Just circling back to say thank you to all who offered suggestions and insight. I adjusted the VTF a bit, which seemed to help slightly. But I've since upgraded the Sphinx to an RP-5 preamp. The whole system really sings now and no distortion on the bass from my turntable. Thanks again to all. Happy listening.
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.
Showing 4 responses by grateful_dad
@lewm thanks. Just ordered one. I'll wait until it comes in before making any changes. I did the adjustments as best I could per the instructions from the shop and videos I found, but I'm not sure it's right. I set it to 1.7g, which was the recommendation from Music Hall with the Blue cartridge. |
Thanks @jasonbourne52 @blisshifi , I'll fiddle with the tracking force to see how that affects the sound. I bought it new, and the cartridge was supposed to be aligned out of the box, but maybe it needs further adjustment. The store I bought it from can likely help, but they're an hour away so I'm hoping to get it solved at home. Thanks for your suggestions. I've definitely heard some turntable setups that sound amazing. Mine sounds great on some material, but it's inconsistent. Because vinyl is so much less convenient than digital, I feel it really needs to sound that much better better to compete for my already limited listening time. But I'll keep at it! Thanks again. |
A new copy of Electric Ladyland is the one that’s sounding really distorted (and not just the intended distortion). But my Stevie Wonder and Graceland and various jazz records with pronounced bass sound great in comparison. The Cream records are older and sound pretty good, just maybe a bit less full in the bass than I’ve been used to in digital I think. They sound like i remember them from when i was a kid listening in my dad old system. Is it possible that I just got a bad copy of Electric Ladyland? The reviews of the version I thought i was getting are pretty good from what I can tell. But i don’t know how to tell which pressing it is, just that it’s marked 2010 Sony Legacy. |