Diamonds
Well-known member
So for Christmas I first bought my son a PS Audio GPCH Phono stage and which upgraded from a Jolida. All I can say is WOW what an amazing improvement, better in every possible way. So I am a nice guy and decide as his birthday gift (6 months early, lets see if I stick to my guns) I upgrade his turntable from a Music Hall 7.1 with the standard 2.5mv MC Cart to a Music Hall 9.1 with an upgraded Goldring Elite 0.5mv MC cart.
So we set the Phono Pre to 54db and 100ohm and went to work.
We set it up our selves and dialed it in and we were set to go. The cart recommends a tracking weight of 1.7 grams. We tried that at first and YUCK; it barely even tracked on the LP. So we played with it more and boosted the weight to 2.0 grams and we found that it got a lot better. Way less brightness, way more bass and way more "right". So we played with it for about another 1 or 2 and ended on a tracking weight of 2.3 grams of tracking weight and this seemed to be the sweet spot.
Ok so it is sounding pretty good now but I have some questions:
1. Goldring and Music Hall both recommend 1.7 grams with a max of 2.0 grams of tracking weight. Why does it sound best at 2.3 and it is ok to run it with .6 more grams than recommended? Will it hurt the cart or are we doing something wrong?
2. My son and I both still think the highest of the highs are still a little to "bright" for our liking. How can we correct this? The cart is brand new with less than 20 hours on it will it "break in". I have heard that MC carts can be brighter than say a MM or a high output MC. Is this the reason?
3. Any Suggestions are always appreciated!!
Overall the new table and cart far out perform the old table and cart. Better separation, better voicing, quieter. Just better except for the highest of the highs.
Associated equipment:
Conrad Johnson Amp
Conrad Johnson Pre
PS Audio Phono (as mentioned)
Dali Helicon 800 MK2 Speakers
JL Audio F113 Sub
Shunyata Power Conditioner
Tara labs IC on the turntable
Acoustic Zen Hologram 2 Speaker Wire
Thoughts and always thanks for your time!!!
:bowdown::bowdown:
So we set the Phono Pre to 54db and 100ohm and went to work.
We set it up our selves and dialed it in and we were set to go. The cart recommends a tracking weight of 1.7 grams. We tried that at first and YUCK; it barely even tracked on the LP. So we played with it more and boosted the weight to 2.0 grams and we found that it got a lot better. Way less brightness, way more bass and way more "right". So we played with it for about another 1 or 2 and ended on a tracking weight of 2.3 grams of tracking weight and this seemed to be the sweet spot.
Ok so it is sounding pretty good now but I have some questions:
1. Goldring and Music Hall both recommend 1.7 grams with a max of 2.0 grams of tracking weight. Why does it sound best at 2.3 and it is ok to run it with .6 more grams than recommended? Will it hurt the cart or are we doing something wrong?
2. My son and I both still think the highest of the highs are still a little to "bright" for our liking. How can we correct this? The cart is brand new with less than 20 hours on it will it "break in". I have heard that MC carts can be brighter than say a MM or a high output MC. Is this the reason?
3. Any Suggestions are always appreciated!!
Overall the new table and cart far out perform the old table and cart. Better separation, better voicing, quieter. Just better except for the highest of the highs.
Associated equipment:
Conrad Johnson Amp
Conrad Johnson Pre
PS Audio Phono (as mentioned)
Dali Helicon 800 MK2 Speakers
JL Audio F113 Sub
Shunyata Power Conditioner
Tara labs IC on the turntable
Acoustic Zen Hologram 2 Speaker Wire
Thoughts and always thanks for your time!!!
:bowdown::bowdown: