Dan,
Sometimes the enemy of good is better and in this case you have learned that the phono stage in your C2300 is as good as a separate $3800 phono stage
. Since a MC cartridge needs more gain than a MM cartridge and acts like a microphone when it is sitting there, you will likely hear some noise when nothing is playing with any phono stage, while the volume control is turned up. I have learned to press the mute button when I get up to flip my LP's and turn it off when I am back in the listening chair. It sounds dumb but it works, I do not hear any background noise
