I went back to listen to the x altra yesterday after a few weeks turned off. I left it on for about 15 minutes before listening, and there appears to be something wrong with the sound.
Voices seem muffled and without any top end as if treble was reduced very much.
Any idea of what might be causing this?
Voices seem muffled and without any top end as if treble was reduced very much.
Any idea of what might be causing this?
Have you already checked the turntable settings, the pressure of the turntable needle on the vinyl and the cleanliness of the needle?
There isn’t any reason why the X-Altra MC/MM performance would change like this assuming it was built to the published design. Since the problem appears on both channels, are you sure the needle is not clogged with debris or damaged? The other potential option might be the PSU supply voltage has collapsed- look for a problem on the primary side.
I'd wonder if there was fluff on the stylus, or gunk (plasticiser) on the stylus. Not uncommon. If you are unlucky the stylus chipped and is carving vinyl swarf as it goes, generating fluff made of ultra-fine vinyl strand. This only happens if you drop the stylus on a hard surface and don't then check it with a microscope, so thankfully rare...
If the stylus is clean (you need a microscope to check this BTW), then suspect the preamp. However its very unlikely both channels develop the same frequency-response fault simultaneously - can you hear a difference between left and right?. It might have lost a power rail and become heavily distorting on both channels.
