At33ptg II perfect straight out the box
@sandthemall "I’ve always eye-balled VTA against a gridded acrylic plate thinking that this was good enough. Not good enough." That's the opposite of eyeballing. That's using a specific tool designed for a specific job. Throwing a different mat on and hoping it works is much closer to eyeballing something. |
@sandthemall , as it has been thankfully stated elsewhere: “. . . your direct experience counts of course.” 👍 |
Sandthemail, Do you own a linestage? Does it add gain? What is the input sensitivity of your amplifiers (the amount of signal voltage needed to drive them to full output)? All these factors and others, like the sensitivity of your spkrs, contribute to the gain characteristics of your particular system. 60db phono gain plus the gain afforded by your linestage, if any, might well add up to about 70db or even more gain. Also, there is no such thing as too much gain, if you have an attenuator, although purists like to use as little gain as needed. |
Listening to a fresh AT33PTG/II running into a Sutherland Loco right now. Works very well as a 10 Ohm impedance cartridge with plenty of gain and drive. With a new out of the box setup, I‘ve got a Jelco TK850S headshell that’s fairly parallel and tracking at 1.95 grams producing stellar results, price be damned. Overall the sound is very neutral. The apparent speed provides resolution while the full, slightly damped sounding low end helps to dispel any dryness to the overall sound. The only criticism is that leading edges of bass notes, say under 500hz or so, are not as articulate as the big boy cartridges. Maybe this will improve with mileage. Fantastic AT build quality. Easy to recommend. |
Another update: I had been running the AT33PTGII at 60db gain. I had tried the 66db gain settings when I initially installed the cartridge and I liked it but worried that it might be too much gain.The 60db setting sounded fine so I left it there. Then yesterday I plugged in this formula (NdB = 20 log V1/V2) and found out that I should be using 70db to get the best signal to noise ration. Luckily my Hagerman Trumpet MC has a 68db gain setting also. Well, It does indeed sound better. Much better slam in the bass…but also subtle details showing up too. Cannot believe I have been listening to this cart for so long at suboptimal levels.
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Update: Turns out I had been listening to this cartridge slightly ‘tail up’. I took several photos into Photoshop and confirmed it. Dropping the VTA dial to the lowest point (did not know it went that far below zero) on my Technics 1200G was not enough to get the tonearm parallel to the record. Getting a 4.5mm Herbies mat on top of the stock rubber mat got me there. |
Set up my PTG/II less than 2 weeks ago (Heybrook TT2/LVX); you're right, break in is almost nonexistent. Been using AT MC's for 30+ years, specifically OC9 and OC9ML.. These carts required 10-20 hours to break in, and overall sound is a bit leaner than the PTG/II and also a slightly more analytical. Prefer the OC9's on live rock LPs but the PTG/II on just about everything else. Despite the PTG/II being rated at .3 mV and the OC9's at .4 mV, output through my NAK CA-7A pre-amp appears to be almost identical.
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New AT33ptgII on a 1200G headshell going through a new Hagerman Trumpet MC sounds amazing. I’m coming from AT740ml/AT750sh and it’s a very noticeable step up. I can only imagine how it will sound when everything settles down. Really happy as the AT33ptgII was very noisy with my Project RS Phono Box RS and sat in a drawer for a year. The Hagerman has a wall wart but uses a novel circuit design to mitigate hum. The Phono Box RS had an outboard PS and was very hummy when using MC gains.
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I played with mass a bit and also declination/VTA, AT cartridges like the arm to be tail up about 26 degrees. I used the 33 with two different arms: Jolida 750 9" on an SL-1210 and a SL-1800MKII stock. The 33 seems to perform slightly better with the lighter arm on the 1800 for me. Note: over the years it's been my habit to keep the counterweight fairly close to pivot point of the arm. |
Vegasears do you think it works even better with a bit more mass? Mine is on a medium mass TA. Nottingham Analogue Ace Space Deck. I had an extra 2 or 3g on my Goldring to try to get better performance in the lows but it probably made no difference. I could put the weight back on for the AT? I think the weight helped the Lyra too from memory, again might have just been it running in, it had been retipped. |
Maybe it was easy to set up because I had fiddled for ages to get the previous cart a goldring 1042 singing eventually. I didn't change anything from that, just set the overhang and go instant improvement over a run in goldring IMO. Though I had no problem with the goldring once run in, which taken ages and ages. |
I had the same experience with the At33ptg/II, right out of the box it sounds fantastic and probably the least fussy cartridge I’ve had when it comes to setup. The tonal balance is perfect in my system and most record sounds good with it. It is not as detailed as a Lyra or Ortofon but it makes up in musicality and overall balance. |
Different strokes for different folks. I had a Goldring 1042 in my system and it was very impressive. It does have a Gyger S stylus which is one of the pickier styli to adjust but the ML stylus on the AT is no slough in that regard either. AT cartridges are also a very great value and you really have to ask your self why anyone would spend more than $2K on a cartridge. There are so many cartridges under $1K that are excellent. |
I think I'll be happy with the at33 until I have a set up of many thousands. It is speakers next. Probably some that will be transferable to a valve amp. I tried upgrading my amp before the speakers last time and there was literally no improvement, slight differences but some good some bad. The cart upgrade has audibly brought my analogue ahead of any digital sources I have by quite a bit. Very happy. |
I chose the AT33PTG/II for my 1st MC cartridge. I've been thinking about starting a discussion: This whisperer ROCKS! I've been playing a great deal of Jazz, new vinyl versions of favorite singers, new discoveries, acoustic, bluegrass, some classical ... love it's sound, and the improved imaging it's wide channel separation and precise definition it's tight center balance gives. Last weekend I put the AT33 up against my Shure V15Vxmr with new Jico SAS on boron to see how it could blast. WAR, Santana; George Thorogood; More WAR, More Santana; Eurythmics; . This AT33 kicks arse and keeps on kicking. |
