Humm from phono but not dc or aux ?

Hum or RF? Two very different things that generally also sound different.

Right. Next Q: how faint?

No, you need to check the ground on your turntable and tonearm. Some cartridges are prone to humming. Grado has a history of this. If you crank the volume all the way up there will always be at least a faint noise on the phone input because of the high gain. With less expensive equipment it can be quite noticeable. 

You have to figure out what is causing the problem before you start spending money. Is the hum in both channels. Are your phono cables shielded? What happens when you move the ground wire? 

First, you should determine the type of hum you are dealing with. There are two basic types: 120Hz buzz, typically caused by ground loops, and 60Hz hum, typically a result of poor shielding, cable problems, or close proximity to strong magnetic fields.  When the turntable is selected, does the hum increase with volume.  If not, you have a ground loop problem, if yes, more than likely poor shielding etc.

Some cartridges are prone to humming. Grado has a history of this.

@mijostyn To my understanding this has to do with the use of a Grado in a Rega turntable and its caused by the fact that Rega doesn't ground the motor. If you add a wire to ground the motor then the Grado works fine- and its not the only cartridge than can do this in the Rega.

I have an RCM 1 phono stage with external power supply, I just recently just tweaked the dip switched the best I could, not as much hum but at 10 o'clock on volume control more now of white noise and faint RF.

The Cartridge is a Zyx Airy 3 S .24mV

the tone arm cable is Din , Audience Au 24 e

None of this is cheap most likely 5-8000 us dollars.

any other suggestions ?

thx

Eliminating faint levels of noise in a phono stage comes down to methodically checking and testing every single thing involved, trying lots of things to see what works. Faint white noise could be anything from a slightly dirty cartridge pin that looks good, to the way the phono lead is routed, or another wire routed nearby, to even things like lights or appliances. It could even be what you have is pretty normal. Phono almost never is dead silent like digital. But this is why I asked how faint? You still haven’t told us.

@analoghaven, when you say "faint RF", can I assume you mean you are literally picking up a radio station on your turntable input? It happens, so I don’t want to discount that is what you mean as that would be about the only way you now the noise is RF.

If you are picking up a radio station, probably an MM cartridge input? Hopefully you can fix that with a better shielded phono cable than you are currently using, but even that may not work if the cable is not shielded in the turntable, and next question will be is your arm metal or composite. (You can try putting twists in the wires in the turntable / arm if composite).

White noise as @millercarbon stated just comes with the territory of turntables, especially if really faint. If shielding does not fix your picking RF issue, you may need to replace the phono stage. It could be a defect (loading capacitor normally gets rid of RF), or a design flaw.

@atmasphere , Not just Regas. I personally saw (heard) an early Reference do it on a Sota with a grounded motor. When you moved the tonearm closer to the ,motor it got louder. 

Hey guys, would anything change if I connect phono pre to pre amp with balanced cables I do have that capability ?

thx

@analoghaven  - Can you please describe this "RF" noise you talked about. It is not clear.

Crank it up on phono (no contact) and move the cables around.

If that affects it balanced would be quieter

Cindyment, have to turn it up to 12 o'clock hear faint Radio station actually too low 

to even make out what they are saying.

But that's way louder that I would ever listen to just past 9 o'clock is abut the limit.

I assume it goes away if the cable from the turntable is removed?

See my post above w.r.t. RF. You may be able to fix it by improving the wire in the turntable / arm, assuming  your other phono cables are properly shielding. If not, may be an issue with phono stage.

My tonearm cable

https://www.tonepublications.com/review/audience-au24e-tonearm-cable/

have to turn it up to 12 o’clock hear faint Radio station actually too low

to even make out what they are saying.

But that’s way louder that I would ever listen to just past 9 o’clock is abut the limit.

At last! This level of noise is not uncommon. It is way below normal groove noise of even a very quiet record. If you have to do this to hear it when no music is playing then no way you are hearing it during music. You can knock yourself out trying to eliminate what is already effectively functionally inaudible noise if you want. Already told you how to go about that.

Only thing left to add, this is exactly why I always tell people my #1 requirement in a tone arm is integral phono leads. Every connection is an opportunity for signal degradation and noise like this. Sometimes even slightly wiggling or moving a phono lead will completely eliminate it- or make it magnitudes worse.

Live and learn.

Millercarbon, Do you really think twisting the leads can work ?

thx

Hey guys, would anything change if I connect phono pre to pre amp with balanced cables I do have that capability ?

Quite possibly. The cartridge is a balanced source to start with- if you have a balanced input on the phono section you've got a lot more immunity to the sound of the interconnect cable- it should sound better IOW.

How bout how tight the rca's are on the preamp and phono pre ?