2. analog
  3. 1102288166

Trying a turntable-it sounds crappy, what's up??

Borrowed a friends TT.
It is a Technics SL-1900 Direct drive(Panasonic circa 1980's is my guess).
The cartidge is an Audio TEchnica with the #'s 22780 on it.

I hooked it up to my Musical Fidelity A300 integrated amp which has a dedicated phono input.
I aa not sure if this TT and cartidge should be on the MM or MC setting.
I have tried both and one is louder than the other.

I had not used a TT since my Phillips belt drive was stolen 12 years ago. It certainly sounded better than this or maybe I am just nostalgic.

I was kind of excited about trying a TT again as I have about 300 albums from college and the 80's/early 90's.

Anyway-I pulled out Steely Dan Gaucho (a good recording if memory serves me) and it sounded warmish but a kind of muffled. Nothing was really that defined.
I teid a nice Elvis Costello aLP and it also sounded very undynamic.

I have a decent digital front end (CAry 308 CD Player) and nice speakers (ACI Sapphires with an ACI Titan Sub). MAny feel that this Cary and these speakers tend toward neutral and warmish sound. Nice system.

What's up-is this a crappy turntable or a crummy cartridge?
WHich setting should this be on MC or MM?
Thanks for any insight-I wa skind of thinking about taking the plunge again, but am not sure now.
lkdog
aroc
760 posts
 
I initially had a dual TT (some arm) and a grado black cart with hagerman phono. I was not impressed with vinyl at all. I also threw away the three records that had tempted giving up vinyl altogether. Then we got a thorens 166 with grado black, then later a grado gold. much better. It was actually listenable then. The midrange and overmusically with better than my redbook front end, but everything else suffered in comparision. Then we got a michell gyro SE, incognito rb250 arm, and the grado gold (later dynavecotr 20hx). Holy crap. technically it was almost as good as my redbook front end and the TT's musically was light years ahead.

My $0.02 on my journey. (of course now I'm stuck with a music hall mmf-2.1. :-(

You could also try the outlet tweak someone else suggested. You might also try a wall shelf (if you are on a suspended floor) and using cones or spikes to spike the TT directly to the wall shelf or concrete slab (if in a basement). I'm not familiar with you TT, but with my TT, I'm better off defeating the tables suspension and spiking the TT's plinth directly to my rack with is directly spiked to the concrete slab. Much better soundstage, detail retrieval, prat, less rumble, less noise, etc.

Aaron
aroc
760 posts
 
meant to say that I *almost* threw away the three records that I first bought. Never fear. I still have those three records and piles and pile more since then. :-)
twl
3,251 posts
 
Sorry Lkdog. But it just struck me like that.
It takes a certain level of equipment to expect decent reproduction in either digital or analog.
inscrutable
312 posts
 
Lkdog,
I was going to ask if you/anyone has checked the cartridge setup at all. Spend $39 on some alignment tools (you're going to need them anyway) and see if you can improve things. That said, if this has recieved significant use during its time here on earth, yes the stylus may well be worn, and the cantilever suspension may be deteriorated, and there's no way to make that sound good. I have a 26 year old Pioneer (with a considerably younger cartridge) that I still use on older damaged albums, and it sounds pretty good - nowhere near the level of a 308T though. My RegaP2/Denon160 combo is nice, but not quite to that level either. A friend's P25/Dynavector20/BlackCubeSE gets to that plane. I think Twl was just trying to manage your expectations a little. Spencer's suggestion to demo some good properly setup deck(s) is a good one. Patrick, I will respectfully question, or perhaps clarify, the very last part of your post. I would think that '...very recent, or new.' still could be somewhat dated. For elapsed time in a properly matched and setup arm/cartridge one would expect at least 2000 hours on a stylus, and I'd expect calendar time on the suspension to be at least 5-8 years, wouldn't you?
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
A Technics headshell will take just about any cartridge. An integrated headshell cartridge is also an option. I use the modded Stanton Groovemaster in my KAB modded 1200.

A Stanton 881S should be in your short list of cartridge choices. The sound is rather neutral, with excellent tracking and deep, tight bass...

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