LP Sound Quality

Dear Giglr: I think that you already have very good advise trying to achieve a better quality performance. Your analog rig is a lot lot better that what you report.

Other that the TT/tonearm set-up the cartridge set-up is very important too starting to have in the right position the tonearm/cartridge connection wires and like Thomasheisig point out: stylus clean. In the same way that you have to check the Tonearm/cartridge wires you have to check too that the tonearm cable is internally wired correctly.

The feedback from your speakers could cause that trouble too.
Now, if you have a second cartridge you could try it and see what happen.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Everything here makes sense. Once you have checked it all: the set-up, cleaned the lp's, and done all of that, there is only one thing left: maybe the records themselves are played out or poorly recorded. I have noticed that many lps I get are dead, many in the way you described.

NOTE: I also have an LP12 too and love it. I have found that it is not really very finicky (like my old SOTA), but needs to be tended by an expert.

Along that issue, record quality, it makes some sense to order a modern reissue that's highly rated for sound quality as a base test for you system. If you like jazz, the 45 rpm Verve reissues by Analogue Productions are fantastic. The Hugh Mesakela "Hope" LP set is fantastic.

If you've just got a bad LP collection, then this will highlight that.

Dave

Short of getting it all tuned up by a Linn expert, there are many things you can do to help the turntable perform better. I'm sure you can find instructions on setting TTs up on the Net. I remember that I looked it up a while ago and, being an older guy, I realized, yet again, that some pretty good instructions are provided and that nothing is new under the sun.

The obvious things to check are the stylus (is it clean, is it damaged in any way?) and the cartridge mounting (is it properly aligned, is the overhang properly adjusted?)Make sure the tt is level side to side and back to front.

"garbled" sound to me like mechanical problem rather than an electronic one.

If you are not mechanically inclined and hate fiddling with very delicate adjustments, vinyl may simply not be worth your while.

Giglr : I suggest Michael Fremer's DVD on Turntable Set-Up to give you visuals on the art of set-up($30). I suspect the VTA (vertical tracking angle) is off or some other set-up issue needs to be corrected. As an alternative , should you have an audio bud that has a cartridge to spair, borrow one replace yours to see if the problem goes away.