Interface: Cartridge-Preamp or Cart-Tonearm?

To Dctom,

Thank you for responding to this thread. Could you give more detail on your use of a 'scope to evaluate cartridge setup?

Regards,

David

I use a an old phillips dual channel scope - connecting left tape output from pre to one scope channel right to other. I use the tape out as it is a fixed output and bypasses the volume control.
You then need a test record with a constant tone recorded on the left and right channel separately. 1kHz is a common tone to use.
The aim is to get the crosstalk trace to be equal for left and right. This is the trace from the "silent" channel i.e. the output from the channel which has not been recorded, so to speak.
Say you are playing the right track- you will see a nice big sine wave displayed for the right channel and a small "wiggle" for the left and vice versa when playing the left channel track.
On my arm it is possible to rotate the arm tube by very small increments - this clearly becomes visible on the scope screen as the small crosstalk trace increases or decreases accordingly and hence it is possible to equalize the left and right output.
I hope this makes sense it sounds more complicated than it actually is.
Anyway I have found this has improved channel balance, imaging and sound stage. Needless to say the VTA has to be correct as well.
hope this helps

Hello again, Dctom, and Everyone Else as well,

Dctom, your explanation sounds clear to me at present. When I gain access to a scope, if I have difficulty, would you be willing to 'walk me through the process?' This could take a year or so, as there's a lot to do between now and then.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed their experience and suggestions. I'm grateful for Audiogon for just that reason.

Best Wishes,

David

No problem David

Dave