[Funkstar De Luxe]

Hi guys, been reading the forum for a long time now and decided it was time to join up!  Currently I am running a Technics 1210 MK3D, AT440MLa, 640P though an EMU 1820m sound card, and a pair of Yamaha HS50 monitors.  I really enjoy my set up, although it can be a little bright sometimes.

My question is this; I know everyone says the AT440MLa is a bright cartridge, and I tend to agree.  I am in the process of putting all my records in a digital format at the moment, so I would like to know if anyone can tell me exactly where the AT440MLa exaggerates the high end (ie, what frequency range)?  I would be able to batch process all my recordings though a very nice linear phase EQ to remove such brightness - I'd just like to know if anyone has some recommendations.  I think it should be easy enough to do this in order to get a flat response.

Thanks,

Tony

[Funkstar De Luxe]

Here is a recording of white noise through the cart.  It looks quite flat to me, but maybe I am missing something.

www.animarecordings.com/noise.flac

Thanks guys!

[Wayner]

I have a plot from AT on the 440MLa and it is totally flat.

Wayner 

[Funkstar De Luxe]

Excellent, that's great news.  Must be my imagination!  Thanks

[Wayner]

What tracking force are you using? I have the same cartridge in my Technics SL-1200MKII and am very happy at 1.6 grams, I also have the anti-skate set at 2.3.

Sometimes, VTA is the culprit when it comes to cartridge brightness. With the table off, put a old used LP on the platter and then set the stylus in a groove towards the middle. Now look at the arm. Does it look parallel to the surface of the record, or is the pivot high or low. Usually if the pivot is too high, it will make the cartridge slightly shrilly. If your handy with a 6" steel ruler, you could measure the armtube height at various points along the length to confirm that it is truly parallel. Some will move the VTA while the record is playing, but that is dangerous, in my books with stylus damage or a nice scratch in the record or both.
Wayner

[TheChairGuy]

Excellent, that's great news.  Must be my imagination!  Thanks

Tho it's been referred to as 'bright', I think a more suitable description of the AT440 series is 'etched'

It may plot out flat or mostly so...but it sure don't sound it

John

[Toka]

The A-T carts are very sensitive to capacitance loading compared to other carts...hence the reputation for "brightness" in some setups.

[analognut]

Toka-

I am ignorant when it comes to the word "capacitance". Is this a property of the cables? How does one go about measuring it? Or did you mean to say resistive loading? Thanks. 

[neobop]

Capacitance "seen" by your cartridge is that of your tonearm wiring, cables and phono preamp input, combined. For most MM carts it is advisable to keep the total as low as possible. It is usually fine around 250pF or less. Having excessive capacitance will lower the high frequency resonance peak and could cause excessive brightness.

IMO the 440ML is generally misunderstood. It is really much better in a low mass arm. The midrange on down gets dramatically better. But if it's still too bright, you could try loading it at 32K. If your phono stage doesn't have loading capability, 100K resistors across (+ to -) the input jacks will net 32K.

[analognut]

Great answer neobop. Does capacitance affect MC systems also? I use an AT-OC9ML/II. I have the cart loaded at 20ohm, per AT's recommendations. Thanks. 

[neobop]

MCs are considered immune to capacitance loads. Why? Because a LOMC will have virtually no inductance. This is also thought to be a major reason by  some, that a MC can sound purer and more transparent.

Re: Loading a MC. LOMCs don't change sound like a MM when playing with the load. In general, the higher the resistance value, the more wide open and dynamic it sounds. The lower the R value, the more controlled and focused it sounds. 20 ohms is minimum for the OC9 - internal impedance is 12 ohms. You might prefer it at 20, but you could try up to around 200 ohms if you wanted to experiment. When the value is too high it sounds larger than life and you lose focus/detail. Too low - a little closed in.

[analognut]

Very good info neobop, thanks.

I use the OC9ML/II with an SME V arm on a Sota Star (vacuum) table which was recently fitted with a new zirconium ball, sapphire thrust plate, and the platter was upgraded to the finest that Sota offers, then balanced. I tried the OC9ML/II at 2k ohm, 470, 220, and 6 or 8 values below 220. When going to a higher resistive load I perceive (in addition to slightly higher signal output) that the attacks of high frequency sounds are more pronounced. I ran the cart at 39ohm for quite a while, then switched to 20ohm. Yes, there is a pronounced difference in the sound (to an audiophool like me) between 20 and 39ohms. Anything over 20ohm sounds unnatural to me. It seemed that small changes in the load were more apparent after the cart had 100 hours or more on it.

The SME V arm offers damping in the horizontal plane. I found it very strange that as the cart was breaking in I was gradually decreasing the damping factor. I started out by using a damping value of 3 or 4 on my own scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being maximum. I now use zero damping for the best sound. No damping at all yields the most "slam" on attacks, the greatest dynamic level, and the most detail of high frequencies. Simply put, any amount of damping sucks a proportional amount of "life" out of the music. Any thoughts? 

[neobop]

A_nut,
You have some nice equipment. I dig those reel to reels.

It seems to me there are 2 aspects to arm damping. 1 is the physical aspect of damping the cantilever movements, and the other is the sound. They go hand in hand. If you were using a underdamped cart, like a Grado, or if the cart was a little too compliant for your arm, some damping would probably sound better. In your set-up though, which is well controlled and does not sound overly lively, damping will slow transients, irrespective of the sound of the cart itself. It is cantilever movements that produce sound in a phono cart. Damping only helps when overshoot occurs, otherwise it will degrade. Sometimes in lesser equipment, some damping can help compensate for arm bearing imperfections or resonances - that sort of thing.

[analognut]

I appreciate your insights into that neobop. What you've said sounds reasonable to me. And thanks for the compliment re my equipment. As for the yellow J-corder deck- actually I sold that one, but I like the pic too! I've still got 3 Teacs, 2 Akais, and the Studer A810. The 810 is the only one I use anymore, and I do enjoy it immensely.   

[weirdo]

On recommendation from a friend here, I got the 440. It is lively, but I have tube amplification that tends to push the sound towards the middle so no complaints. Enjoy the high end while you still can. You don't want to see the hearing loss charts for late middle-agers.

Seriously, VTA can make a difference, if you are able to adjust it. Use small increments. Also, I'm a firm believer in 30 hour break in time for AT carts, having experienced it in 2 ohter models.  Whats your mileage?