2. amps-preamps
  3. 1138816980

Midrange hiss....VERY slight...with my Dared pre

Let me start by saying that I've never owned a Tube preamp. I bought this piece 2nd hand, it has 'upgraded' tubes (installed by the previous owner, who seemed to know his stuff). The model is the SL-2000A. Anyway, after listening I noticed that there is a rather prominent hiss in the midrange. It sometimes is VERY unnoticable...but when the sound is playing in a certain range (perhaps around 2-5khz) the infromation is played with a slight hiss. Is this just what tubes do? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks.
radium141
radium141 OP
13 posts
 
Wow, thanks for the responses fellas! Here's the rest of my setup.

Sony SCD-CD595
Signal Audio Cables
Dared Pre
older pair of kimber cables
Marantz SA6100 (solid state amp)
Epos ELS-303's

I'm thinking that it is the older pair of kimber's that perhaps are shot. The amp has almost zero noise if I turn it up half way...which is a solid 1/5 of a rotation high than I EVER turn it up while listening. At the present moment I'm one shelf short of a dedicated shelf for the Dared Pre...and it is resting atop my cd player...could this possibly cause such a problem???
newbee
4,767 posts
 
If you can't hear tube rush at normal/high volume listening levels, its NOT a problem! Even more so if you only hear it when you've got your ear within inches of the tweeter/midrange. Many fine units both SS and Tube, operating properly, will reveal their noise floor depending on the input sensitivity of the amp and the efficiency of the speakers.
radium141 OP
13 posts
 
Newbee...thanks for the input. So, my very modern SS Marantz amp may be too sensitive inputwise for the dared pre??? I think that the epos are around 88/89 db/w.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Interestingly it may be just that and new has nothing to do with it. I have two new amps, both with high sensitivity (.5v and .8v)and two older amps by about 12 years which have much lower sensitivity (1.5V), some of the older ones even go down to 2.5v or less. Higher amp sensitivity makes the pre-amps job easier and facilitates the use of passive pre-amps for those interested. The speakers at 89db are moderately efficient.

Personal story - Had some Acustat panels with an 82db. With my SP10 and the matching ARC 115II amp my system was dead quiet. The I got some Quads - only 4db difference - all of a suden I could hear noise. Then I got a new amp with higher input sensitivity (.8v) wow - did I have noise now! Thats when I started to paying attention to low noise tubes in my pre-amp. Thats how it goes. Ask someone who uses high efficiency horns about noise! :-)
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