Concerned about my cart/pre pairing

Yeah, well it’s always easy to tell someone to invest $$$ to solve a specific problem. I did suggest that an electronic crossover with a high pass filter would help, no doubt. So would a different preamp with more total gain. So would a cartridge with higher output. And so would a SUT.

If you try using a SUT to solve your problem, keep in mind that you need to attach it to the moving magnet inputs of your phono stage, not the MC inputs..

I assumed that if you are using powered subs, usually those products have built-in electronic crossovers.  I guess I also assumed that the crossover is also driving the main amplifier you use for upper frequencies.  That's very worth doing if you don't mind spending the money.  As it is, then of course your main amplifier is working full range and the power demands on it are greater than I thought.  What you say about the RP1, which I know zero about and which I cannot even find on the internet (albeit I did not look very hard), makes more sense, if the phono section is solid state.  Technically, I think you should be OK so far as driving your amplifier to power the speakers, but the proof of the pudding is in your listening.  The symptoms you describe do fit the description of a lack of adequate gain somewhere in your chain.  Maybe try to borrow a preamplifier with more overall gain from phono input to linestage output, and see what that gets you.  Or borrow a 1:20 SUT.

I thought I covered this in my earlier post.  We mentioned that 58db of gain applied to the 0.3mV output of your cartridge would yield a ~0.24V output from your phono stage.  Adding to that the 9.5db gain of your linestage would result in a net signal voltage output from your whole preamplifier of ~3 X 0.24V = 0.72V.  (9.5db translates to about 3X voltage gain.) The calculation gave a different result the first time, because I was working with a putative 7db gain from your linestage, as opposed to 9,5db.  Given that we now know the sensitivity of your amplifier is 1V and also given that you disclosed the fact you use powered subwoofers, which presumably relieves your main amplifiers of the power demands required for deep bass response, I would say you ought not to be suffering from lack of gain adequate to drive your speakers. 


"Faint background noise" can be what is known as "tube rush".  Sometimes that happens when you crank the gain on your tube preamp, which you are not really doing.  Maybe your tubes are going weak.  Also, was Chakster correct in stating that your phono stage uses two 12AU7 tubes, only?  If so, there has to be either a SUT built into the MC input stage OR there are solid state devices adding gain.  You cannot derive 58db of gain from two 12AU7s alone. Below is a useful website.

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-gainloss.htmhttp://

Despite the many self-assured responses you received, no one can really analyze the phono gain inherent in your system without also knowing something about your amplifier and speakers.  First, the SPLs coming from your system depend not only upon the output from your preamp but also on the input sensitivity of your amplifier.  Input sensitivity is defined as the signal voltage required to drive your amp to its full output.  Typically that is anywhere from 0.5V to 2.0V, somewhere in there.  After that, we need to know the efficiency of your speakers and the size of your listening room.
But we can say that a cartridge that puts out 0.3mV into a phono stage with 58db of gain will result in a signal voltage of around 0.24V at the output of the phono section.  Bear in mind that the figure of 0.3mV is published by the manufacturer for a stylus velocity of either 3.54 or 5.0 cm/sec. Most music will actually push the stylus around a bit faster than the standard velocity; thus usually the rated output is a bit pessimistic as far as the actual overall gain you get.  Then that signal will go through the linestage of your preamplifier, which according to data posted by Chakster, adds 7db of gain, for a total signal voltage of about 0.5V.  Depending upon the input sensitivity of your amplifier, that might be close to enough if not quite enough to make your listening experience a happy one.  (To make these conversions of db to V, I use calculators available to anyone on-line.  You should learn to use them too.)
I don't at all agree with the insistence of a few that a SUT is always superior to a high gain phono stage, but if you do choose a SUT, you MUST connect it to the MM input of your phono stage, which we know yields 43db of gain.  The difference between your high and low gain inputs is therefore 15db. 15db of gain is equivalent to a voltage gain difference of 5.6X.  You want a SUT that adds more voltage gain than that, because you already know (pending further info about your amp and speakers) that 58db is not enough.  Your cartridge, which has an internal resistance of 5 ohms, according to someone, will work fine with a SUT that has a 1:20 turns ratio (a voltage gain of 20X).  That combo of 43db gain from your MM stage plus a SUT with a 1:20 turns ratio should put you in a safe area for total gain.  1:10 might work too (voltage gain 10X).
I think why many others think 58db should be "enough" is because most linestage sections add more than 7db of gain on top of the output of the phono section, more typically 10 to 20db.  That may be why the consensus is you should have enough gain already.  Plus we don't know about your amplifier.