Vinyl Newbie - So Many Questions!


New to these forums and new to vinyl, but longtime audiophile, so I feel comfortable saying that I know what I’m hearing but can’t figure out why. 

It would probably help if I summarize my system to aid in troubleshooting:

Marantz TT 15S1

iFi Zen phono preamp

Naim Uniti Atom as streamer/preamp/dac

Conrad Johnson CAV-45 S2

Klipsch Cornwall IV

I’ll start with the easy one

1.  I followed the setup instructions for the Marantz tt meticulously. Every time I start the motor, the belt squeaks and slips on the motor pulley before getting up to speed. It’s annoying and really cheapens the experience. Is this normal?

 

2.  The sound quality ranges from very bad to very good, largely dependent on the record. I don’t have a large collection as I just started with vinyl, but many of these pressings sound absolutely terrible. Many sound distorted and compressed. Many have tons of clicks and pops. I double checked the settings on my phono preamp which is really just moving magnet. There aren’t a lot of settings. One for MM and three for MC. I connected the phono preamp directly to the Conrad Johnson instead of the analog input on the Naim and while it does sound “better”, it’s mostly the same. 
 

I don’t have another cartridge or phono preamp to swap out and try to isolate the issue. Could it simply be that the phono preamp is defective?  It seems that if the cartridge was defective it would just all sound bad.  Could it be that my system is revealing enough that it’s showing the limitation of the iFI?  I just think it would sound “good” all the time, but never really “great”. Could it be that all of these pressings are so incredibly crappy that I’m hearing just how bad they are?

The couple of “mainstream” records do sound pretty good. Namely Gregory Porter, Adele, Gary Clark Jr, Miles Davis, John Coltrane. But even a couple of those have inconsistently cut holes for the spindle (some of them bind), significant warps, and some off-center labels. The independent stuff is all over the map. A couple of the John Prine pressings sound very good, but have soooo many clicks and pops it’s ridiculous - even after cleaning. And one of them wouldn’t even go on the spindle because the hole was so small. 
 

Anyway, I’m just perplexed and pretty annoyed. I’ve debated buying another turntable (with cartridge) and phono preamp just to see if there’s any change.  Any suggestions?  Is that my best course of action - to just buy another preamp and cartridge to troubleshoot? 

doodledan

lewm, it doesn’t make sense why some records play fine while others create unwanted noise. I agree that resistance might lead to unwanted noise but wouldn‘t that be consistent with all pressings?

doodledan, if your motor is sliding around, try sitting it on some dampening material. That is, if it doesn’t cause a height issue with your belt. Herbies Audio makes some thin but affective dampening sheets which may help.

Additionally, I agree with the previous comment regarding the level of your tonearm. Just for grins, can you raise and lower your tonearm by around 1/16th and play it in those varied positions? With the head shell slightly raised, you ought to get a fuller richer sound. With the counter weight slightly raised, you should get more detail.

The difficulty with this problem is why your noise problems are inconsistent.

I have a Linn with a heavyish platter. I always hand start it by spinning it first. Otherwise you will soon stretch the belt.  With this assist, belt lasts almost forever. 

I've had a look at your TT Model and it is a model that has quite a few good appraisals, it looks more than adequate to support your needs at present.

I've had quite bad experiences with Modern Pressed Vinyl sourced through the larger supply chains.

Fortunately these purchases are supplied with good returns policies, so it is prudent to choose to make use of this side of the service.

Also a MFSL LP might be a bit more pricey, but can prove to be a good benchmark to compare other vinyl purchases against, when another LP is noticeably inferior in the comparison, returning it and receiving another copy will in most cases prove to be a corrective measure, where a noticeably improved LP is received.

Avoid buying discounted copies of a New Release LP from larger supply chains, as these are possibly items that are already returned by customers.

The TT Belt on your TT, is claimed to be a Silicone Material, is there any sign of a wetness on the belt, as a Silicone Oil residual can easily create a slippage.

The TT's motor is a design that is very accurate for speed stability and I doubt if it has a fault, but maybe should not be ruled out.

The Stylus being quite dirty can cause a replay to sound quite distorted and unenjoyable, or worse a damaged cantilever can produce a replay that sounds very incorrect and concerning. 

It looks like there is a bit of hill to climb, to get you to the place where the Vinyl side of the system, is proving to be quite satisfying.            

Goofy, I don’t get the impression that some LPs play fine, just that some are less objectionable than others.

I reviewed the Marantz TT user manual. Since Marantz sells the TT, the phono cables, and the Virtuoso cartridge as a package deal, it seems unlikely that cable capacitance would be an issue, although the Zen has a highish input capacitance, and I can still easily imagine the cables add 100pF. However, the OP needs to check out setup first, VTA, VTF, grossly accurate alignment. As I inferred above, one possible way to ameliorate the effect of the high capacitance load on the cartridge is to reduce the input resistor load, which is to say reduce its value which paradoxically increases the load on the cartridge by a tiny amount. I still think it would be worthwhile to try 33K ohms. The only way to do that with this rig is to insert a resistor in parallel with the fixed47K load. This can be done with the inexpensive kit sold by DB systems.

i just looked up the loading kits made by DB and sold by Acoustic Sounds. It’s mainly for MC cartridges, but they do include a pair of blank adapters that could be used for any value needed.