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Vinyl...should I stay, or should I go?

I've sort of hit a crossroads and have decided to part with my turntable, all accessories which go with the turntable, and my record collection. However, before parting ways with my analog gear I wanted to gather some feedback and make sure I've given vinyl a fair shake.

My setup is a VPI HW-19: a Zorin tonearm and a Dynavector 17dx cartridge, with a Manly Chinook phono-stage, It plays through Primaluna dialogue Pre amp and amps. The speakers are Goldenear Reference. 

Confession, despite this setup, I've mostly streamed Roon music through an ultraRendu into a ModWright oppo 205. It's just recently I decided to give listening to vinyl a try. I'm pretty much a novice to the finer points and nuances of getting the best out of vinyl.

Experience: I'm finding the streaming music seems to be more centered with a deeper and more textured soundstage. When I stream, no matter what era the music is from, the singer/music is front, center, deep and wide. On the other hand, the last couple of records I've tried. A very old and somewhat used Alan Parsons Project lp and Jim Croce, Don't Mess around with Jim 180 gram lp, have not presented the same quality soundstage. In fact, in both cases while much of the music is centered, the singer's voice is coming mostly from the left side (speaker). Also, I'm finding the bass to be lacking. Last night in a side by side comparison, I was taken aback by how much better sounding was the streaming music.

Question: Is this typical of vinyl or is there something in my setup (again I'm a novice) I'm overlooking? With all this said, any advice on what to check or look for would be much appreciated. I'm not trying to start a debate about the merits of vinyl vs. streaming. I'm really just trying to find out if what I'm experiencing is typical of the vinyl experience or if there's something I should be correcting before pulling the plug and selling off the analog gear. Thanks
liv2teach

Showing 2 responses by dekay

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,706 posts
 
Sounds like a set-up problem.

For a simple VTA test as far as the lacking bass goes place a thin LP under the LP you play (reset/adjust the tacking force) and see if this helps.

If it does report back to receive further advice from the forums.

If it does not then look into cartridge loading.

DeKay
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,706 posts
 
Did you try adding a "spacer" under an LP?

Know I kid a lot in the forums, but I was serious about this simple VTA test.

Typically reduced bass response is caused by the tail end of the cartridge riding too high (improper VTA for the specific cartridge).

Seems that recently (last 10 years, or so) many seem to be fanatical about having the tonearm being totally parallel to the platter which I suspect may be the cause of improper VTA in some cases.

Not familiar with you specific tonearm, but adjusting the arm height on my old SME is a PITA (especially compounded by my less than stellar fine vision).

This is why I use a "shim" mat for thinner LP's as I set up my current deck for what I would consider to be standard (run of the mill as far as thickness goes) LP's.

Years ago I used shim mats to ballpark tonearm height adjustments prior to fine tuning as it is a simple and effective method.

DeKay
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