"Karl Uppiano" wrote in message
news:Yq8ch.138$ne3.1@trndny03...
analogman wrote in message ...
"Karl Uppiano" wrote in message
news:Vz5ch.45$4p2.14@trndny07...
analogman wrote in message ...
Decided a few weeks ago to upgrade from my new but cheap $100 or less
turntable, I made the assumption that a basic turntable from the 70's
or
80's would be considerably better than what I had considering the
thin
plastic platter etc... of my current turntable, was this assumption
wrong?
Not necessarily, but without knowing the specifics of the vintage
turntable
and your "new" one, it's hard to say.
I ask because despite checking and setting up the tracking weight,
cartridge
alignment(using special protractor), checking that the arm looked
level
with
record when playing, checking the wiring of the headshell and
cartridge
was
correct, checking the phonostage of my amp was working properly which
I
could do with my new $100 cheapie as it had option for using with and
without preamp and finally buying a brand new ortofon cartridge and
stylus
Ok, so it sounded bad with the original pickup, and the Ortofon. I'm
guessing your "new" turntable has either a ceramic cartridge, or it has a
built-in preamp and a magnetic cartridge. If your main amplifier does not
have a phono preamplifier with RIAA equalization, it will sound very tinny
and weak when running with a magnetic cartridge. If that is the case, you
will need to purchase an external preamp e.g.,
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7mdjbGO...=121BT26# Tab.
My amp has a phono preamp and equalizer, it works fine with the "new"
turntable when I disable the turntables builtin preamp so I doubt there is
anything wrong there.
I
could not improve the sound from it's original harsh and empty sound,
it
sounded terrible compared to my $100 cheapie, the sound like i said
was
very
harsh rather than the nice warm turntable sound that I love, the
frequency
response did not seem right, I think the midband was lacking and the
high
frequencies were too high and harsh, the base was probably lacking a
bit
too
but I think the mid to low band was what was giving the sound an
empty
feel.
Anyhow after spending $180 on an upgrade and many hours and much
effort
I
am
ready to give up, I don't have the time to become an expert which is
what
it
seems I would need to be to get this thing sorted, I presume the
stylus
is
somehow not sitting correctly in the record but I have done all the
adjustments that can be done on this player, if the arm needs to be
raised
or lowered then I am out of luck because I think that cannot be done
with
this turntable, I'm totally fed up with it all to be honest, this is
not
a
game for parttimers, now i know why cd rules, the sound maynot be as
good
but everything else is better. Anyhow if anyone has any suggestions
as
to
what the hell is going on here then I would like to hear, I have all
but
given up but if someone suggest something new I will give it a try,
within
reason. By the way changing tracking weight etc.. seems to have no
great
affect, whatever my problem is it is too big to notice changes in
tracking
weight.
A phono stylus has to be pretty grossly out of alignment to sound as badly
as you describe. I think it would be visually obvious to you. I think you
need an RIAA equalized phono preamp.
I don't know about the riaa bit but my amp does have and a phono equalizer,
you have to push a button to turn it on, the amp is a top pioneer model from
1989.
Perhaps you just do not like the sound of the Ortofon. Did you try
mounting
your old pickup in the new turntable?
By old pickup I presume you mean the one that came with the 2ndhand
turntable as the new cheapie I have cannot have the cartridge removed,
anyhow the audiotechnica cartridge sounded just as bad as the ortofon,
whatever is causing the problem is bigger than any differences in
cartridge
i think.