A pitch too High!

I put on the first pressing of Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace, and all along I found her pitch way higher, it was all too high pitched and uncomfortable. Seemed the bass had gone missing a little. On my Boulder 866, I could immediately hear the difference when the track was played through Roon. It was not as high pitched, thin as it sounded on analogue.

Do you understand that talking about pitch of the notes you’re referring to the rotation speed of the platter ? The higher the speed the higher the pitch note. The pitch is correct at 33 1/3 and 45 rpm 

Some people don’t understand why there is a pitch control on High-End turntables.

FOR EXAMPLE
JVC/Victor engineers explained very well why there is a special pitch control on TT-101:

"The pitch, "A" is standardized at 440Hz according to international standards, and is the standard for all western musical instruments. In other words, the tuning of all instruments of the orchestra is based on this pitch. But in reality, the basic tuning pitch of each orchestra differs due to the instrumentation and individual characteristics of each orchestra, as well as the personality of the conductor. The diagram shows such differences by orchestra. Most of the pitches range within +/- 6Hz of 400Hz. To reproduce these subtly different pitches, a quality turntable with highly accurate rotation is required. Another important requirement is the possibility of minute speed adjustment. If the speed of a turntable could be adjusted to the individual pitch used by an orchestra while at the same time remaining controlled by a quartz-locked servo system, the benefits of flexibility and precision would be significant from a musicological viewpoint. For this reason the TT-101 is equipped with built-in speed-control facilities which can adjust the pitch in 1Hz steps within a range of +/- 6Hz or 440Hz. The difference of pitches between master tape recorders and disc record cutting machines has been intentionally ignored before but now the speed of a record can be adjusted to match the original pitch of the orchestra, even if the master was recorded differently from the original performance. For example, a performance of the NHK Symphony Orchestra on the record can be adjusted to match the pitch of the same performance on a record by the London Symphony Orchestra, for the enjoyment of critical comparison."

The "A" key of a piano in your home is usually tuned to 440Hz. When you practice the piano while playing back a record, you can adjust the pitch of the record, to be in perfect tune with your piano.

what do you mean by 'load' them? The link you gave me is way beyond what I can comprehend.

@terrible  "loading" of a cartridge is where a resistance is placed in parallel with the output of the cartridge; IOW from the signal to ground. Many phono preamps have provisions for this. Any high output cartridge will have a peak in its output at a particular frequency which will be at the upper end of the audio band or well past it. The link I provided has the technical explanations of why. Even if the peak is at 40KHz, there is a phenomena called 'phase shift'  which can introduce brightness artifacts in the audio band.


The resistor is inexpensive. The value is probably around 10K Ohms. This is assuming that your tonearm cable is actually meant for phonograph use (such cables are low capacitance to keep the peak as high as possible). If you are using a regular audio cable, you might consider finding one that is low capacitance instead (which is not expensive).

@chakster Of course I don’t know what i am doing. But I am trying to learn as I go along. Those who are explaining things to me in a simple fashion are helping me get there, and i am truly grateful. I have gone through many videos and that’s probably why i am doing stuff I never imagined I would. You too should try doing things you don’t know anything about might just make you a little more helpful. The reason I am thinking of another cartridge like Nagaoka MP200 is because @mijostyn suggested maybe I should get something with 2g VTF. This could be the alternative to decreasing anti-skate.

And probably the right word is scale and not pitch?

@sandstone Thank you for letting me know, tomorrow I’ll check out the RPM adjustment screws. Since you are familiar with this turntable could you respond to my query:

The image below has the anti-skating explanation for Clearaudion Concept. Does turning towards the green arrow mean lesser anti-skate?

https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME4REUFhttp://

How many turns approximately to reach adequate anti-skate for 1.5g? If someone has done this before on this machine, please do let me know. Because clearly, 2g VTF is not working soundwise.

@terrible,
- I just wanted to emphasize that your turntable speed is fully adjustable via the three set screws on the rear, one for each of 33, 45, and 78.  You measured a speed that is 10% over spec.  No cartridge selection or other adjustment can compensate for this effect on pitch, so use your RPM app to reset it and go from there.

- On these turntables, your phono cable is actually a continuous extension of your tonearm wiring, through to the RCA connectors and is entirely suitable.