2. tech-talk
  3. 159422-84651

Soundstage gone

Hi guys,
I was really happy with the sound I had from my system until I decided to upgrade my turntable to MC stage. What I had: Linn LP12 with Lingo 3, Akito tonearm and Adikt MM cartridge. The amp is MA2275, speakers B&W 802. Recently I upgraded TT with Radical power supply, Urika MC internal phono stage, Ekos tonearm and Kandid cartridge. My amp has only MM phono stage, so tried to plug the cords from the table into other available inputs: CD2, tuner or DVD. The sound was amazing but the soundstage almost gone. I was shocked. There is no more splitting sounds between speakers and all the records plays as mono. Is there a way to fix that? Forgot to mention: I have a dedicated power line and my cables AQ Hurricane, AQ Oak.

lviv
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Check the cartridge leads. They are probably hooked up incorrectly.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Do I understand you correctly - you are plugging  the RCAs from the turntable (actually arm/cartridge) into something other than the phono stage in your preamp (or a separate outboard phono stage)?

If so that is your problem. An MC cartridge generally has a has a lower output than a MM cartridge and needs additional amplification. Its capacitance usually needs to be much lower as well, but both types of cartridges need a matching phono stage. You cannot (successfully) just plug the  phono cable into a line input of  pre-amplifier to get the necessary equalization needed to run any cartridge.

You can use the MM input with a MC cartridge using an outboard amplifier specially made for this purpose.  
lviv OP
5 posts
 
My MC phono stage built into turntable so the signal goes from cartridge, through MC phono stage and cables hook up to amp not into MM input but CD2 slot.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Very interesting problem I think. You appear to be using it correctly (into a line stage) I don't know that it makes any difference, but are you using RCA's or balanced outputs?

Just to see where the problem might be why not just try bypassing the MC amp and plugging RCA's from your turntable arm into the MM stage on your pre-amp and see what happens. You could expect to get a greatly reduced out put but least you could be sure that the problem was not associated with the built in MC pre. It could be a problem with the cartridge, but off hand I can figure out how you would reduce the output of your phono system to a centered mono signal.

I agree with mijostyn do check the cartridge connections.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Was there ever a time you heard stereo separation from this cartridge plugged into anything? Do they by chance make a mono version of this cartridge? 
More to discover