2. amps-preamps
  3. 1346950737

Inexplicable muddy sound on phono input

I've got a Rega turntable running into a Rowland Capri preamp. A few months after I purchased the turntable it developed a thick, wooly sound. I A-B'ed the same recording from vinyl and digital and the digital copy sounded great. So I changed the needle, but no luck. Then I took the turntable back to In Living Stereo here in NYC, and they could find nothing wrong, it sounded fine. Thinking it must be the phono pre, I shipped the preamp back to Sound and Vision, where I purchased it, and he found nothing wrong with it on that end. Yet the problem persists. I'm at a loss--I think my trouble shooting has covered every stage in the signal chain. Any suggestions? Thanks!
price
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Just to cover all the bases, you do have the optional phono card in the preamp, right? And was it working fine at the start, but then started to sound like this?
price OP
31 posts
 
Hi Rcprince,
Yes, it has the card installed---at least I bought it that way. When I first received the unit it sounded great. I do suspect there may be something wrong with the preamp, but I want to trust the dealer, who claims to have found nothing wrong.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Could be mechanical feedback to your 'table. You might try moving it to a different location.

Good Luck,

Marty
manitunc
795 posts
 
If you took the turntable back to the dealer and they played it and it worked fine, then the problem is likely your preamp. Do you have the ability to borrow a phono preamp to connect to your aux input. That would help isolate if it is the phono card or the whole preamp that is a problem. Did you actually hear the turntable playing well at the dealer when you took it back?
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I know this might sound very basic but it kind of sounds like you have a gain issue. Quite often, people will make a mistake and buy a moving coil phono preamp and mate it with a high output moving coil cart. The result is too much gain and will have a muddy distorted sound. Even though the cart is a mc, it should go with a moving magnet phono pre instead because of the high cart output. I'm not saying that is definitely your problem, but just something to consider.

Something else to consider is that all Rowland gear that I know if is balanced. I believe most, if not all, Rega is not balanced. You may have to do something to the Rowland to accept a SE input. (button, dip switch, pin change, etc). Given that your system seemed to be working for a while, you may have accidentally tripped a switch you did not know was there.

The only other thing I can think of is cart. alignment and/or setup. If you have a Rega arm and Rega cart, it should have 3 screws, as opposed to the standard 2. The 3rd screw aligns the cart to Regas own, proprietary alignment specs. Mabye the screw is missing or you have a different brand of cart. If that is the case, you will have to align everything by hand.

That's all I can think of. I didn't want to repeat what was already stated in the other posts. Good advice, as well. I haven't been there in a long time but I do know In Living Stereo pretty well. They are very reputable. Its hard to trust people in NY, but I do trust them. I do not know if he still works there, but if you can, ask for Jonathan. He knows vinyl very well and I can't imagine that he, or anyone else who works there for that matter, can't fix this for you.
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