New2Analog - Table Setup Help?


After 25+ years of CDs and such, I bought my first turntable last week. A Denon DP300F, with a built-in phono preamp. I have put it into my system, and have dome some A - B comparison, and critical listening.

Here is my problem:
I am lacking in the upper octave of all music.
No Air (Which I lust for from Vinyl).
Heavy bass and midrange
Midrange will nearly distort it is so heavy

The table is set per the factory directions, but I am not sure where to start to fix these issues.

Any suggestions?

Jeff in Detroit
jbryngelson
Take it as 2 cents opinion.....you description gives me the feeeling something wrong in the preamp. Gone components inside circuit can do this...start isolating the issue.....just try an outboard phono stage!Good luck
Built in phono preamp in a turntable are pedestrian at best. I agree with Ad010685. Need to go with an out board phono preamp to get the signature your really looking for.
The Lehman phono preamp is a good one as well as many others out there, only limited by your resources. Also the phono cartridge that came with the turntable are very basic and mean't to get you started. May want to try a better phono cartridge. For that table a Denon DL 110 would be a good place to start.
Agree, don't use the built in pre. Start up the price latter. Something used at $150 would be ideal.
Before you go out and buy something, are you fairly sure of the setup? For instance, were you able to verify the vertical tracking force with a scale of some kind? The sound you hear could be caused by having way to much tracking force. For that matter, are you sure that the cartridge is good? Did you buy this turntable new, or used?

Don't spend money to fix a problem until you're sure you've correctly identified the problem.

Cheers.