I want to run this by here 1'st before I jump. I have been plagued by sibilance with some stylus replacements. I find this a little hard to live with. Often it is on some new record albums. I just did some research on resister loading on MM cartridges and thinking of rigging a setup to pop different resistors in to get a feel on different recordings. I also checked the specs on my main cartridge and they indicate 400-500pF. I have an old cardas Hexlink and think the cable has less than the normal 100pF. In the articles I found they indicate running a lower that spec capacitance will generally cause a broad bump in the 2K-8K area. What I plan on doing is running some wires from the pads at R1 to a set of binding posts and running different resistors(both value and make) along with adding caps to check the results. I would like to try some Allen Bradley and Riken resistors.
Sound OK.
Walt
Sound OK
Sound OK.
Walt
Sound OK
@Walt, I'd just try the most reasonable loading and see if it makes any difference. If not, or even if it does, I'd also play with the stylus alignment as I, too, find that that's the biggest variable determining treble prominence: rake down for less treble.
@Lance, My instinct is that its a grounding problem. I'd disable the Sapphire amp completely and do my best to get the phonoclone working properly. The phonoclone is much more sensitive to good layout and shielding technique than the Sapphire. Also, I'd make sure R2 is configured to give about 60 dB total gain and not more.
/R
@Lance, My instinct is that its a grounding problem. I'd disable the Sapphire amp completely and do my best to get the phonoclone working properly. The phonoclone is much more sensitive to good layout and shielding technique than the Sapphire. Also, I'd make sure R2 is configured to give about 60 dB total gain and not more.
/R
i have a combination of a half dead cart and half dead boards.
cart-boards
right board plugged into right cart output, i get no sound
left board plugged into right cart output, i get no sound
right board plugged into left cart output, i get no sound
left board plugged into left cart output, i get sound
switch
left or right switch input plugged into left board with left cart output i get sound so my switch is working perfect
i have a backup board that i know works so i'm fine there.
looks like i need another cart :-( not such a loss as the cart was ancient.
cart-boards
right board plugged into right cart output, i get no sound
left board plugged into right cart output, i get no sound
right board plugged into left cart output, i get no sound
left board plugged into left cart output, i get sound
switch
left or right switch input plugged into left board with left cart output i get sound so my switch is working perfect
i have a backup board that i know works so i'm fine there.
looks like i need another cart :-( not such a loss as the cart was ancient.
Bibio and Richard, thanks for the reply's. I have been living with the same couple of cartridges for awhile. I can get rid of the sibilance by changing the VTA but to eliminate it the sound is muffled and muddy. I swapped to an old standby Stanton 681EEE with a known good stylus and the sibilance is there also. I changed the silver mica's awhile ago for REL RTE's. I am beginning to think they may be the culprit. My main cartridge for the VSPS is an Empire 2000E III with a good quality nude diamond that tracks everything at .9 gram mounted to my Black Widow tonearm. The stock stylus does not exibit this sibilance and until recently neither did the replacement stylus's of least of all the Stanton. I do have a few choice resistors to use in R1 along with some 100pF caps to test, I also ordered another set of Cornell Dublier silver mica's.
Walt
Walt
Well I went back to the 'table and went over everything including tightening up the cartridge pins and firming up the cartridge mounting screws and looking again at VTA. The result is worlds better. The stock Empire stylus is thinner and much more compliant than the replacements and evidently much more forgiving especially with a whisker of a tonearm like the Black Widow. The latest trend of high mass arms and stiff cartridge suspensions is a step back from what everyone knew in the 70's. I am starting to rant so I will shut up now.
Walt
Walt
Official answer: "yeah, sort of, but I rather wish you didn't." Give it a whirl and see if the Denon works or not.
P.S. especially after you've had an accident like that, be sure to thoroughly check all the voltages before you attach the cartridge!
walt, i have always found sibilance a complete nightmare to track down on TT's. i take it everything was fine and you were using the same phonostage before the new stylus. if so then i would hazard a guess that it's the suspension and tip bedding in.
RJM, i have my eye on a new cart as it's going cheep, an Ortofon Samba but looking at the specs it's the opposite end and 0.3mv and 6r dc resistance. i do have a brand new denon dl-301 II but i would rather not destroy that.
funny thing is i did check everything and all volts were as the build instructions. i'm going to stick the phonoclone in a separate box this time. but for testing i think i will rig up a simple 'plank' testing platform.
i inspected the arm (rb250) and found that the ground wire in the tonearm was not connected so that might account for the buzz. i'm going to reconnect it and then disconnect it from the left hand negative as the rb250 uses this for ground then run a single ground all the way to the binding post.
RJM, i have my eye on a new cart as it's going cheep, an Ortofon Samba but looking at the specs it's the opposite end and 0.3mv and 6r dc resistance. i do have a brand new denon dl-301 II but i would rather not destroy that.
funny thing is i did check everything and all volts were as the build instructions. i'm going to stick the phonoclone in a separate box this time. but for testing i think i will rig up a simple 'plank' testing platform.
i inspected the arm (rb250) and found that the ground wire in the tonearm was not connected so that might account for the buzz. i'm going to reconnect it and then disconnect it from the left hand negative as the rb250 uses this for ground then run a single ground all the way to the binding post.
I would rather you did not destroy that, too.
Seriously though, there must have been a massive input offset voltage, otherwise you can't have fried R1. Sigh... I'm really not seeing what it was you managed to do though.