Tube Phonostage Causing Rumble and Noises


Hello, I am desperate in need for advices and help.

I have a Aesthetix I/O Eclipse (one power supply) that I acquired new in 2009. It started to make the SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofer rumble a few months ago. I sent it back to Aesthetix, they performed a bunch of upgrades and replaced 4 tubes in gain stage one claiming these would help with the noises. 

When I got it back three months later, the rumble got a bit better but it was still there. Then Aesthetix sent me a new set of tubes claiming there were specially selected and tested for low noise. However, they didn’t eliminate the rumble.

Then I played a record to during the test, the unthinkable happened. When the phonostage is idle, there was just rumble. As soon as a signal was passed from the phono, the sub went crazy, it produced some subsonic noise that made the room shake. I then connected the phono to a tube integrated amp and I heard a loud distorted noise through my LS 3/5A.

The strange thing is that I have no issues using the I/O with my Apogee Fullrange without the sub.

I would appreciate any shape or form of advice/help.

Thanks in advance and Happy New Year!

agharion

Showing 1 response by dmguaragno

Do your tubes have tube dampers? It probably won't cure the problem you are having, but if the issue is microphonic tubes, damper rings may help.

Another thing to look at. A friend of mine had a terrible noise issue with his phono stage. It was later discovered to be a bad dimmer switch on the same AC circuit. You should try plugging the phono stage into different outlets to see if this is a noisy power issue.