New to vinyl question


I recently added a turntable to my system, mostly so I could play old records of my father's that formed my early introduction to music. I got what I think is a pretty good turntable, a Music Hall Stealth with an Ortofun Blue cartridge. I'm playing it through my Rogue Sphinx 2, hooked up to a Mytek Brooklyn Amp through Focal Aria 926 speakers. None of this equipment is the highest end available, but it's always sounded great when streaming from my BlueSound Node 2. When i first played some records, particularly jazz and classical, I really enjoyed the sound, though in not sure I prefer it to streaming digital in all contexts. I definitely think the vinyl sounds great for acoustic instruments and vocals, particularly female vocals. But after a little time playing some old Cream and Hendrix records (in new or like-new condition), I noticed pretty significant distortion particularly in the bass. I'm wondering if this is some issue of improper setup or just an artifact of analog reproduction. The sound I'm hearing on the bass lines in particular sounds like clipping i think. But I'm not playing at high volume and it doesn’t happen when I play the same track from a streamed source at the same volume. Any ideas for what I'm heading? I'm hesitant to expand my record collection until I get the issue figured out. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. 

128x128grateful_dad

Showing 1 response by crustycoot

Get a copy of Little Feat The Last Record Album and play “Long Distance Love”. To assess bass tracking. It has a very strong bass line that should sound undistorted, unlike Cream albums, which while great music, were poorly recorded. And I’m going to stick up for Jimi Hendrix’ records…starting with Axis, they were excellent!  Rainbow Bridge is a great example. 
TBH, your problem sounds most like your VTF is too low, or you have a wad of accumulated dust interfering with groove contact, as JB opined up top. Keep it clean!