Rhea Noise

Rauliruegas, I'm curious... If vacuum tube phono amps are so inferior for the reproduction of vinyl sourced music than why is it that vacuum tubes were used in most of the finest recordings and mastering processes of all time? Just one modern day example might be the Analogue Productions 45RPM Fantasy jazz series. I have yet to hear a plausible explanation for why tubes stir my emotions greater than transistors. I’m really surprised that with that stream of logic you don’t prefer digital. Truly, I do not mean to insult you, please don’t take it that way but, I just don’t understand and I don’t agree. Happy Listening!

Dear R f: +++++ " I have yet to hear a plausible explanation for why tubes stir my emotions greater than transistors. " +++++

This " explanation " is almost imposible to have, there is too many issues about: first depends on your live music experience and if this live music is your " reference ", second, your trainy ears in live music againts reproduced music, third, music priorities, fourth, how good SS design you heard it and how well those SS audio devices make good synergy, fifth, how much time do you take to desequalized your " tube " ears and to equalize on SS " ears ".

The fact that many people ( like you ) likes the heavy distorted and colored tube sound does not means that is the right way to go.
You can travel from NY to Madrid: " swiming ", but this does not means that it is the best way to go!!!!!!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

The issue here comes down to how much one is sensitive to tube rush. What Xagwell is trying to describe to us sounds like the normal tube rush associated with the Rhea. Since the gain stages are all tube, it is normal to expect some extra tube rush as the gain is increased. Whether or not this is the "ideal" way to apply gain (vs. JFETs) is not really the issue here. There is no question that the Rhea performs extremely well.

Anyone auditioning the Rhea, or any other tube phonostage, is going to have to answer the quesion, how much tube rush does it take to bother you? I came from stages like the EAR 834P which had far more noticeable tube rush than the Rhea. I have used a .25mV denon with the Rhea at a gain setting of about 62dB and still I have to get very close to my speakers to hear any tube rush and it is certainly not audible when the stylus drops. I have swapped out the stock tubes.

Maybe this is semantics, but I don't think of tube rush as noise. If you're hearing more than what I have described then I would tend to think that you are either more sensitive to rush or there is perhaps something amiss with the unit you're listening to.

Dan_ed, I'm in agreement with the comments on tube rush. I find the same true with my Rhea.
For me though when someone denounces tubes totally for use in phono amplification as Rauliruegas did, I have a problem understanding it.

Rauliruegas, my point was that if some of the most beautiful (source) material for music of all time comes though tube equipment in its recording, production, cutter heads, etc how can one argue so vehemently against using tube equipment for the (re)production in ones home? And to that question, you did not answer. For the moment lets not confuse the issue by including all the ancillary components, room acoustics, or even wall current. And yes, I do use live acoustic music as my reference.
Happy Listening!

"The all tube Phonopreamps were not designed for low output MC cartridges. As a fact, this technology is not the right one for use in Phono stages."

I'm sure Jim White of Aesthetix would have a different opinion here. And there are a number of Aesthetix Io users here who have reported excellent success with low output MCs, in particular, the 0.25mv output Koetsus.

I understand the "pain" people have with the Calypso and Rhea. These units seem to be very sensitive to less-than-optimal tubes. All you had to do is read the Calypso review here by Jadem6 and you understand the effort it takes to get these units to perform to impressive levels of musicality.

I run with the 80db gain Aesthetix Io for both Koetsu Rosewood Signature and Clearaudio Accurate. These are both 0.6mv output which work mighty fine with the gain settings at 62db or 68db. I try to set the gain so that I have maximum loudness (mid-high 90 db levels) with the volume control (Aesthetix Callisto Sig) at 2 o'clock or so. In between tracks, at such a high level, I can just barely hear any kind of noise from the seating position. However, as I have reported on other Aesthetix threads here, I have only been able to find 12ax7 tubes from Ei for the first input stage which gives me this very low level of noise. I would love to find an ultra quiet pair of Telefunken or Mullards for this stage. The Sovteks are very quiet in the Io but they simply are far too fatiguing than these other brands. Perhaps you can try the Ei tubes here. They are only $10 so it's worth a try.

John