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Help with uninspiring sound with my turntable.

Can anyone give me some suggestions what to do to improve my vinyl sound - I purchased a Wilson Benesch TT with their .05 arm and a Sumiko Celebration cartridge here on Audiogon. I have a Mac c500t pre-amp that is still breaking in . The sound quality is lac-luster, and particularly annoying is the vocals can sound "crunchy" and extremely edgy. I don't know how many hours the cartridge has on it. I have tried different loading impedance's - but something is so off I would really appreciate any ideas. I listen to Jazz and Rock albums mostly. Thanks for your input!
liketolisten
liketolisten OP
24 posts
 
Thank you for the suggestions, my pre-amp does have MM and a MC input and I have set the impedance loading at 100ohms (per sumiko)and I am using the MC input. My cartridge is close to level not up in the back, so I think my VTA is Close. What alignment tools would be the best but won't break the bank? I think it is some other adjustment - I dont understand my anti skate either.

Thanks again!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
If you search the Linn site, there is a template in a .pdf file you can print, put on your table and use easily to align the cartridge.

Anti skate generally should match the tracking force. For example if the tonearm is adjusted so the tracking force is 2 grams, then in general the anti skate should also be set to 2 grams.
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
I agree on all the posters above, including the breakin comment. I used to own a full circle, act arm and a lyra cartridge years ago before I went to my SME.

I think that unipivot arm is very tough to set up. And hence maybe contributing to your issues. I am not sure I ever had mine set up properly.

My dealer has a full circle in stock, I've heard his a few times and it sounds great. So I know it's not the table. (He is using a cardas heart cartidge)
liketolisten OP
24 posts
 
Thanks again for the responses. As far as my anti-skate - it is a wire with a weight. where the wire attaches to the tone arm can be moved to different groves to change the effect, but I have no idea how to tell how much counter force each grove represents. I bought this TT used so I do not have a manual to explain this. Does anyone know this arm well enough to give me an idea?
headsnappin's avatar
headsnappin
295 posts
 
Mapman, you may want to try less anti-skate tahn what is the norm. i do it by ear and have made pretty big improvements in the sound. my tracking force is 2.1 grams and I've found it to sound the best at .9 grams anti scrape.
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