Dead Can Dance New LP "into the labrynth"

Hi Jimbojrjb,

I had the same issue you have on the same songs on the same album plus on one other album on one song. Possibly maybe on more albums but not discovered by me. Used 2 different copies of the Mofi "Into the Labrynth" too. Same thing.

The issue was related to my phonostage. Same issue was there with the same phonostage at my dealer. They called the manufacturer and they said it was a known issue in some customers systems and a free fix was available. My cartridge puts out .8MV The issue described to me was with the "input sensitivity" and it could be adjusted. It was related not to loudness issues of the signal but with "large macrodynamic swings" of the signal. Perhaps a lower output cartridge would have been fine. I am only a consumer of audio products and do not have technical knowledge of how these things work.

Well anyways this took care of things pretty much however, it is just barely, barely present on "The Wind That Shook The Barley" and eliminated on the other album.

The phonostage is Nagra BPS, my cartridge is Clearaudio Da Vinci V2. Drove me crazy for awhile.

Thank you

I have tried 2 different systems with 2 different phono preamps. Not sure that is the problem, but I do appreciate the feedback.

I talked at length to the guys at Needle Doctor and Accoustic Sounds and both agreed it's an allignment issue. I'm only using a one point allignment that came with the Rega, which is minimal. Any thoughts on some inexpensive two point allignment protractors?? How about the Wally Tractor???

Rodman, Sorry I thought you were asking about the VTA, so my confusion came through. The VTF is 1.5 which is what Ortofon recommends for the 2M Black, but should I try heavier or lighter??

Actually; the range for your Black, is 1.4 to 1.7G, so- you can try .2 more VTF, without exceeding the recommendations. Further- the Shibata stylus is very sensitive to VTA and Rake Angle adjustments. Does your table's arm allow for those? I'd still suggest obtaining a test record, and judging the cart's performance or making adjustments, via the tracking test cuts(controlled and accurate).