Talk Me off the Ledge - A cry for help


I got an MMF 2.1 about 3 weeks ago along with some used reggae records in good condition. I cleaned the records and they sounded very good. I bought the Pink Floyd reissue of DSOTM and the vocals sound horrible. Everything else on the record sounds awesome but the vocals are ssssooo sssibilant its hurting my ears. Ive adjusted the tracking weight with a Shure gauge, fixed the azimuth with the included paper graph and played with the VTA to try to make the arm parallel to the record, all with NO SUCCESS. The vocals still sound like crap. My 2.1 came with the Music Hall Tracker/Goldring Elan cartridge and Ive played it close to 40hrs. Could it need more breaking in? Any suggestions on improving the sound? Should I abandon the cartridge and get another one? Thanks for all your help guys!
bundee1

Showing 1 response by dekay

Bundee:

Take one of your thinnest LP's and place it on the bare platter. If you use a mat, place it on top of this LP and then try playing one of the problem LP's. This is a quick/dirty way to change VTA.

Lowering the rear/tail end of the cartridge decreases HF info while increasing bass response and reversing this does the opposite (the trick is find the right balance).

It the arm height adjustable on the 2.1? If not, VTA can be adjusted by either shimming the cartridge or the LP (as mentioned above).

I set the VTA on my TT for thick album stock and use a DIY wool felt mat to adjust for thinner stock (doing so is as easy as placing an LP on the platter). If felt is not a good choice for the MMF, then there are other materials to choose from, like cork, vinyl sheeting, et cetera.

If your cartridge is the same as the one supplied on the MMF-5, then it's on the bright side to start with though it will mellow some with use.

I auditioned the MMF-5 three times (same shop) and when the deck was new it was very bright sounding (like a cheap CD player). The second and third tries were better, after the unit had some playing time on it. I also auditioned a well broken in MMF-5 @ another shop (the crew was playing it quite a bit:-) and it sounded better yet.

Could also be that the LP's which are problematic are not up to snuff in the first place.

It's also imortant to level the platter of the TT. A cheap way to select a round bubble level ($2-$3) @ most hardware stores is to borrow one or two good levels and a plate of sheet glass from stock. Level the glass by shimming it with credit/business cards and use this to test the cheap bubble levels for accuracy. The employee's @ my local store, just laughed and allowed me to do this (out of the sampling that I did more than half were off).