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Original Message

Joule Electra tube noise w/ Merlins (long question)

Posted by rottenclam on May 18, 2006 at 16:43:01:
Hey Rich,
I appreciate this part of the asylum. Your comments are always helpful. Anyways, onto the conundrum that currently plagues my system:
My system consists of the current edition of Joule Electra VZN-100 monoblocks in musicwood, a Joule Electra LA-150 pre, and the latest Merlin VSM-MX speakers. Before I took delivery of my Merlins, the Joules were hooked up to a pair of Alon Exoticas (NOT the Grand Reference, but the babies), which are 88db sensitive with a very OTL friendly impedence curve. At that time, the slight hum coming from the speakers (when no source or preamp was even hooked up) was fairly minor. Audible, but minor. Once the Merlins arrived (arrggghhh, after a 9 month wait), I hooked 'em up and the tube noise/hum increased. I'm pretty sure this has everything to do with the Merlins being 89db sensitive.
As I mentioned earlier, the tube noise/hum is the same WITHOUT any preamp or sources even plugged into the wall. Also, I have put a cheater plug on the outlet to the cord that connects to the variac, floating the ground, in order to see if it was a ground loop, with everything else unplugged from the system. The noise was still there. BTW, all of this is being done on a dedicated 15a circuit.
Of course the noise lessens or increases, depending on the listening distance, but because I sit between 9 1/2 to 10 feet from the Merlin drivers, this noise is quite audible, not during rock and roll or MOST other music, but during the delicate and soft classical passages. This minor thing is now really starting to irk me.
With all this said, the sound is absolutely beautiful. Really, I wonder just how much better it can get? Music never sounded closer. The Joule/Merlin combo is a winner in my book, but during the soft classical passages, this tube noise/hum really irks me.
So my questions are; how common is this complaint? Has there been various editions of the Joules in the past that were more quiet but sacrificed some musicality? Is it a regional issue (having to do with the power company)? Are there different tubes (other than the stock EI or GE in the driver stage) that might be less noisy? Are less sensitive speakers the only solution in sight?
Thanks for your attention,
Jake