2. analog
  3. 1232902020

Vinyl sounds a bit thin and slightly strident.

The analog side of my system looks like this:
Benz Micro Ebony H Cartridge(Broken in). VTF around 1.9g.
No Headshell weight.
VPI Scout/JMW-9 Signature Arm(Wired w/Nordost Valhalla)
Cardas Neutral Ref Phono Balanced.
Audio Research PH-2 Balanced Phono Pre
Cardas Neutral Reference IC's
Audio Research LS-7 Preamp w/Electro-Harmonix Tubes from ARC
Cardas Hexlink 5C
Mark Levinson No.331
Purist Audio Design Aqueous Bi-wire
B&W Nautilus 803S
I recently purchased a used Sony 9000ES SACD player and noticed I could listen for extended periods of time and I just kept wanting to play music because it is a great sounding player and very engaging and realized that I'm having a hard time getting as involved with my vinyl rig and I've concluded that the big contributing factors are a lack of bass weight, mid-bass bloom and the top end is a bit strident.
Has anyone else had a problem such as this? And what device(s) should I tweak or change in order to alleviate these sonic characteristics? I suspect my overhang may be off and a contributing factor due to just using the stock VPI protractor. I want to get a Wally Tractor soon.
Any thoughts?
n803nut

Showing 2 responses by sns

sns
3,003 posts
 
I complained about a lack of dynamics with my Scoutmaster/Dynavector setup some time ago. I've done numerous isolation mods, setup with MintLp (get this vs. the Wally), this has helped, but still not as involving as my digital setup. Im my case I've concluded my analog setup is just not as resolving as the digital, gonna take a better cartridge, perhaps better phono stage to get where I want to go. You many find some tweaks get you where you want to be, (try Cardas Golden Ref vs. the Neutral ref, improve table isolation, MintLp protractor, NOS tubes in Audio Research)on the other hand, you may be in the same boat as I.

You should also mention which lps are causing problems, many lps are poorly recorded.
sns
3,003 posts
 
N803, Bob is absolutely correct, the first thing I would change out is those stock power cords. I had a ARC SP 9 MK. III which had all the sonic limitations you speak of, putting in a IEC receptacle with a good power cord made a large sonic difference. I would absolutely make this the first change to make, all the benefits of other changes mentioned won't be realized until you take out that stock power cord!

Hire a local tech to add the IEC if you're not comfortable doing it, shouldn't cost much at all.
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