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The Devil is in the Cartridge Setup (and a good phone pre)...

I had a freak out moment--or shall I say 2 days because that's how long it went on. 

I've been on these forums posting various things, noting my vinyl bested my digital and that's why I'm looking to figure out how to up my digital front end.  Well, my vinyl end became harsher, dirtier and grainier.  That's the best that I can do. 

No wait....I can say this.  I listen to tons of stuff and I use Norah Jones albums as a reference.  I know she should sound sweet, centered and pure.  I was tube rolling, re-positioning speakers and not able to roll things back. 

I recently "upgraded" two dirt cheap Texas Instruments op amps in my Manley Chinook to Burr Brown models, which had way better specs.  Could it be that BB op amps weren't doing the trick and causing the dry, dirty vinyl? 

After several days, I went back through my cartridge alignment and settings.  What I found was all was fine and dandy on positioning due to using a Feickert protractor, BUT I recently pumped up the tracking force to the upper limit, 2.0 grams, for the cart (AudioTechnica ART9).  I moved it back down to the minimal setting, 1.6 grams.  All is good. 

Maybe the cart's suspension wears over time and less force or weight is needed. I don't know.  

Phew.  I'm back in vinyl nirvana.  I was wondering if I needed different gear, meds, etc. to get back to where I once was happy.  

PS  And yes, the op amp "upgrade" made less difference than just setting my cart to where it sounds best. 
128x128jbhiller
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
I find the latest Norah albums poorly recorded (LP)
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
jbhiller: Why did you not believe that Manley knows what they are doing when it comes to building electronics?

With all due respect, that was a foolish move. You just trashed the resale value of that otherwise fine piece.

Also, when making changes, make them one at a time, otherwise you’ll have no idea which ones make a difference, either positive or negative.
gibsonian
71 posts
 

Resale value not affected here.

Opamps can be switched back easily.


And yes, Manley products can be improved upon.   

teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
I’ve had my hands inside of more equipment than some have seen with their eyes.
from $5 to $100k+, every single one of them could be improved upon.

The better built, the more time it might take to find a spot or point that can be properly improved, vs simply made different, but the record is as it is. The improvement may not be viable or practical, but they do indeed exist as things that could be done. Everything can be improved.....

I’d wager that the better designers feel the same, but in the end, it’s always a trade off.

Eg, one can take the lid off a $10-30k-etc amplifier and stand there with you, and talk for half an hour (pointing, explaining, and so on) on all the things that could be improved upon. Some practical, some not.

Everything has to have and does have a price point --and price points have trade offs.

You could say, "here’s a $10k mc transformer/pair, considered to be the best and perfect", a simple device, right? And I could say, "not so fast....let’s cut that open with a bandsaw, and talk about this". Like, the insulation dielectric on the wire(10-20 minutes right there), the formulation of the wire element/alloy (another 20 minutes), the core material and design, changes to the core material, solders, casing, noise rejection, mounting. winding technique, RCA jacks.... a whole pile of stuff. Might be a one hour talk on what looks like a simple transformer--but is not all that simple, in the end.
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