Phono Preamp

Ground it properly

I'm on the ground floor and have a radio station a block away. I had to move my phono preamp and TT to the floor to get rid of my problem.

Are you sure it is the EAR 834 that is picking up the station? Before moving it I would go to your local dealer and see if he will let you demo a couple of different ICs for your tonearm. I had that problem with a set of Kimber cables from my tonearm. Switched to a better shielded cable and that was the end of the radio station.

I agree with Agaffer here. I was using Synergistic Alpha One on my MMF7 and it was picking up a station loudly. When I went back to the stock cable, it not only sounded much better but all the radio was gone. Sometimes "less" is truly "more."

From what I have read you may have 3 12Ax7 in your pre. I have heard that tubes can be a real problem when it comes to being great pick ups for RFI. If you can audition a pure solid state phono pre that would make you happy that might be the trick.

I had the same problem and tried numerous solutions. You could try different interconnects, did'nt work for me. Someone else suggested aluminium foil+ ferrite beads, wrapped around the phono cable, that did'nt work either. Grounding is an obvious one, but I assume you checked that. My solution was a new phonostage, the unit from K&k audio. Not a blip of pickup since I bought it and that uses tubes. Just shows, there is no substitute for careful design to exclude RFI

If it is the EAR tubes that are picking up the RFI there must be a simple way to block the radio waves without having to get a new phono stage. There must be a EE here on this forum that has the answer. How about trying something from the movies? Remember Gene Hackman in the movie, Enemy of the State? He had a cage made from chain link fencing that stopped signals from gettting in or out. What if you put chicken wire around the shelve that it sits on?
I know that it sounds stupid and probably is but, I bet the solution is something along this line. There has to be some material that you can surround the phono stage with that blocks the radio signal.

Thanks much for all your recommendation. I will try switching my interconnect and see what happens. worst case, will probably have to sell and try a different one. I never had this problem before on my previous house.