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Clearaudio Concept TT subpar sound quality

Hi all,

happy to have joined this great community and I hope you guys can help me.

I have a Concept turntable with concept arm and MM Clearaudio standard cartridge. The basic setup. It is connected to a Pro-Ject Phono Box E BT preamp that goes into a streaming hub (via a 3.5mm aux) and from there to my Buchardt A500 speakers. Lots of things the purists will not like but I am not a hardcore purist, so that’s ok.

My problem: the music coming out from the turntable is way worse than the same music being streamed from Spotify. So much that I am currently listening music only via Spotify. The sound from the turntable lacks in clarity and it seems to “saturate” the speakers.

I have verified the track force of the cartridge which is between 2 and 2.2 (depending where on the platter).

I am thinking the problem could be resolved with a better cartridge and phono preamp but would like to know what you guys think.

Thanks!!

agforte
solypsa's avatar
solypsa
462 posts
 

Can you borrow a pair of analog ’active speakers’ and plug in the 3.5mm jack to try a setup sans the A/D / wireless aspects?

agforte OP
10 posts
 

It is a good suggestion. I can test with a single central active speaker I have but the quality of the speaker is not great so the problem may get “hidden” by the low quality of it. Not sure if I am explaining myself well. In any case I will test it. 

agforte OP
10 posts
 

@sandstone thank you for your reply. You make a good point about the A/D conversion that should be done at the Buchardt’s hub instead of the low-end Pro-ject preamp. However, the only way I can test this is to buy a new preamp …

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,360 posts
 

connected to a Pro-Ject Phono Box E BT preamp that goes into a streaming hub (via a 3.5mm aux) and from there to my Buchardt A500 speakers. Lots of things the purists will not like.. 

We don't like it because there is a good chance it won't sound so great. Your TT is not the issue. The 3.5mm connector (and the components that require that connector) being a main suspect.

agforte OP
10 posts
 

Hi Russ, thank you for your comment. I am looking at the Hegel V10 phono preamp. I do hope that upgrading the preamp will make a substantial difference. What do you think of the standard Clearaudio MM cartridge?

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