For owners of Clearaudio Emotion

Dust cover: have one made. People in the promotions business, technicians working with perspex (making signs, etc) can easily do this for you. Measure width, depth & height so as to cover the TT completely, and make an indent for the arm cable to pass through.

Sound: it the TT set up correctly. If so, then the sound could be due to cartridge breaking in (if new).
What arm are you using?

Overall and in my experience, the TT has highest sonic influence, followed by arm, followed by cartridge.

1. Clearaudio DOES make a dustcover for this table but you might be hard pressed to track it down. I bought my table in June and I've never seen the dustcover available online (though maybe it's been added since that time). My dealer sells the dustcover for $160 Canadian dollars.

2. I've upgraded my cartridge from the Aurum Classics to a Benz Micro MC Silver. I was happy with that improvement but my upgrade cartridge was not new so I didn't pay a full retail upgrade price.

Gregm and Mtz. Many thanks for your responses.I am using the standard supplied tonearm ie Satisfy.I think I got the TT assembly right(the spirit level is ok), though I did take a shortcut with the cartridge assembly.The rectangular metal piece which is supposed to be sandwiched between the wooden cartridge and the tonearm shell, well I did'nt use it. Would it make a substantial difference to insert the metal piece.Frankly the instructions were pretty awful and as against the 30 minutes it took the Soundstage reviewer to set up the TT it took me close to 3hrs. The cartridge has logged barely 15 hours.Whats normal break in? The sound is fairly incredible and I think I am nitpicking when complaining about the treble.
Would appreciate any advice on a cartridge upgrade path in the short term.
Happy listening

Sunny I don't suggest you change cartridge yet -- however certain Clearaudio models are quite nice and you get the company's upgrade bonus. Give your present cartridge ~100 hrs and then re-set the TT. Once the cartridge is broken in, try inserting the metal interface to gauge differences.

BTW, you have checked that the arm is parallel to the LP surface when playing? Cheers

You don't need to bother with the lead plate between headshell and cartridge, this is only provided in case you want to use an especially light cartridge with this arm.

Also if you set it up according to the instructions, borrow a tracking force scale if you don't have one and verify the weight you've got on the cartridge. I found that the estimate method in the instructions gave me far too much force. Recommended tracking of the Aurum Wood is 1.8-2.2 grams I think.

Many thanks for all your help.I think the VTA is ok, coz the arm is parallel to the lp surface.I have the Shure weighing scale hence tracking force is not a problem. I like to use a little less weight in the hope that the stylus will last longer!!Have shelved any plans for a cartridge upgrade.Will revisit the issue after I add to my vinyl collection.
Many thanks and take care.