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Clearaudio Bluemotion w/ Virtuoso..which phono pre

Ok, I recently bought a Clearaudio bluemotion with a Clearaudio Virtuoso wood cart for LP playback as digital was sounding, well, too digital. I remember the sound of vinyl as being rich, warm, and full. Not sure if its my phono pre or what but its still not quite the quality of my CDP.

the phono pre I am using is the clearaudio BASIC. Any recommendations?

My system:

AES DJH preamp
Cary Rocket 88R F1
Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento
Cambridge 840C CDP
Cardas twinlink cable
Clearaudio Blue w/Virtuoso

Im trying to find a nice phono pre that will get me the sound I remember. Also, don't get me wrong, my LP playback sounds very very good, just not AMAZINGLY good like i had hoped. I was told by a dealer my weak link is the BASIC pre.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Steve
stevehuff1
rccc
216 posts
 
Try a tube unit, I played my virtuoso through a basic for awhile and although good it wasnt great I tried several other solid state units and then an Ear 834p which was a substantial improvement.After that I built a bottlehead seduction and then it really sang. The virtuoso is capable of very high resolution and a smooth balanced sound with the right preamp although If your looking for warm you may need to try something else.
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Dear Steve: I can't be sure that your " trouble " is on the phono stage,

The Virtuoso is a very good cartrige but needs a good tonearm match and carefully set-up specially on the VTA. Unfortunately I don't have any experience with your tonearm ( and I don't know if you can mount in your TT a different one. ) but could be here ( other than cartridge set up ) where you could achieve a better quality performance changing it.

Now, I don't know if the Clearaudio tonearm has a dedicated IC cable if not you can try here with a different one. Additional you have to be sure that your TT is has good internal/external isolation, that it is mounted in a good plattform.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
VTA? You might want to set the tonearm so the pivot is a scoche lower then level and see if you get that full-bodied warmth you're looking for.

When VTA is too high (i.e., arm is tilting down to the cartridge) you get the opposite--all leading edge transients and treble without the bloom.
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