Compressed sound from Marantz TT15S1

I’ve just renewed the pulley and installed an MC Project S2 phono amp on my Marantz TT15S1 turntable connected to my Marantz 8805 preamp.

Sounds horrid. Compressed and distorted. Speed is ok.

Settings I’ve used for the Audio Technica AT-OC9ML/II cartridge are:

Tracking force 1.5g

Gain 60dB

Impedance 100 Ohm 100pf

Any suggestions why this could be so corrupted?

The stylus is hardly used. Less than 100hrs.

johnread5712-14-2024 11:21am

yogiboy Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 5,701 posts 12-14-2024 at 05:53pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete What do you have the project phono plugged into on the Marantz preamp?
theflattire Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 192 posts 12-14-2024 at 06:17pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Yeah you cannot plug the S2 phono into the phono of the amp. Have to use an AUX input. Sounds like you are overdriving the phono signal.
lewm Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 13,110 posts 12-14-2024 at 07:20pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Worse than that, if you plug a phono stage into a phono stage, which has its own RIAA filter, you will play havoc with equalization, which would likely sound much worse than merely overdriving the linestage.