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Weird issue with my VPI... please help

I have a VPI Scoutmaster with a Shelter 501 MKII cartridge.

This is fairly new, so cartridge has maybe 40 hours on it.

Imagine a graphic EQ where you pushed the lowest band up full... and did the same to one other band in the upper midrange... and that's what it sounds like.

I thought it was something else in the playback chain, but I've isolated it to the turntable (switched phono stages to be sure). Other sources play fine so it's not the preamp or speakers etc.

Any ideas? I don't know if it's always been like this because when I first got the turntable I had some serious speaker issues where I couldn't hear the difference between any electronics (had a very muddy sound). Now that I have that cleared up (CDs sound great) I can hear the difference between different preamps etc... so I finally sit down to hear what my new vinyl collection actually sounds like... only to find out I have a problem of sorts.

The cartridge was setup by Elusivedisc.com where I bought the turntable.

Any help much appreciated!
madfloyd
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,984 posts
 
Madfloyd. I upgraded to the Signature arm and never looked back. It was a very good upgrade which I would recommend. My room is an untreated living Room. If I have any problem with it, it would be its slight tendency towards brightness on some albums. I have noticed no undue brightness with the Sig arm. Tighter bass and more detail is what I heard. There is no more tendency towards brightness with the Sig arm than the standard arm. I have used a Dyna 20XL and a Benz Ebony L with great success.
As someone else has said, your problem is not the arm/cart match. I suspect a bad cartridge.
madfloyd OP
411 posts
 
Artemus,

If I'm not mistaken, the Dyna 20 is $700 and the Benz Ebony L is $3500?

What are the sonic differences between the two? Which do you use now?

Received my (Michael Fremer) setup DVD and Analog test LP so hopefully I can learn a bit over the next few days and rule out poor setup, but at this point I'm figuring it's either the cartridge or just the sound of VPI.

I've played some more LPs over the past few days and it doesn't sound so much out of phase as a total lack of midbass and midrange, very thin highs. I'm now worried because I've been getting some private emails suggesting I may just not like the VPI sound.
narrod
1,064 posts
 
It's not the sound of VPI. Look elsewhere.
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,984 posts
 
Madfloyd. The Ebony is brand new and is not broken in. Maybe only 2 hrs on it so far. That said, it does everything on a bigger scale than the 20XL and has a better separation of instruments. But the 20 XL is indeed a good cart and doesn't need to apologize for its performance when matched against the Ebony. The Ebony is a better cart without a doubt. But is it 5 times better? probably not. Then too, the Ebony is not broken in.
That said, I have never heard anyone say bad things about the Shelter cart. I've heard of others who are using it on the Sig 9 arm with great success. I doubt it is the VPI sound that is the problem. I doubt it is an arm/cart mismatch. I also doubt it is a setup issue. Even so, I'd still check it.
FWIW, with my bad Benz cart, some albums sounded good while others that I knew were recorded well sounded very bad. I'd send the cart back to have it checked.
madfloyd OP
411 posts
 
Thanks, Artemus.
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