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Is it the tube pre or the rca/xlr adapter?

HELP! I've recently added a vk-50se, only my second tube component I have ever owned, and a Classe CA301 to my system. Speakers are Aerial 10T's. I am feeding the signal from my 834P with XLO single ended cables plugging into rca/xlr adapters at the pre. It seems that I have lost some details in the music that were there with my old Rotel pre with the same phono setup. BTW, I really like what the bat did for the sound of CDs, but I would prefer to improve the sound from my LPs.

I have tried moving the pre-amp to its own spiked amp stand and it did not make much difference.

I am guessing there is about 100 hrs. on the bat based on what the previous owner told me and the hours I have put on it. The 301 has about 70 hrs on it.

Do you guys with more experience think that it could be the rca/xlr adapters holding the signal back or do things need to burn in some more or do I need to play with placement, etc?

TIA,

Dan
dan_ed
dan_ed OP
2,451 posts
 
CRAP!

I was listening tonight and one channel dropped out. The last time this happened I checked all of the IC connections and after this showed no solution, I disconnected all 4 leads from the cartridge. After re-connecting these both channels worked fine. Well, I tried this tonight and broke one of the cartridge lead wires! Sometimes life just sucks!
twl
3,251 posts
 
I don't know what the cartridge is, that you are using, but loading has a significant impact on Moving Coil cartridges. It may need a different load than the one that is selected on your BAT.

I hope you can get your cartridge leads fixed, so you can get back to your other problems.

Life does suck sometimes.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
What tubes are inside the preamp? You are listening to the tubes as well as the preamp. Don't assume the preamp is performing its best.
drrasta
224 posts
 
The BAT adaptors are better than many others on the market but I found they degrade the sound in comparison to using balanced cables. The BAT pre also needs to warm up for at least a half hour before serious listening. You might want to burn in your system with that few hours it would probably sound better after some significant playing time.
smotyka
62 posts
 
Hope you solve your channel problem.

After you get that fixed, you need to break in your equipment, especialy the BAT stuff for another 300 hours. At least. This stuff takes a lifetime to break in. I had a VK30se & it took a long time and the change for me was significant.

Try calling BAT. They were very helpful with me.

Good luck.
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