Good advice regarding upgrading the cartridge and proper VTA. After that, for improved sonics is to add some aftermarket footers or cones. Using vibration draining or absorbion footers will open up the sound. Better imaging and more detail in the bottom-end.
Ortofon Red/Pro-ject Carbon Debut combination; rolled off hi-frequencies. Solutions?
Hi there.
I just bought a Project Carbon Debut SB with a factory equipped Ortofon Red. After 30 hours break-in the mids are fine (smooth, rich and full), bass is a little fat but tolerable but the highs, as I expected were rolled off; but more than I expected and not acceptable to me. Obviously, there will be compromises in a "bargain" turntable but mechanically and sonically I think it's good basic platform to start with.
The TT is playing back through the inboard phono stage of my Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated. I've swapped interconnects, starting with Audioquest Diamondback (nice mids, darker top end) and Wireworld Equinox 6's (brighter top but not much inprovement in air, and surprisingly a bit grainy and obscure in the mids).
I'm thinking my 1st step is upgrading the cartridge to either the Ortofon Blue, Shelter 201 of the new Audio Technica VM540ML; the replacement for the old AT400ML which was a bit too bright but otherwise highly musical and faithful in reproduction (I had one in my Music Hall MMF5.1) but there aren't any reviews of it to be found on the web or in hi-fi mags.
I am on a budget and before I start throwing hundreds of bucks around and burning months of experimentation on swapping out cables, outboard phono stages and cartridges I thought I'd throw this subject open to discussion to my brothers of the cloth who have the same high fidelity point of view as I.
Any recommendations or opinions are welcome.
I just bought a Project Carbon Debut SB with a factory equipped Ortofon Red. After 30 hours break-in the mids are fine (smooth, rich and full), bass is a little fat but tolerable but the highs, as I expected were rolled off; but more than I expected and not acceptable to me. Obviously, there will be compromises in a "bargain" turntable but mechanically and sonically I think it's good basic platform to start with.
The TT is playing back through the inboard phono stage of my Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated. I've swapped interconnects, starting with Audioquest Diamondback (nice mids, darker top end) and Wireworld Equinox 6's (brighter top but not much inprovement in air, and surprisingly a bit grainy and obscure in the mids).
I'm thinking my 1st step is upgrading the cartridge to either the Ortofon Blue, Shelter 201 of the new Audio Technica VM540ML; the replacement for the old AT400ML which was a bit too bright but otherwise highly musical and faithful in reproduction (I had one in my Music Hall MMF5.1) but there aren't any reviews of it to be found on the web or in hi-fi mags.
I am on a budget and before I start throwing hundreds of bucks around and burning months of experimentation on swapping out cables, outboard phono stages and cartridges I thought I'd throw this subject open to discussion to my brothers of the cloth who have the same high fidelity point of view as I.
Any recommendations or opinions are welcome.
- ...
- 21 posts total
@reubent Cable - I replace the stock interconnect cable with an Audio Sensibility Impact SE phono cable. Immediately better..... I compared this cable with the Belkin I suggested above. The Belkin blows it away with far greater treble. If you or the OP buy the Belkin I linked to and try it and don’t think it works, I will buy it from you. No relationship with seller. |
As I said above MF amps tend to be a bit laid back. I just read the Stereophile review and indeed, they corroborate what I said. Quote: "but the slightly rich bass guitar and the laid-back presentation rendered the music a tad too relaxed." Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/musical-fidelity-a32-integrated-amplifier-page-2#Ce8s3BcM4zASXyC... |
It's funny how many useless things people are ready to do, before they are realizing the weak point is the cartridge. I've been experimenting with about 20 cartridges on average turntable like SL1200mkII (not my reference turntable) with relatively cheap phono stage. A good cartridge is ALWAYS better than average cartridge on stock turntable without any tweks with cables, footers, fancy headshells, mats, clamps etc. This is a nature of the cartridge - the only component that actually touch the vinyl media. You can not compensate the weak point of the cartridge by cable, footers, mat, clapm etc. You can slightly improve the details and clarity, but a better cartridge will be better without all that tweks on your stock turntable. I've noticed than many times. The tweaks are ok AFTER you got the right cartrige for yourself (for your ears, not for the ears of reviewer online). |
- 21 posts total