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Is it possible for a record to be too loud?

I was just listen to a copy of a newish Sigur Ros album "Valtari" and on last two tracks on side B it has pretty huge dynamic swings. It gets so loud that my cart, EMT TSD 15, starts doing what I can only describe as maxing out. Left channel starting squawking and both channels sound crazy compressed.

The only other things I could think of is maybe I am overloading my input impedance on the pre, since this is a MC with a 1.05mv output that doesn't seem like it should be ruled out.

Any ideas? Bad pressing? Faulty cartridge to tonearm matching?..which is a Ortofon RS 309d and preforms absolutely wonderfully on every other record in my collection.
ohnofiasco
ohnofiasco OP
49 posts
 
Thanks for all the advice. I just purchased a long overdue copy of hi fi news and it checked out totally fine so I am pretty confidant that my set up isn't the issue and the issue has to be that particular cut on that record.

That all being said I am on the market for a better phono stage so if anyone has a suggestion with a variable gain or even more ideally one that is spec'd for this type of medium output MC I am all ears.
hdm
1,078 posts
 
"The issue is can a cartridge of 1.05 mV or so overload a phono section set up for a low output moving coil cartridge."

The OP's phono stage has a stated sensitivity of 500 uV in for 300 mV out with an overload margin of 31 dB.

Any thoughts on what it would take in terms of mV at the input to overload based on those specs?
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,169 posts
 
500uV is 0.5 millivolts.

Overload is 31 db above that. That would be about 17.75 mV at the input at the time of overload.
hdm
1,078 posts
 
If the phono stage doesn't overload until 17.75 mV then that should not be an issue as a 1 mV cartridge is probably maxing out around 10-12 mV on peaks.

What about the phono stage overloading the preamp ahead of it? Seems that is a not an unusual occurrence when high output cartridges are paired with high gain phono preamps.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,169 posts
 
Most preamps have a volume control at the input of the line section. This makes it impossible to overload the line section without also playing the system very very loud.

So really if this is not a problem on all LPs, the possibilities are a problem in setup or a defective pressing. My pressing of the LP in question is fine but that does not mean all of them are OK.

Playing the LP on another system might be one way to find out...
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