Well, I had actually ordered the preamp awhile ago. I had posted on the boards speculatively because I wanted to see if I had made the right decision.

Apparantly what I'm hearing now are microphonics, after fixing the sitting of one of the tubes most of it has gone away and it's hardly noticable even if there's no source. I'm quite happy with the results. :>

P.S. I'll post pictures of my system after my buddy comes back from Italy.