Help with: No Bass coming from Turntable

[AnthonyRS]

Hi All,

I recently connected my turntable to a new setup and am lacking any amount of bass. Months of troubleshooting has brought me nowhere. I have eliminated the input I'm using for my soundsystem, as all other sources I plug into that input have expected bass. I've also eliminated the Phono preamp, as it delivers bass when other inputs are connected into it.

I have the following setup:

- Numark tt200
- Shure 3x cartridge (some info on it here)
- Some kind of Stanton headshell (photo included)
- Leading to a Rolls VP29 Phono Preamp (lots of people using it for similar setups, almost unanimous positive reviews including for bass)
- That's all leading to my digital sound system (Samsung HW-M550 soundbar with subwoofer)

One thing to note is that it looks like the soundbar is bent. I'm not sure if that would affect the sound in any way except by messing with the grams of weight delivered to the stylus, but I've adjusted that either direction with no change.

I'm wondering if I have an incorrect shell/cartridge combo for my turntable? Any advice is much appreciated!

Anthony

 

[mackat]

That turntable is meant for DJ use only (aside from the fact that the tonearm also appears to be bent, which is a no-no). The tonearm is very short and straight, and the cartridge cannot be offset sufficiently to avoid extreme tracking error. You want to get a turntable that has a tonearm like the following:


S-shaped tonearm

Straight tonearm (notice that it is longer than yours and the cartridge is offset)

This should fix the problem you're having.

Ben

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Your arm appears to be straight and not the S shape that is an option for your table...that won't solve all of your problems...but it getting the proper S arm fitted to it, will get you closer to audio nirvana. Check your wires coming off the cartridge... getting one or more of them in the wrong place will cause all sorts of audio anomalies.
Left + = White lead.... Left - = Blue lead..... Right + = Red lead and Right - = Green lead.

 

[Nat]

It's possible that the cartridge leads are not correctly located at the headshell - we tend to look at the colors of the wires where they are attached to the cartridge, but not at the other end. Make sure that yours are correct at both ends. I'm not sure but I suspect that the same right/left/top/bottom orientations at the cartridge will be replicated at the arm end.
If you have one pair reversed, or the pairs split, you have a very good chance of cancelling out most low frequencies.

 

[AnthonyRS]

It's possible that the cartridge leads are not correctly located at the headshell - we tend to look at the colors of the wires where they are attached to the cartridge, but not at the other end. Make sure that yours are correct at both ends. I'm not sure but I suspect that the same right/left/top/bottom orientations at the cartridge will be replicated at the arm end.
If you have one pair reversed, or the pairs split, you have a very good chance of cancelling out most low frequencies.

Thaaannkkk yooouuuu!!! I can't believe that that was the problem. Hero! Have a wonderful day!

 

[AnthonyRS]

Your arm appears to be straight and not the S shape that is an option for your table...that won't solve all of your problems...but it getting the proper S arm fitted to it, will get you closer to audio nirvana. Check your wires coming off the cartridge... getting one or more of them in the wrong place will cause all sorts of audio anomalies.
Left + = White lead.... Left - = Blue lead..... Right + = Red lead and Right - = Green lead.

This fixed it! Thank you guys so so much and have a wonderful day!

 

[AnthonyRS]

That turntable is meant for DJ use only (aside from the fact that the tonearm also appears to be bent, which is a no-no). The tonearm is very short and straight, and the cartridge cannot be offset sufficiently to avoid extreme tracking error. You want to get a turntable that has a tonearm like the following:


S-shaped tonearm

Straight tonearm (notice that it is longer than yours and the cartridge is offset)

This should fix the problem you're having.

Ben

Thanks so much for your help Ben! It in fact ended up being the wires in the cartridge, they were the wrong way around as Nat and Celt suspected. Thanks for your help!