2. tech-talk
  3. 159422-84651

Soundstage gone

Hi guys,
I was really happy with the sound I had from my system until I decided to upgrade my turntable to MC stage. What I had: Linn LP12 with Lingo 3, Akito tonearm and Adikt MM cartridge. The amp is MA2275, speakers B&W 802. Recently I upgraded TT with Radical power supply, Urika MC internal phono stage, Ekos tonearm and Kandid cartridge. My amp has only MM phono stage, so tried to plug the cords from the table into other available inputs: CD2, tuner or DVD. The sound was amazing but the soundstage almost gone. I was shocked. There is no more splitting sounds between speakers and all the records plays as mono. Is there a way to fix that? Forgot to mention: I have a dedicated power line and my cables AQ Hurricane, AQ Oak.

lviv
newbee
4,777 posts
 
Very interesting problem I think. You appear to be using it correctly (into a line stage) I don't know that it makes any difference, but are you using RCA's or balanced outputs?

Just to see where the problem might be why not just try bypassing the MC amp and plugging RCA's from your turntable arm into the MM stage on your pre-amp and see what happens. You could expect to get a greatly reduced out put but least you could be sure that the problem was not associated with the built in MC pre. It could be a problem with the cartridge, but off hand I can figure out how you would reduce the output of your phono system to a centered mono signal.

I agree with mijostyn do check the cartridge connections.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Was there ever a time you heard stereo separation from this cartridge plugged into anything? Do they by chance make a mono version of this cartridge? 
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,483 posts
 
You need a properly matched step up transformer to run a MC cartridge to a MM phono input. Running any MM or even worse MC cart to line level rather than phono input is not a correct setup so bad results should be expected.

You might be best off sticking to a MM cart.  Getting a MC cart setup correctly with a pre-amp not designed for that can be tricky. 
lviv OP
5 posts
 
The cartridge is brand new, I've got upgraded TT last week and in dealership store was sounding great. Just now listened a few records and I would hear the little bit sound separation but not as used to be with MM stage. Don't want to experiment putting two phono stages together.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,608 posts
 
Is there some reason you don't want the dealer to help you with this?  That would be your best option.
More to discover