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What happened?

I recently added new speakers, (Kharma 3.2's) to my system, and for the last 3 weeks have been in audio heaven. Whatever I played, either LP or CD sounded great. I found myself listening to things that I haven't played in years. This weekend, I sat down for a nice long listen, put in a CD and all was well. I put an LP on and the sound was horrible - thin, and bright. Nothing had changed, and as I said the CD sounded as it always had. So the problem has to be in the phono stage - built in MM in Hovland HP-100 preamp - or the cartridge - Clearuadio Virtuoso wood MM. When a cartridge goes is this what happens? It is only about 9 months old, with no more than 1000 hours on it.
Just when everything had finally come together.
Rest of system:
CAT-JL2 amplifier
Hovland HP-100 preamp
Accuphase DP-75V CD player
Kharma 3.2 ceramique speakers
Basis 2001 w/ Graham 2.2 and Clearaudio Virtuoso wood MM cartridge.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated
Carl
czapp

Showing 1 response by sdcampbell

sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
Hard to know for sure what's causing your problem, given that you only swapped out the speakers. However, you should check / eliminate the following possible causes of the problem:

1. check the tubes in your preamp -- one of them may need replacement;
2. check the cartridge's cantilever to see if it has gotten bent or damaged.

Hope others on the forum can offer some other suggestions.
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