Phono cartridge noises

Sorry OP, I know how frustrating analog issues can be.

When I had an Audio Research Reference 3SE Phono, I found its High Gain mode highly susceptible to noise from my plasma TV an adjacent room. It sounded like demonic gargling noises (lol). Other MC phono stages, like Herron VTPH2A, were not susceptible to this noise. Using the Ref 3SE in Low Gain more with a SUT was completely immune to the noise. Interestingly, the Ref 3SE has an acrylic top - to show off the nice insides. It looks like your Black Ice Fusion F159 also has a non-metal glass or acrylic faceplate? Perhaps that’s related to this issue. By contrast, SUTs are generally extremely well shielded.

Grados are also known to be poorly shielded. I suppose the noise can inject itself anywhere there’s a weak spot in the chain, and the lower the signal level at its injection point (cart, tonearm, MC stage), the worse it manifests.

Anyways, high chance that MC stage is contributing (faceplate). Then on your JD9 - I always wondered about that unit’s specs - they seem to be impossible, or frankly made up, but nobody seems to question it. 70dB gain MM mode, 95dB MC mode, 100dB signal-noise? That’s literally impossible. I wonder what is the actual gain on these units? If the spec were true, you’d never need to run MC mode except for something like a 0.05mV Ortofon MC2000.

The ARC acrylic top does show off the innards, however it replaced the steel to plate because it had a sonic benefit.

Hi Mulveling, I  don’t think the acrylic faceplate on the Black Ice contributed to anything as both it and the JD-9 replicated when I changed the settings for the low input Grado. I did try covering both preamps with the Faraday cloth but nothing changed. The only ‘leak’ was at the RCA junction box on the VPI and only occurred when I plugged the RCA’s into the table. Unplugged I had no noise. Even with the cartridge removed from the arm as soon as I plugged in the cables the noise appeared. 
 

Onto the phone preamp. I had the JD9 for a few years and gave it to my brother and purchased the JD9 II.  I’ve done some tube rolling and not sure what’s in there right now, I’m thinking Amperex Bugle Boys from Brent Jessie. I have the entire Jolida Music Envoy system, preamp, mono blocks and the Envoy CD player. I bought the whole shebang from Shanghai years ago. The phono always sounded great to me until building the new home, dedicated music room and the lovely 5G tower! I really don’t look at specs I went with my ears and to date have not had any system issues or buyers remorse for the purchase. 
 

I’ve always been a Grado guy but thinking that it may be time to invest in something other than Grado to possibly remove the last traces of noise. I know you’re a Koetsu guy from reading your posts. Any suggestions on an alternative MM high output cartridge other than Ortofon, not a fan of that sound at all?

@skyy75234 

That's fair. I'm sure the JD9's sound & work great - just the specs always struck me as clearly "wrong". Probably a mistake that was never corrected. One of my first audiophile components was their JD100a CD player, and I remember it sounding GREAT. The Envoys were well beyond my reach at that time, but wow did they ever seem exotic and awesome!

Yep, as you know, I'm pretty much exclusively MCs. I totally get not being into the higher end Ortofon sound. I love some of their lower models for the money, but at the Black level - yeah I get it. 

I've got no experience to draw from on high output MI's, but SoundSmith's high output MI models seem to be the obvious choice here. I'm not clear what the actual advantage is to their low output versions, given there's no moving coil mass like with MCs. And in your case, fighting noise, the high output versions are the clear choice. I've got a friend in Singapore with similar tastes to mine, and a large MC collection too, who absolutely loves his SS Boheme (HO, discontinued model). The SS high output carts are in my list to try at some point :)