Rhea Noise

My Rhea is extremely quiet and sounds wonderful with a 0.5 mV cartridge. It is hard for me to understand why there is so much negative comment on this thread about this fine phono stage. Are some of you guys trying to run sub 0.1 mV carts on your Rheas? Why? What advantages do they provide that 0.1 to 0.5 mV carts don't provide? This super low ouput stuff makes me wonder a bit only because then the limiting factor has to be the arm/table and phono pre. I mean I understand the pursuit of excellence here but I have never been convinced that a super low output cart is advantageous.

Something that everyone here needs to understand is that whenever you use a pure tube signal path as a gain source for low output MC cartridges, there will be noise compared to either a fet/tube hybrid gain stage or a pure SS gain stage. The tradeoff for some added noise IMO is a much more live sounding phono stage that doesn't sound flat and two dimensional like its SS brethern. It is imperative that you buy tubes that are graded for noise by a competent dealer such as RAM labs or Kevin Deal or in my case, Michael Elliott of Alta Vista. I use the Counterpoint SA-2 MC pre-preamp and it is pure tube including the rectifier and voltage regulation. I buy the highest grade 6922 tubes that Michael Elliot sells for the SA-2. Only 2 out of 100 tubes makes this cut which is why you pay a premium for them. Buying expensive "super" tubes such as Amperex, Telefunken, etc. which are not graded for noise is a pig-in-a-poke purchase. It doesen't matter how "great" they are if they are noisey.

For what it is worth I would not trade my Rhea for anything.....well maybe a Manley since I have their mono-blocks but other than that nothing. My noise issues have been completely managed since my original post. Once again I salute their tech support.

Dear amigo Raul,
You unfortunately wrote, "The fact that many people ( like you ) likes the heavy distorted and colored tube sound does not means that is the right way to go."

Come on, man. That is way over the top. The argument against this notion is too old even for me to bother to reiterate it. In this day and age, transistors and tubes can both be used to build fabulous gear. For very low voltage input signals, like those emanating from LOMC phono cartridges, a transistor circuit has some advantages in terms of noise. Period.

Lew,
Why criticize a four year-old comment? FWIW, Raul has since heard at least one tube phono/line preamp that rivals his SS one, even to his ears. Today he might agree with you.

Xagwell,
Glad you resolved the noise issues. You say you wouldn't trade your Rhea for anything and we should all be happy with our gear, else why own it? Still, it might be prudent to say you wouldn't trade for anything you've heard.

I've been a powerful and apparently convincing advocate of a particular tonearm for five years. A fair number of people have bought one based partly on that advocacy and it does perform superbly when used to the fullest.

Still, I just A/B'd a new arm in my system which just blew it away. I've never said I wouldn't trade it for anything and now I'm glad I didn't, all I need is the funds. The same could happen with your Rhea, so be careful what you listen to!