Ddderek,
I've found el34's- the Winged C, actually, to be "noisy", with a hiss at idle even with the volume turned all the way down. That, however, was on a Golden Tube Audio amp, which don't have the best build quality. MastersounD is in a different league.
I don't know if it's your drivers or the power tubes. What I do know is that MastersounD amps don't usually do this sort of thing- they are of high quality. My Compact 845 is dead quiet with 97 db/w/m speakers.
What I can do to help rectify the issue is this- I don't use the preamp section on my Compact 845. I use it as a straight power amp. Hence, I took the preamp tubes I bought for it- Telefunken smooth plates- out and tossed the Electro Harmonix back in the amp. No sense running the Telefunkens if they're out of the circuit.
So....if you want to try out a Telefunken 12au7 and see if the hiss goes away, let me know. Fire me an e-mail through Audiogon. You can try mine. If they work, great, you can then get a pair yourself and send mine back. If they don't eliminate the hiss, send them back to me, knowing they're not the issue. When I did use the Compact 845 as an integrated with the Telefunken tubes, it was dead quiet. No hiss. So, I know these NOS tubes are not defective. Let me know.
I've found el34's- the Winged C, actually, to be "noisy", with a hiss at idle even with the volume turned all the way down. That, however, was on a Golden Tube Audio amp, which don't have the best build quality. MastersounD is in a different league.
I don't know if it's your drivers or the power tubes. What I do know is that MastersounD amps don't usually do this sort of thing- they are of high quality. My Compact 845 is dead quiet with 97 db/w/m speakers.
What I can do to help rectify the issue is this- I don't use the preamp section on my Compact 845. I use it as a straight power amp. Hence, I took the preamp tubes I bought for it- Telefunken smooth plates- out and tossed the Electro Harmonix back in the amp. No sense running the Telefunkens if they're out of the circuit.
So....if you want to try out a Telefunken 12au7 and see if the hiss goes away, let me know. Fire me an e-mail through Audiogon. You can try mine. If they work, great, you can then get a pair yourself and send mine back. If they don't eliminate the hiss, send them back to me, knowing they're not the issue. When I did use the Compact 845 as an integrated with the Telefunken tubes, it was dead quiet. No hiss. So, I know these NOS tubes are not defective. Let me know.