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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
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
313 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...

***
lkdog OP
417 posts
 
Hey guys Thanks for the input.

Twl- no worries: I am just trying to learn here.

I am in a bit over my head. Have spent all of my time on my digital front end on my stereo setup and on my pro audio/digital workstation guitar recording setup.

I guess a couple questions right now:

1) Is it worth putting a different cartridge on this Technics just for fun (<100$).

2) How much does it really cost to get into a decent TT/cartridge setup that introduces one to decent LP playback? Maybe I can do a search on this question?
I was hoping something like 4-500$......

I tried a couple other LP's last night and some of them sounded OK. Still a bit dark and slightly lean sound, and not a great soundstage, but some of the LP's had their moments of midrange warmth that is hard to get on a digital front end.
red2
79 posts
 
In my opinion, it takes about $2000 for turntable, cartridge, and phono stage combined for a minimum dollar investment to get decent sound. You may find something used for less though? One can certainly spend much more for sure and get much better sound. But much less than $2k investment and I think you are kidding yourself.

Just my two cents. I used to have a Dual years ago and some of the other cheaper tables, and they are cheap sounding. No way around it.

R.
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