2. analog
  3. 1232902020

Vinyl sounds a bit thin and slightly strident.

The analog side of my system looks like this:
Benz Micro Ebony H Cartridge(Broken in). VTF around 1.9g.
No Headshell weight.
VPI Scout/JMW-9 Signature Arm(Wired w/Nordost Valhalla)
Cardas Neutral Ref Phono Balanced.
Audio Research PH-2 Balanced Phono Pre
Cardas Neutral Reference IC's
Audio Research LS-7 Preamp w/Electro-Harmonix Tubes from ARC
Cardas Hexlink 5C
Mark Levinson No.331
Purist Audio Design Aqueous Bi-wire
B&W Nautilus 803S
I recently purchased a used Sony 9000ES SACD player and noticed I could listen for extended periods of time and I just kept wanting to play music because it is a great sounding player and very engaging and realized that I'm having a hard time getting as involved with my vinyl rig and I've concluded that the big contributing factors are a lack of bass weight, mid-bass bloom and the top end is a bit strident.
Has anyone else had a problem such as this? And what device(s) should I tweak or change in order to alleviate these sonic characteristics? I suspect my overhang may be off and a contributing factor due to just using the stock VPI protractor. I want to get a Wally Tractor soon.
Any thoughts?
n803nut
dgarretson
2,618 posts
 
A lack of HF clarity and strident midrange & treble in the stock ARC PH-2 is easily cured with a change of coupling caps. Also, how is the Scout sited?
johnss
615 posts
 
N803,
When one has a tonal balance as you described, the first thing to do is run a play back curve with the cart and arm you are using. place the RIAA playback LP on the table, and write down the output voltage of your preamp at each frequency. Doing anything before this step is purely guessing.

best
jj2468
280 posts
 
Johnss,
Sounds interesting. Could you provide a link to a site that explains your test procedure in more detail?

a) How do you measure the output voltage? By affixing a voltage meter to the rca outs of the preamp?
b) What do you compare the readings to?
c) What test lp do you use and does it provide the necessary benchmarks?
d) Once you have the data, is there a guide on what to do about it?

Thanks, Jeff
reb1208
518 posts
 
I had that problem when I owned a Ruby 2. The line contact stylus Benz uses is a pia to get the VTA right with. Make sure your arm is sloped down in the back a bit and keep the stylus clean as a possible.
dgarretson
2,618 posts
 
Just to expand on my above comment, I bought the ARC PH-2 new together with an ARC VT-130 amp. Afterwards I purchased the factory-sanctioned Infinicap upgrade to replace stock MIT PPMXS coupling caps in the VT-130-- a worthwhile improvement that remediated exactly the problems across FR that you mention. While the PH-2 uses good MIT RTX and Wima film caps in most sections, in four critical coupling positions it has the same MIT PPMXS as the VT-130, and the associated sonic compromise. As by then ARC had replaced PH-2 with PH-3, there was no reason for the factory to revisit selection of piece parts. But trust me on this one, if you pull those four PPMXS output caps and replace with Multicap PPFXS, Mundorf, or equivalent, you will be happy.

PS I still have the PH-2. Subject to its gain limitations, after lite modding it compares favorably with far more expensive phono stages. The PH-3 that followed was a lesser budget piece.
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