2. amps-preamps
  3. 1005295717

Need troubleshooting help go easy on me... Newbie

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a question requesting help on my new office (all vinyl) system. After reading the responses, and doing a little research, I decided on purchasing the EAR 834P phono stage. It arrived yesterday. The rest of this system includes: Rega P9 TT; RB 900 arm; Clearaudio Aurum Beta cartridge; Bryston 2B SS amp; PSB 40 MK II speakers; Straigtwire Waveguide speaker cables; Straightwire Rhapsody II interconnects; and PS Audio Ultimate Outlet.

I hooked everything up (started at 1:00 am), and started spinning, but what came out of my speakers was a terrible sound. First, the word that comes to mind when describing the sound is "fuzzy" -- like listening to AM radio in your car, without an antenna. The LPs are clean (used VPI 16.5 machine). Second problem is the right channel is totally dominating the left.

Troubleshooting advice?
wksesq
sc53
718 posts
 
Where is your preamp? You can't just run the EAR phono pre straight into an amp, you need to connect it to a preamp then to the amp.
gregm
3,396 posts
 
Wksesq, don't know yr phono. So, simple guidelines follow: first check the connections on the PHONO: the arm cable should go to PHONO "IN" left / right(red) at the correct set of inputs ("hi-output", MM -or similarly noted). Second, connect the I/C from the EAR OUTPUT (observing the same L/R config.) to a "line" input on the pre. Ofcourse it's best to turn off the pre while yr at it.

Hopefully, nothing mechanical is wrong.
Good luck!
vantageaudio
182 posts
 

The EAR 834P does NOT have any RIAA equalization and is only a pre-preamplifier. Therefore you will need to feed it into an equalized phono stage to get the correct signal.

Your channel im-balance problem may be related to cartridge alignment or interconnect problems..?

Hope this helps, regards, Richard

xiekitchen
821 posts
 
Did you or an experienced tech. mount the cartridge? Correct alignment of cartridge is absolutely important. There are tools for this, but I'd rely on a really experienced tech. person.
plato
1,543 posts
 
It sounds like something related to your phono preamp. I notice you didn't mention what line stage preamp you are using. 1) As someone else mentioned, You can't plug the phono directly into the amplifier without a volume control. 2) You could have a bad tube in the 834P -- you could swap the respective channel's tubes and see if the distortion/loudness changes sides -- if so, you may need to replace the tube(s). 3) Perhaps the 834P is set to the higher MC gain position and you need to set it to the MM low-gain position. If you are on the MC position you are likely overloading the phono preamp. 4). On the "line-level" preamp you are using, make sure the EAR 834P is plugged into an "AUX" (Tuner or Tape inputs will work too) high-level input -- NOT "PHONO". If you plug the 834P into a phono input it will surely overload it. That's all I can think of aside from rechecking all the connections. Good luck, and let us know how you fare.
More to discover