Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Englishbob said:
Update time! Received my Grado Prestige Gold cartridge from Galen Audio today ($40 cheaper than anywhere else and with a nutty caramel looking fancy choc thrown in).
I decided to dive right in and replace the Ortofon red. After much fiddling with those teeny little nuts which I kept dropping I have set up and spinning. First thing I noticed right off the bat was noticeable bass difference. I always turned up the bass and the treble down with the red since it always sounded so bright.
Now i’m running in tone defeat.
Many thanks to @HiFi Guy and. @Joe Mac and anybody else who chimes in for giving me the knowledge and confidence to tackle this. It really wasn’t difficult just annoying ha!
One last question, do cartridges have a break in period and how long? Can I expect more sonic goodness coming my way?
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Woohoo! Glad you went that way and that you are having positive early impressions!

For anyone out there who is considering changing their cart but is daunted, it’s a fiddly job that requires patience but it’s not hard so don’t be put off!

Also, they do! Just wait until the Grado passes 20 hours, you’re in for a proper treat then!
 
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Englishbob said:
Update time! Received my Grado Prestige Gold cartridge from Galen Audio today ($40 cheaper than anywhere else and with a nutty caramel looking fancy choc thrown in).
I decided to dive right in and replace the Ortofon red. After much fiddling with those teeny little nuts which I kept dropping I have set up and spinning. First thing I noticed right off the bat was noticeable bass difference. I always turned up the bass and the treble down with the red since it always sounded so bright.
Now i’m running in tone defeat.
Many thanks to @HiFi Guy and. @Joe Mac and anybody else who chimes in for giving me the knowledge and confidence to tackle this. It really wasn’t difficult just annoying ha!
One last question, do cartridges have a break in period and how long? Can I expect more sonic goodness coming my way?
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I'm glad you are happy. Galen Carol is a good dealer and has great prices. He's a nice guy too.

Yes, cartridges do break in- figure 40-50 hours. It'll get smoother sounding.
 
HiFi Guy said:
I'm glad you are happy. Galen Carol is a good dealer and has great prices. He's a nice guy too.

Yes, cartridges do break in- figure 40-50 hours. It'll get smoother sounding.
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Yeah, he was nice enough to ask if I wanted to wait since it was OOS and shipped it right away once he got them. Along with the choc!
 
AnthonyI said:
You'll need to wait for others on the connection, I run strictly a TT setup so I haven't had to worry about any of that. As for your phono stage question, I haven't heard the Emotiva, but there are some nice options under $500 and one that comes to mind that is a little higher. The Vincent Pho8 is wonderful at about $300, the iPhono2 is great as well, but has recently come across a lot of issues, so I would stay away from that one. My slightly above $500 would be the Sutherland KC Vibe ($800). I've had all of these except the Emotiva and the KC Vibe is a really nice unit and outshines both the Pho8 and iPhono.

Maybe someone can kick in a comparison of the Emotive to the Pho8 or iPhono to put everything into better perspective.
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Have you heard the Schiit Mani? Seems to get a lot of love online, especially for the price.
 
Englishbob said:
Good lord! I just put on Station to Station and that bass!! Holy shit. Unbelievable difference. And musical too. And i’m Only about 3 hr’s in. I’m officially a Grado fanboy.
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Wanna help a fellow Dayton pep out down the road? I'd like got that route too. Beers and Omega Music on me.
 
AnthonyI said:
Paging @Joe Mac ;)
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Haha yes! I’ve just done it very recently on a debut.

The biggest issue is the tonearm wires on their tables are super thin and fragile so you’ve got to be patient and careful. It’s very doable and not at all hard.

Have a look at the video here, use plastic tweezers and only grip the gold coloured metal connector (do not pull on the wires or the black joint) and only ever disconnect/reconnect the wires while the cartridge is screwed onto the head shell.

 
Hey guys, I have a general question for y'all. I've been finding recently that frequently when I encounter pops or crackle on my new vinyl that I'm predominantly hearing it through my right channel. Most of my albums sound great and don't have any noise, but when I do hear it, it seems to mostly come from the right side. I've checked online and many other people seem to say the same thing. I don't think it's a skate or alignment thing because most of my records are quiet with no noise, and I feel like if it was an alignment issue it would be prevalent across most of my vinyl, not just a limited number of them.
Anyone notice this about some newer vinyl? Thoughts? Should I take my entire turntable apart?
 
Mather said:
Hey guys, I have a general question for y'all. I've been finding recently that frequently when I encounter pops or crackle on my new vinyl that I'm predominantly hearing it through my right channel. Most of my albums sound great and don't have any noise, but when I do hear it, it seems to mostly come from the right side. I've checked online and many other people seem to say the same thing. I don't think it's a skate or alignment thing because most of my records are quiet with no noise, and I feel like if it was an alignment issue it would be prevalent across most of my vinyl, not just a limited number of them.
Anyone notice this about some newer vinyl? Thoughts? Should I take my entire turntable apart?
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I would check your skate force since the noise is in the right channel. I think the right channel is the left side of the groove. So a bit to much skate force could be pulling the stylus to the left side. This may not be it but worth checking out.
 
Sturgus said:
I would check your skate force since the noise is in the right channel. I think the right channel is the left side of the groove. So a bit to much skate force could be pulling the stylus to the left side. This may not be it but worth checking out.
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Yeah I've got a 2Xperience SB so it's got 3 settings for skate and that's it, I'll try backing it off one spot and see what happens. My instinct is that it's the pressings and my 2M Black is pretty much the most unforgiving MM cart on the market in terms of pointing out dodgy pressings, but the antiskate is worth a shot.
 
Mather said:
Yeah I've got a 2Xperience SB so it's got 3 settings for skate and that's it, I'll try backing it off one spot and see what happens. My instinct is that it's the pressings and my 2M Black is pretty much the most unforgiving MM cart on the market in terms of pointing out dodgy pressings, but the antiskate is worth a shot.
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I tend to agree about your cart being unforgiving, however to always be on the same channel it could be that it's also unforgiving to being out of alignment.
 
Mather said:
Yeah I've got a 2Xperience SB so it's got 3 settings for skate and that's it, I'll try backing it off one spot and see what happens. My instinct is that it's the pressings and my 2M Black is pretty much the most unforgiving MM cart on the market in terms of pointing out dodgy pressings, but the antiskate is worth a shot.
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Never hurts to do a little recalibrating and see what happens ;)
 
Ethos99 said:
I tend to agree about your cart being unforgiving, however to always be on the same channel it could be that it's also unforgiving to being out of alignment.
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Yeah I mean to clarify it's not always on the right channel. But when I get periods of noise or fuzz or crackle it's more right channel than left. A lot of recent pressings have had this issue. Weyes Blood, Doves, Flamagra ..

@AnthonyI I'm afraid to adjust anything more than skate and tracking weight. Like if I throw a Mofi on there it sounds incredible, so I feel like it's not a setup issue, but I guess it could be.
 
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