, and Rega Fono MC stage. I find that the stage is generally pretty noisy with a noticeable hiss. The table can't be grounded in stock configuration from Rega, so I don't think it's that. I do have a dedicated line run from my panel to the plug. I don't think it's picking up any interference. The phono is run into a Primaluna Evo 300 integrated; which is dead silent when streaming.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out, is the $1,500 figure going to make a noticeable difference? Do I even need to go that high? Given my current configuration, I can't see stepping up much higher than that. At some point I'm only going to get so much out of the ancillary components to justify going way above them with the stage.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Cheers and happy holidays!!

ecrotty
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aberyclark
1,410 posts
 

A couple of things. If you have really efficient speakers, Hiss will be more noticeable with some tube amps if the the gain is on the higher side. 
 

Does the hum go away when you touch the tone arm? Also check your cartridge wires and make sure they are snug. 

arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 

Tweeter hiss is common for high eff speaks. 
 

 Tone controls? Turn down 2 notches treble. 
 

 Unplug wires, wipe off,  reconnect, make sure all connections are snug, 

check for touching cables as well.

clean the records well.

femoore12's avatar
femoore12
683 posts
 

It is possible to have a system with high efficiency speakers with no hiss or hum. I have a tube pre-amp, tube amps, and horn speakers. I have no hum or hiss when using my system. It is dead quiet. I cannot hear anything when my turntable is running before placing the needle on the vinyl. I do have everything plugged into one power conditioner. I did replace the stock turntable power supply with an SBooster Linear power supply. 

elliottbnewcombjr
5,730 posts
 

femoore1 and I agree,

tube system, highly efficient horn speakers, tweeters just juiced up, SUT, phono, no hiss or hum, dead quiet until the needle drops. My tonearm wire needed replacing, it was causing problems because of a design flaw, insulation wore off, wire got bare. Fixed, back to zero noise. I've had poor connections to cartridge pins, tighten, noise gone.

I just listened to Sgt. Pepper's, reel to reel, there a slight bit of tape hiss between tracks, but that's from the tape, S/N ratio of tape, not from the system. OMG was it awesome, 1st time I have played it since I made upgrades hither and thither this past year.

my friend has always accepted a slight bit of hum from his tube amps, far less efficient speakers than my horns. I thought it might have been a problem with the cartridge/tonearm we just worked on, but it is 'just there' on other inputs. I just asked him if he wants to go thru the whole system, contact cleaner, tube tester, fresh connections everywhere, including cleaning, perhaps tightening tube socket pins if needed.

He did have to send his custom tube amps to the maker, someone has messed about with them before he bought them used, and the maker had a few changes of his own. Hum was gone, for a while. 

...............................

but it does seem OP's phono stage is suspect, his system is quiet on other inputs.

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