As others have alluded to the OP should clarify what he means by "ground noise." Hum? Hiss? Something else? Is it present only when the stylus is in the groove of a rotating record, or is it also present when the stylus is lifted off of the record? Or is it present even when the platter is not rotating and the turntable is turned off?
Also, what cartridge is being used, and what gain and input impedance is the phono stage set to? For example, if the cartridge is a moving magnet type and the input impedance is set to 100 or 1000 ohms (the two choices that are provided in addition to the 47K setting that should be used for moving magnet cartridges) it would certainly result in poor signal-to-noise ratio.
But to provide a preliminary answer to the initial question, I would not expect an Ayre phono stage to have objectionable noise levels unless there is something is wrong in the setup or the unit is defective.
Regards,
-- Al
Also, what cartridge is being used, and what gain and input impedance is the phono stage set to? For example, if the cartridge is a moving magnet type and the input impedance is set to 100 or 1000 ohms (the two choices that are provided in addition to the 47K setting that should be used for moving magnet cartridges) it would certainly result in poor signal-to-noise ratio.
But to provide a preliminary answer to the initial question, I would not expect an Ayre phono stage to have objectionable noise levels unless there is something is wrong in the setup or the unit is defective.
Regards,
-- Al