Phil,
No, I wasn't surprised at the 12 years...Heck, we still have several hundred amps running perfectly that were made the last century !!!!! And we did Newark because of the UPS problems...and as far as my memory and our emails serve me, the buzz did continue, albeit at the center channel...even with new boards, etc. I cannot recreate any problems in someones system, I can only do my best trying to rectify it on my side. That doesn't mean that our amps didn't act up at all...heck, 7500 + amps out there, shiiit happens. However, when you're running it for 12 years + without a problem, then a problem arises and you can't get the same level back then maybe there's another underlying issue......
However, I did try to solve it...again and again .....sorry that it didn't work out, even though you were singing the highest praise for the Kismets performance...
As for the input sensitivity, it's 22k, and tube or passive pres are just fine with it........