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Finally bought a new Turntable!

Hello All,
Well I done did it now, I bought myself a new Turntable.
After much research and talking back and forth on forums, looking at various models, I finally decided on a Mofi Studiodeck with the Hana SL MC Cartridge.
I bought it from a local Hi-Fi shop that gave me a 10% discount on the table and a 15% discount on the cart.
I have only had about a week so far and have not had a chance to play a much music yet. Just a few tracks here and there.
This does bring me to a question that I have for the community.

After initially playing a few tracks, I felt I had to turn up the volume a bit more compared to b4 when playing the same tracks on my Denon DP-300f, which seemed to have a bigger impact at lower volumes.

I had the shop configure my Phono Pre-Amp (Sim Audio 110lp V2) and the gain was set to 60db.

I set it to 66db and RIAA Curve. I think that improved the sound a bit more.
But what I want to know, for the particular cart that I have on the table, what are the other recommended settings?
I know the manufacturer have their suggested settings and ultimately, I probably have to try different settings and play a lot of music until I feel I have found the sweet spot but wanted to ask you all if you have any suggestions or opinions.
One other very specific question that I have is, Does making changes to the phono pre-amp have any negative effects on the system? Meaning, could I potentially do any harm to the system?
I appreciate any feedback.
128x128jay73

Showing 2 responses by hdm

hdm
1,055 posts
 
Seems like most Audiogoners like a whack of gain with their MC cartridges. 

With most systems with an active linestage/preamp upstream I would likely find that 66 dB of gain with a .5 mV cartridge would make my ears bleed. I'm using around that, or perhaps 1 or 2 dB more with a .18 mV cartridge and around 60 dB with a .35 mV cartridge. I have the ability to increase gain easily with both cartridges and don't as they simply do not sound as good with more gain. 

OP's phono stage only has ability to load at 10/100/475 and 47K so the likely load setting choices are 475 or wide open at 47K with the Hana SL. 

Louder is not always better, although it's often initially perceived that way. 

If I was the OP I'd give a really hard listen to the 60 db setting again, ignoring entirely where you need to have the volume set on the linestage as long as you can achieve desired SPL's. 


hdm
1,055 posts
 
The main reason the OP has to go so deep into the volume pot is the Vincent integrated. It has an input sensitivity of 425 mV, the result being that he is going to have to probably run 75-85% full out on the volume pot to achieve higher SPL's. (I have a Shengya integrated-Shengya manufactures the Vincent product-with a 375 mV input sensitivity so I'm in a similar position). 

With a similar, or even lower powered integrated with an input sensitivity of, say, 200-250 mV, he might never go past half way on the volume pot. But that does not necessarily mean that it will sound better. 

While it may see a bit weird, I will reiterate what I said earlier in the thread for the OP. Turn it up, even if you're at 9 out of 10 on the volume pot, and if you can achieve the volume/SPL's you want to, don't worry about it. You will certainly not be hurting your amp-it is designed to function this way-or anything else in your system. 

Go back to 60 dB and try it out even if you have to almost max the integrated out. I would bet that you will have much better sound quality. 

Just be sure to turn things back down before playing a CD!
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