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Harshness/Distortion Question - Newbie

I'm new to turntables. I recently purchased a Music Hall MMF 2.2. Using the stock Music Hall "tracker" cartridge and have it hooked up to a Pro-Ject speedbox. I'm running it through a phono stage integrated into my Adcom GTP-500 receiver.

I've noticed with some recordings (Sinatra at the Sands, for example) that when I play it at modest volume levels I get distortion at the high end that I normally would not get at the same volume on my system listening to CDs. It's the sound you generally associate when you play a cheap boombox too loud, if that makes any sense. The record is in "ok" shape.

I suppose I am wondering if this distortion at the upper (treble) end is something associated with vinyl, or perhaps a limitation of my cartridge and/or lack of dedicated phono amp. (Note: I'm planning on buying a dedicated cambridge audio phono amp 640p when I can afford it).

Thanks for the help as always.

David
dmloring

Showing 1 response by mlsstl

mlsstl
1,372 posts
 
The simple test would be to play the record on another system of known quality and see if the poor sound quality is still present.

If it is, you simply have a bad pressing. One of the sad realities of vinyl is there are a lot of poorly pressed records. There are a lot of spots in the process where things can go wrong. If nothing else, stampers deteriorate as they are used and someone is going to get the records from the end of a production run!

That's a different issue than a record that has been poorly produced or mastered.

So, play the record on another system. If it still sounds bad, you simply have a bad record. If it sounds fine, go back to your system and look at alignment issues and also check the stylus under a scope for dirt or wear.

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