[RonB]

My system has gone through a complete makeover within the past month...I've changed out a multichannel amp (a 7-channel Sherbourne for a 3-channel Parasound )...A new Preamp/Processor (Emotiva for an old Parasound) & added a new turntable (a Technics 1200 w/ what I think is an Ortofon 150 cartridge-which is a moving magnet piece).
I'm not getting the quality sound via the Technics & my vinyl that I had been expecting (everything sounds thick,muddled,distant & recessed....now I'm wondering.....is it the cartridge/stylus combo?...the phono preamp on board my processor?.....what might the Vinyl Circle readership recommend for an outboard phono amp OR a different cartridge?
I chose the Emotiva processor & purchased it because the Parasound was just getting dull & I needed a phono stage anyway to find out once & for all if all these albums were something I wanted to keep around or just get rid of.
Thanks!

[Wayner]

Have you checked VTA, anti-skate adjustments, and have located the stylus tip in the correct location?

W

[woodsyi]

I don't know anything about DMC-1 nor have I heard it, but these 7.1 pre/pros can be really daunting to figure all the settings just right.  Are you sure you aren't somehow processing (messing) the 2 channel signal from your TT as you play it?  Even if you have the setting right, I am inclined to think that Emotiva people did not put that much emphasis on the quality of their phono section.  Just my guess. 

[lcrim]

I don't know the cartridge but I am very familiar w/ the table.  If the cartridge is a standard mount in a headshell, there is a small jig that accepts the headshell and you align the stylus with the end of the jig, an old style razor blade is handy for this.  Be sure that the cartridge is square with the headshell and tighten things down.  Float the arm, zero the counterweight and then set the tracking force.  Set your antiskate and then check to be sure the arm is level when a record is playing.  Its a very easy deck to set up.
woodsyi's question about processing happening is a good one.  Why not borrow a separate phono section and test with that?

[Wayner]

I would also add that if you don't know what specific cartridge you have, are you guessing at its tracking weight?

w