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Save a vinyl newbie, please

I've been stocking up on LP's for the past month and a half, and I finally got a turntable yesterday (a new Music Hall MMF-5). When I picked it up, the guy had it playing and it sounded great! He showed me how to set the tracking force, vertical tracking angle, the cartridge angle (or something like that), and the anti-skating force. He also gave me some suggestions of how to clean the records and the stylus before use. OK, perfect.

I brought it home and tried some of my records on it. It sounded horrible! I get loud pops every second or two. The pops drown out the music. The music sounds muffled, and sometimes it sounds like the ocean from the tweeters (particularly in the right channel). The situation only gets worse with the volume turned up.

I tried it with several of my best-looking LP's last night and still couldn't find one that was even listenable. I have a couple sealed records, so this morning I tried them with the same results. I called the place where I bought it and he said that only about 10% of records that I'll find actually sound good. That sounds like a good incentive to go back to CD's.

I'm using the MMF-5 with a Musical Fidelity A3cr preamp, Audio Valve ppp45 amps, and Audio Physic Tempo speakers. (You can click on my system for more details.)

Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

Michael
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Showing 2 responses by twl

twl
3,251 posts
 
I'd say follow those instructions he gave you about cleaning the records. Especially if you got used ones. If you have noise "like the ocean" coming out of one tweeter, there is likely some wear on one channel of the record groove. When you buy used records, you have no way of knowing what kind of horrible player it was played on before you got it. Sometimes damage is done. It should not sound muffled. There is something wrong if it is sounding muffled. Make sure it is plugged in to the MM input, and there is no MC loading selected.
twl
3,251 posts
 
Well, one thing is for sure, you have a low frequency problem that is feeding back into your turntable, causing the woofers to modulate excessively. Try re-locating the position of the TT into another area of the room which is not in a bass heavy node. Try a different dedicated TT stand. One or both of those should cure the woofer bouncing problem.

Second, on the record noise problem, if it will sound fine on another system with good records, then it is likely not your turntable or system causing it. However, I will say that MM type cartridges, like the one included on the MMF5, are generally more noisy on clicks and pops than MC types.

And remember that when you make the switch from CD to vinyl, it is unrealistic to think that no noise will be present. There will be the unavoidable few clicks and pops no matter what you do. Some people who have been raised on CD cannot seem to overcome this, and prefer no clicks at all. If this is the case, then you are saddled with lower sound quality of CD, simply because of a little noise on vinyl.

Your vinyl rig is not high-end enough to expect totally noise free performance, and that would also require a VPI record cleaning machine, and very good care of new records from the start.

As far as your system being too revealing of this noise, I doubt your system could be any more revealing than some high efficiency horn type systems, which are over 100db/1watt, and use vinyl all the time. I don't think that is the problem.

I would recommend that you select imported or premium records that are pressed on virgin vinyl for the least possible noise performance. This is more expensive, but will give you the least noise possible from the record. Then keep them very clean, and cared for.
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