Ssssh, is your tube preamp really that quiet?

Very nice responses and very educational.

enjoy

Trumweiller, please thank Ken from me. Ken's response was very illuminating and educational. I do agree that the noise from my CAT is quite minimal. I have rolled in tubes into both stages....NOS Mullards into the Line stage and NOS GE long plates into the phono stage Both sets were a nice upgrade to the stock Ei's. OTOH, the noise factor that we are discussing, has remained the same regardless of the tube used. As I stated earlier, the hiss ( noise) is NOT at all noticeable when music is playing. IF doing away with the noise ( or more of it, as I guess getting away from ALL of it isn't possible) also throws out the baby with the bath water....as Ken states; then I TOTALLY agree with Ken's decision to keep the current protocol. IMHO, the CAT preamps are STILL the best tube preamps that i have ever heard. Thanks again, Ken!

Cary SLP-05 is dead quiet through my 107dB sensitive horns (via Lamm ML2).

My Allnic H3000 is dead quiet coupled to my Edge NL12.1. I also use an Edge Signature 1.1SE pre and notice no difference in background noise-both are dead quiet.

When I bought my Counterpoint SA1000, it was fairly quiet for a tube preamp, but over the years that my current, Golden Dragon matched 6922 which has been in the preamp for 22 yrs, has been exhibiting a slight whoosh which was not there let's say 4 or so years ago. However, any program material masks the background hash. Still, this tube sounds so good that I have never found another one to match it. At the rate it is going, maybe I will have to replace it in another 10 years.