audio-talk

Just got the phono back in playing and it's MUCH better. I can only hear some hum quite close to the bass units now. Bass and lower mids have improved, of course !
What a relief after putting up with it for so long.
Just playing 'Don Juan's reckless daughter', as you'd expect.
I also took the opportunity to drill some holes and double-up on output RCA's, it was a bit of a faff, but now the phono is 2-channel-ready :

I see the mechanical isolation, and remember MJ having some ideas in this. Wondering if the maglev units might be a novel option and not too expensive if can keep the weight down?

I see the mechanical isolation, and remember MJ having some ideas in this. Wondering if the maglev units might be a novel option and not too expensive if can keep the weight down?

I wouldn't recommend what I did, that's for sure ! It was a desperation measure for hum which at that time turned out to be a broken earth wire down the centre of the circuit.
Maglev sounds very novel indeed
My next phono intends to have some of the valves soft-mounted using 'well-nuts' ( M3 ) in oversized holes to allow some reduction in vibration.

How microphonic might the d3a be - it sounds like you think this may not have been necessary?

Not bad. Nick uses them in the Reference.
Soft mounting might help a bit - Nick has them in an enclosed box, unlike me.
I have some B&Q tube dampers - didn't put them back on yet, will check. But at present it's just residual hum that's the only audible thing.