Would increasing the gain in the amp give more weight to the sound? Any negatives?

So what is this "body" that you guys are talking about? I'm no expert but based on my (limited) experience, this lack of "body" is either because of at least one poor quality component in the sound chain or poor impedance mismatch if the components are all top shelf. Using a tape out and the phone in and the rest of the chain makes it more difficult to pinpoint the weakest link in the chain. All the best.

Being a simpleton I would first experiment by adjusting the VTA of your cartridge (granted that this is doable with your deck/arm).

Too lean a sound would dictate lowering the back/tail of the cartridge.

Being a simpleton I would first experiment by adjusting the VTA of your cartridge (granted that this is doable with your deck/arm).

Too lean a sound would dictate lowering the back/tail of the cartridge.

PS, and sorry for the double post (was distracted).

An easy way of checking this (if your deck uses a platter mat) would be to shim the mat a bit higher.

To start, place a thin LP (like an 70’s/80’s Euro import) under the mat which will effectively lower the tail of the cartridge.

If the sound is more to your liking, but you want more fullness then try a thicker LP/shim.

If positive results are achieved then look into adjusting such properly through arm adjustment.

There could also be cartridge loading problems, but I won’t go into this as I don’t know what gear you are using (plus I probably wouldn’t know enough to give decent adcice anyway-:).

What cartridge are you using? And how long is your phono cable?

The reason I ask is that the relatively high 200 pf input capacitance of your phono stage, in combination with the capacitance of your phono cable (which is proportional to length as well as being dependent on the capacitance per unit length of the particular cable), and the capacitance of the wiring in the turntable, will be too high a total to be optimal with some MM cartridges. In those cases the result would probably be an over-emphasis of parts of the treble region, which could be perceived as an under-emphasis of lower frequencies and consequently as a lack of body.

Also, btw, I’ll mention for possible future reference that the 0.01 uf (10,000 pf) input capacitance of the PH-1 in LOMC mode, which George referred to above and which is confirmed in the PH-1’s manual, frankly speaking strikes me as absurd. While LOMCs are of course less sensitive to load capacitance than MMs, low capacitance is generally preferable with them (see the post by Lyra cartridge designer JCarr dated 8-14-2010 in this thread), and 10,000 pf is **extremely** high. Although presumably the high capacitance was necessitated by some aspect of the design of the phono stage.

Regards,
-- Al