BullBuchanan
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- Joined
- Mar 27, 2019
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I'm a complete vinyl novice, though I have been reading a lot. I'm a digital streaming guy and I'm only getting into a vinyl setup so that I can rip some very hard to find folk records from a friend of mine. To that end I just picked up a secondhand Denon DP 400 with a Shure m91ED cart and a Analogis Black Diamond Nude elliptical stylus. From everything I've read, this should be a very competent, though admittedly not high end, setup. It has a built in pre-amp, but I figured the one on my denon x3700h would be better. I connected the grounding plugs to both ends and switched the internal pre-amp off.
However, It just sounds so bad, like AM radio quality. I get good bass, but there's absolutely no treble and no clarity to the music. It's like someone just turned the EQ all the way down on the highs. I'm not sure how good it's supossed to sound against something like spotify, but it's definitely underwhelming my already low expectations. I'm trying to get as close as possible to CD/streaming quality for the purpose of digitizing while spending as little as I have to. I played a brand new record (Tommy Emmanuel) and while it did sound better than some old garage store records I tried (Hank Williams, The Eagles) it lacked all the dynamics of the same spotify track. The stylus picked up some lint so I cleaned it with a toothbrush after reading how to do it.
What should my order of operations be to troubleshoot? I ideally don't want to try a bunch of carts and stylus if possible, because I don't intend for this to be a hobby. I'd much rather stream than own, store and maintain physical media, and fidelity is kind for me. Does a boutique pre-amp make that much of a difference? The stylus and cart are pretty well reviewed, but do I need to go down that rabbit hole?
Appreciate any guidance, and I know what I'm asking is kind of bananas in a hobby where people spend 20k on a vinyl setup. If it's unobtainable, I guess I'll just forget about it.
However, It just sounds so bad, like AM radio quality. I get good bass, but there's absolutely no treble and no clarity to the music. It's like someone just turned the EQ all the way down on the highs. I'm not sure how good it's supossed to sound against something like spotify, but it's definitely underwhelming my already low expectations. I'm trying to get as close as possible to CD/streaming quality for the purpose of digitizing while spending as little as I have to. I played a brand new record (Tommy Emmanuel) and while it did sound better than some old garage store records I tried (Hank Williams, The Eagles) it lacked all the dynamics of the same spotify track. The stylus picked up some lint so I cleaned it with a toothbrush after reading how to do it.
What should my order of operations be to troubleshoot? I ideally don't want to try a bunch of carts and stylus if possible, because I don't intend for this to be a hobby. I'd much rather stream than own, store and maintain physical media, and fidelity is kind for me. Does a boutique pre-amp make that much of a difference? The stylus and cart are pretty well reviewed, but do I need to go down that rabbit hole?
Appreciate any guidance, and I know what I'm asking is kind of bananas in a hobby where people spend 20k on a vinyl setup. If it's unobtainable, I guess I'll just forget about it.