Digital sound is fine, but analog rolled off Why?


My set up is Oppo CD-player->Music HAll Maven(ClassAB at 100W)->ATC SCM12 speakers.

When I listen to CDs I am pretty happy with a sound, but once I switch to LPs: Rega P3->Denon DL-160 cart.->Rotel RQ-970BX Phono stage my sound looses stage and it seems like treble as well as bass are rolled off. Adding volume does not change the quality of the sound at all.

I tried the same analog combination with easy-to-drive speakers of the same volume and analog sound became much more open and alive/present than with my ATC speakers.

I am puzzled : I know on one hand that ATC speakers are very hard to drive, but I lack engineering knowledge to conclude how is it possible that digital source produces decent sound and analog source drops in quality?
The only idea I came up with is : My phono stage does send enough information to my amp for easy-to-drive speakers, but that information gets lost when I switch to ATC SCM 12s.
Any ideas why this is happening? Could speaker such as ATC kill analog sound in my system?
128x128dkzzzz

Showing 1 response by thorman

Try borrowing another phono stage if possible...That will at least tell you if its your current phono...I wouldn't think it would not be your speaker,if they work well with Digital...Could you possibly need to re align your cartridge set up???