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Phono stage and cartridge

Hello FriendsI'm hoping some one can give me advice, I live on the far south coast of Australia, there is no Hi FI, shops, down here, the closet is 4 hours drive to Sydney, the biggest city in Australia!My audio gear is:1. Onnce Analog TT,  made here in Aust
2.."the wand Arm " made in New Zealand, with a Zu/Denon 103, cartridge
3 .Phono stage, is PS Audio GPH4. Pre amp is PS Audio, stellar Pre/Dac5. Pair of audiolabs, mono blocks 2500 WPC
5 Zu Audio Soul MK 11 speakers!!Most of my  recordings, sould great, but there are a lot. that has good bass, but a harsh, sound overall!!I put this down to The Zu Cartridge, or the PS phono stage??I have never consider, the use of a "sub", as i don't no, how this worrks??Can you friends, give me a "heads up" ??.1. New cartridge??, yore input??
2. Different phono stage(I like a strong balls in the Bass)?3. Subs? I have no experience, with these, where do I place these??
Many thanks, any input would be appreciate !!
Regards
daveyonthecoast

Showing 1 response by folkfreak

folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
Echoing @whatthe in my experience 99% of recordings will sound excellent if your system is working properly (presuming the LPs haven’t been damaged). 

However optimizing  vinyl playback is a painstaking and complex endeavor 

based on your system and my experience with the Wand I would suggest checking

1. Alignment of the arm and cartridge - is it all perfectly aligned using the steel alignment tool that came with the arm? Have you tried adjusting VTA, presumably you have it level at present, and what are you using to measure VTF?
2. Making sure that the unipivot is not fouling, a harsh sound is often the result of a unipivot being off center or catching, it’s hard to get the Wand off center but the edges of the pivot housing can catch, also you may need to renew the grease
3. Gain matching - what gain setting do you have the GCPH (I think this is what you have) on as it’s got a lot of options and you could be overloading the preamp

only once you’ve optimized everything you own would I think about changes

finally if you can let us know which LPs are giving you issues that would also be helpful
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