How much 'hiss' do you get from your phono stage and cartridge?

G'day all, following on from my discoveries last evening with my TCC TC-750 and Shure M97xE which for some reason results in a very low noise (hiss) level, this has now got me again interested in what sorts of hiss levels are 'typical' with modern gear. For this thread I refer mainly to moving magnet cartridges containing 400 or more millihenries of coil inductance.

To test this, I switch to phono with everything connected and making sure that the phono cartridge and tonearm is in its rest and locked, I simply turn the volume right up. Yes that is a relatively crude and non scientific technique but that approach gives a reasonable indication of hiss levels from both the cartridge and the phono preamp electronics.

Until last evening's tests I was mostly resigned to the belief that the Shure M97xE was quite 'hissy' due to its relatively high value of coil inductance as it has been quite 'hissy' with many phono stages I possess but not with my TCC TC-750.

I am reminded of the technical paper written about phono cartridge/phono preamplifier interaction by Tom Holman. That paper was written back in the mid 1970's during the time of his work for Advent, but all the comments in his paper are still true, as phono cartridges are still phono cartridges as discussed in the paper. I think this subject is a lot more complex than one might think! Regards, Felix.

 

No hiss here, no noise at all.

BHL phone stage, Internal inductance 630 mH for cart.

But then that is at very loud levels, but not max volume as I'll never do that for music of anything else.

 

Phono stage hiss measured after the phono stage with normal settings. Arm at rest.

 

Pretty nice, missan

My post should have included "no audible noise"

 

Yes, I think it´s normally not audible, it ought not to be, other noise should be much more apparent.

 

Felix, try to measure the noise floor first with shortened inputs, then with the cartridge connected, to find the source of the hiss.

 

No hiss on my rigs Felix.

 

No hiss on my system either.

 

Clearaudio Ebony cartridge and a McIntosh MX-110, no audible hiss or hum.

 

No hiss on my Manley Chinook, preety much silent.

 

Sumiko Blackbird+Pro-Ject Tube Box DS+ARC-VSi60=No Hiss.......just Audio Bliss!

 

No hiss here!

Impressive attention to detail Missan. Were you waiting for this very question?

 

My Adcom GFP 565 and my Pioneer Elite C91 preamps both have a dead quiet phono stage.

I specifically picked both of these preamps due to their great phono sections.

I do remember the days of noisy phono sections, my old Dynaco Pat 5 was one of many I had years back that had a lot of hum, noise, hiss.

My Empire 698 adds no hum, neither does my custom phono cable. I have a Shure Ultra 500 and V15 xMR cartridges and both are quiet also.

 

Nah, I´m ready with a lot of answers, not just this one.

 

By the way where is the OP?

 

Other side of the world geographically speaking, starting another thread most likely.

 

I think a good measurement, does a LOT, to provide some sense of actual description. Adjectives to me are easy to type.

Heck it is extremely easy to say...."Hiss free", but to prove it or quantify it, most feel that is not needed.

Great post!

 

If I put the volume at noon or 1 with the arm in the rest position I can hear noise not present with the other source inputs IF I place my ear at the front of the speaker grille—about 4" from the tweeter. This is louder than I typically ever listen to music and is far bellow the surface noise floor of my quietest records. Simple experiments indicate this is primarily coming from the cartridge itself. Making sure the stylus is very well mated to the cartridge body can modulate this noise very slightly.

I recently went to the trouble to shorten my phono leads and add some low-cap RCA plugs. I took that opportunity to tie my two shields together at the phono pre end and attach them to the phono pre ground post. I worked with a variety of grounding options but noticed no further reduction in the level of hiss.

I think it is about as quiet as it will ever be in this room at this location.