Poofables
New Member
Hello all,
I have a Kenwood KD-500 with Grace G-707 arm and Sonus "Blue" cartridge and stylus. I am runnint ith through the phono input on a Sansui 9090db and out to Polk Monitor 10a speakers.
The problem that I am having is that I can not seem to get any good sound out of my TT. Initially, when I hooked it up to my Sansui for the first time, I had overly bright, harsh highs and little of anything else. The music has no presence at all and no meat to it. It almost sounded like when I play streaming music though the Definitive speakers on my home theater set up.
So I decided to start over and set up the tone arm from scratch. The VTA was way high at the rear, so I figured that could be it.
After setting it up three different times, I either get the exact same thing I had before, or muddy, booming bass, also with no presence to the music and quiet soft highs. It doesn't seem like there is anything in between. And no matter what, the music doesn't sound "there". At any arm height.
When I was setting up the table, I noticed that anti-skid had no affect on the the sound either way. Also, it seems that if I play a newer 180gram album like Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster" or any rap, I get the muddy bass. If I play some rock music, metal, blues or anything older, I get the highs and nothing else.
Everything else sounds fantastic through the receiver and the speakers.
After talking to what seems to be the only hi-fi shop in the area, their turn table expert said it sounds like my cartridge is going bad. He asked me a ton of questions and seemed fairly knowledgeable.
So, my options are to either:
A) Replace my cartridge with something under $400. (that's about all I can afford.)
B) Sell the Kenwood and Grace and use the money towards something new, set up from the factory so I don't have to keep worrying about it. I was thinking AT-LP5, Rega RP3.
But, I don't know how even the Rega would compare to what I already have with a decent cartridge installed.
Looking for advice and opinions.
I have a Kenwood KD-500 with Grace G-707 arm and Sonus "Blue" cartridge and stylus. I am runnint ith through the phono input on a Sansui 9090db and out to Polk Monitor 10a speakers.
The problem that I am having is that I can not seem to get any good sound out of my TT. Initially, when I hooked it up to my Sansui for the first time, I had overly bright, harsh highs and little of anything else. The music has no presence at all and no meat to it. It almost sounded like when I play streaming music though the Definitive speakers on my home theater set up.
So I decided to start over and set up the tone arm from scratch. The VTA was way high at the rear, so I figured that could be it.
After setting it up three different times, I either get the exact same thing I had before, or muddy, booming bass, also with no presence to the music and quiet soft highs. It doesn't seem like there is anything in between. And no matter what, the music doesn't sound "there". At any arm height.
When I was setting up the table, I noticed that anti-skid had no affect on the the sound either way. Also, it seems that if I play a newer 180gram album like Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster" or any rap, I get the muddy bass. If I play some rock music, metal, blues or anything older, I get the highs and nothing else.
Everything else sounds fantastic through the receiver and the speakers.
After talking to what seems to be the only hi-fi shop in the area, their turn table expert said it sounds like my cartridge is going bad. He asked me a ton of questions and seemed fairly knowledgeable.
So, my options are to either:
A) Replace my cartridge with something under $400. (that's about all I can afford.)
B) Sell the Kenwood and Grace and use the money towards something new, set up from the factory so I don't have to keep worrying about it. I was thinking AT-LP5, Rega RP3.
But, I don't know how even the Rega would compare to what I already have with a decent cartridge installed.
Looking for advice and opinions.
