Xagwell, see your other post for my response to your main question.
Funny, my experience with the ARC PH-3 was quite different from yours. (I was using a fairly low output MC cartridge, which might explain the different experience though.) It was noisy enough to push me upgrade from it, and the ARC LS-2 preamp I was using , to the Ayre K-1XE preamp, with the phono boards. Quite a leap forward in my opinion.
Funny, my experience with the ARC PH-3 was quite different from yours. (I was using a fairly low output MC cartridge, which might explain the different experience though.) It was noisy enough to push me upgrade from it, and the ARC LS-2 preamp I was using , to the Ayre K-1XE preamp, with the phono boards. Quite a leap forward in my opinion.