Help. Wife says Teres 340 Is too bright.

I can't help but wonder if the problem is down stream at the speaker/room interface. You stated "One more thing in the equation is that I play this quite a bit louder than the Scoutmaster because I can. I think this is part of the problem"
I agree with this assessment. Have you tried going back to the volume you used to play vinyl at and see if it is still bothersome? Next I'd move the volume level back to the problem level and try a different source eg digital and see if the sound is still offensive. If it is then maybe just a speaker position adjustment will solve the issue or possibly room tuning will be required.

Worth a shot before buying & sellig more gear
Kevinn

Doug and Tom raised interesting points about how the change could be bringing to the fore other system limitations. I agree that that is a distinct possibility.

I think it is worth looking at other possibilities as well. It appears that the "brightness" is a somewhat narrow band issue and each of the listeners is more sensitive to resonance in a different frequency band (husband thinks the VPI is brighter, wife thinks the Teres is brighter). It may be the case that each product has a distinctly different primary resonant frequency. All mechanical systems resonate to some degree at certain frequencies. Perhaps, some experimentation with the support the table is on, or with other resonant tuning devices might favorably alter the sound. I don't know what can be done about resonance in the arm itself (I don't know about the Origin arm), but perhaps others could comment.

That you're loading at 42 ohms is telling me that there are likely some nasties elsewhere in your system, including (possibly) setup, but likely a component mismatch.

I feel your pain. I've been there.

You mention that this 42 ohm load is unchanged from your VPI days. My sense is that you've been responding to down-stream nasties in your system since your VPI days, and that you've been putting your knee squarely on your cartridge's throat in an attempt to tame these problems.

My take is that the increased resolution of your current 'table is only magnifying what you've been sensing all along.

Palasr, Dre_j and I have been dialoging (independently and together) about this loading thing for some time. I'm coming to the conclusion that (in general) as other things improve in a system, that minimal loading is always better.

This is just another case (as with tracking force and anti-skate), where just enough (erring if anything on too little) is the right amount. Too much (loading, anti-skate, tracking force) always squashes the life out of the music.

This doesn't necessarily mean running an MC wide open at 47K, but at the same time, dropping down to 4-8 times the DCR of the cartridge is (in most instances) to be excessive.

So ... I think you'd be able to get a good baseline by finding a nice 50-60w p-p tube amplifier to borrow from someone local to you. Of course, playing with a phono stage or full function preamp would be instructive as well.

In all cases however, I'd expect you to arrive at cartridge loading in the 100-500 ohm range for your Benz - once you've resolved other system issues.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

I think some sorbothane between the racks and shelves including the tt shelf would be a good starting place. You can get sheets of 30D or 50D by 1/4" or 1/2" thick x 4"x 4" and cut short thin strips, Grand Prix Audio uses sorbothane in a similar way. Find @ dang-good-stuff store on e'bay
I would then isolate the preamp and amp from their shelves to minimize mechanical vibrations.
In you system photo I can't see if the Wright has any isolation under it, if not you might try a small piece of 1" thick acrylic on BDR cones or something similar and similar treatment to the step up transformer.
Try moving the Wright as far away from the amp as possible.
Hopefully you will be surprised and find some of the brightness has been vibrations causing a lack of focus resulting in leading edge hash that is producing a brighter sound to the system.
I think before you go chasing all over the place I would get everything isolated then you will be able to hear small changes to the system and it's a cheaper place to start.
I use the CDP to work on leading edge hash, brightness etc.( it's just a natural at producing this) and get into the ballpark then do last tuning with the TT.
My 2 cents worth hope it helps.
Sam

I have updated and added pictures of my system so you can see it now.

Lewm. Thanks for your explanation about wattage. i should have known that from my days of playing in bands and using PA systems. With a PA you usually run your master volume high and adjust each channel low. I know the reasoning behind the high master but I just didn't put it together. Duh.

Thom. The internal loading of the Benz Ebony L is 5 ohms. I have been told that 10 times that value is an approximate proper loading. Is this wrong?
That said, I never heard a much difference between the 42 and the 470ohms with the scoutmaster. This always made me question the y connector method that I'm using

Samhar. Everything is isolated except the amp itself. Phono pre is on sorbothane. The new TT resides on a new rack I built just for it. it is modelled after the one on the Teres website with concrete in the legs and a sandbox at the top. Also thanks for the heads up on the ebay store