Warm sounding cartridge or phono pre-amp

[Rob1969]

The cartridge is slowly settling in. Bass is much better than it was and the top end is starting to lose some of the edge it had.

Still not quite as "musical" as the Rega but the gap is closing.

[Primalsea]

Have you tried adjusting the tracking weight and rake angle. Some times a little tweak can help.

[moffer]

Is there a reason why you can't try whatever cartridge is fitted to your Planar 3 with the Pro-ject? You might prefer it to the Ortofon.

[vinylist]

Hi Rob - in case you decide to look at a new cartridge - I tried a few up to that sort of money and settled on a Hana EH. Very rounded and musical to my ears, nice bit of warmth to it. (Don’t think i’ve heard an Ortofon Silver but the Hana was much more to my tastes than the Bronze).

[alphaGT]

I’m not familiar with the Rega preamp, but it’s kind of a budget piece isn’t it? Don’t underestimate the importance of the preamp, you could probably find a £1000 preamp used in the £400 range. Something with great flexibility in setup, you will be able to adjust it to match nearly any cartridge in the future. MC carts are usually a step up from MM, something you can work toward in the future. Even if you buy a warmer cartridge now, be thinking about a better pre in the future.


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[hifi_dave]

"Budget piece" it might be but I've heard far worse at £1K, so it's not shabby by any standard.

[alphaGT]

"Budget piece" it might be but I've heard far worse at £1K, so it's not shabby by any standard.

I certainly don’t mean to insinuate that it’s not a decent entry level component. And there is much to be said for simplicity. My point is just that the pre is just as important as any other piece in the chain, equal to the cartridge, and ‘table, etc. and is often overlooked.

In the past I always depended on the built in phono preamp built into the main preamp, when I invested in an outboard pre I was shocked and amazed at the improvement. ( and I’m aware that some high end preamps have some awesome built in phono boards). At present I’ve got a Musical Surroundings Phonomena, 2 chassis unit with battery power, it sold for $1000 new, and I got it used at $435, a major score as far as I’m concerned! I’ve got a ways to go in the cartridge department before I outgrow it.

So yes, the Rega may prove perfectly fine for the time being, but keeping an eye to the future, and keeping your cartridge options open, is not a bad thing.

Russell


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[Rob1969]

Thanks for all the various replies. Tried a few basic tweaks and they seem to have helped.

The Rega is now sold and so I am "stuck" with the Project Classic - to be honest now it has a few more hours it is no bad thing. It really has closed the gap on the Rega in the areas that the Rega excels but to my ears adds a better soundstage and more detail to the proceedings.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I am still tempted to change the Rega Pre for something with the flexibility to adjust load etc as I wouldn't mind trying a MC cartridge on the Classic.

Short list up to £500 would be the Project Tube Box DS or the Arcam rPhono.

Any thoughts on these or other suggestions? Smallish boxes please. Appreciate I could buy a separate preamp with a phono stage included but haven't the shelf space.

[seanm]

...

Short list up to £500 would be the Project Tube Box DS or the Arcam rPhono.

Any thoughts on these or other suggestions? Smallish boxes please. Appreciate I could buy a separate preamp with a phono stage included but haven't the shelf space.

Of those two, the Pro-ject has the more useful loading options for MM: looks like the lowest capacitance with the Arcam is 120pF, which is too high for Audio Technicas and (from what I've heard, no personal experience) possibly the 2M series as well.

[BenK]

Thanks for all the various replies. Tried a few basic tweaks and they seem to have helped.

The Rega is now sold and so I am "stuck" with the Project Classic - to be honest now it has a few more hours it is no bad thing. It really has closed the gap on the Rega in the areas that the Rega excels but to my ears adds a better soundstage and more detail to the proceedings.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I am still tempted to change the Rega Pre for something with the flexibility to adjust load etc as I wouldn't mind trying a MC cartridge on the Classic.

Short list up to £500 would be the Project Tube Box DS or the Arcam rPhono.

Any thoughts on these or other suggestions? Smallish boxes please. Appreciate I could buy a separate preamp with a phono stage included but haven't the shelf space.

No experience with the Arcam, but my brother has a Tube Box DS and it's a very nice little thing; sounds really good and lots of options to optimise if for different carts, including MC if you subsequently decide to go that way.

Of those two, the Pro-ject has the more useful loading options for MM: looks like the lowest capacitance with the Arcam is 120pF, which is too high for Audio Technicas and (from what I've heard, no personal experience) possibly the 2M series as well.

Ortofon quotes 150-300pF for the 2M range.