VAC Phono in Avatar Super

The VAC step up is $600. Have you tested the phono tubes? Could possibly have a noisy tube in the phono stage.

If the tube is not the problem, the step up would probably lower the noise floor.

Regards,
John

A step up would provide too much gain.
Suggest John's guidance be followed, or contact VAC.

Divo's probably right (unless this stepup is only 5db or so).

A stepup would also lower the impedance seen by the cartridge. Tonal balance might be significantly altered, yielding reduced HF's and/or heavier bass.

Dear Maineiac: +++++ " Given that I have a high output cart, would the VAC step-up be a mismatch? " +++++

Any step-up transformer is a mismatch for the quality sound reproduction on any preamp: always do a degradation to the signal.

As a fact your VAC was designed more for MM cartridges than for HO MC ones.
Now, out there there are several great MM cartridges that outperform the cartridge that you own ( for less dollars ) and many others MC top " names ". Look for: Goldring, Ortofon, Audio Technica, Shure, Music maker, Clearaudio, etc, etc.

I can asure you that you will be really happy with the MM cartridge.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hello Maineiac,
You are not alone! I too own an Avatar Super and I have been working on clearing the problem with mine.
I have changed tubes with little or no success.
I was told it was my Grado wood cartridge, that it had too much gain @ 5 mv, so bought a new Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood. It was a little better but still not even close to acceptable.
I rewired my tone arm with the Incognito kit. The problem worsened. That was when I discovered that the hum changed depending where I grounded the arm to the Avatar chassis.
Now feeling less than intelligent I call VAC and talk to them about the hum in a nutshell they told me to ground it wherever it works. I have mine grounded to the ground on the right channel RCA. VAC's own external MC set-up grounds through this contact. This worked for me, although I find it to be a little Mickey Mouse, it works and sounds fabulous! Good Luck!