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Help: New Rega P3 & Grado Platinum; No highs


This is my first table and it seems terribly simple
to set up but alas, I am defeated. The sound coming
out of this combo is muted, dull, and with no high
frequencies. Switch to my CD and things seem
right again.

What I did:

I aligned the Cart with the cardboard alignment gadget
I set the bias and tracking weight to 0
I balanced the arm to just above the LP using the weight
I set the tracking weight to 1.5
I set the bias to 1.5

Result: dull, lifeless, mushy sound with no highs.

I increased the tracking weight and bias to experiment
but it didn't help. After two 3 hours I decided the right
thing to do was to search for a rope and hang myself but
I couldn't find one so I had a shot of tequila and went to
bed instead.

I also notice that the tone arm lifter level doesn't rise
high enough to push the arm up so I have to slowly
drop the arm on an lp. This seems like it *could*
easily bend the cantilever so I would like to know how
to fix this as well.

I'm in Seattle so if there are any local analogue experts
reading this, I'd love to chat on the phone.

Thanks
Tom
eastside_guy

Showing 3 responses by eastside_guy

eastside_guy OP
29 posts
 

Time for me to speak. We were up late again last night.
But this time it was to enjoy my P3 with my friends
modest Shure m95 cartridge. My P3 really took off when
I swapped the cartridges. I mean WOW!!!

We listened for a good 2-3 hours. That Shure had no
business sounding that good! I think my Grado 1.5mv
has too low an output for my classe preamp.

I called Grado and got their answering machine. The
dealer I bought the Grado from had a verbal squabble
with Grado over something un-related to my purchase
and now he isn't carrying Grado anymore so I have to
talk directly with Grado about a cartridge swap to a
4.8mv. Any one have any connections with Grado and
can help me out?

Thanks for the call last night Sdcampbell..

Tom
eastside_guy OP
29 posts
 
My Setup:

Grado Platinum Ref 1.5mv
Rega P3 with the tonearm that comes with it.
Classe 30 Preamp set to mc operation. (Good volume range)
Classe 100 amp
Martin Logan Aerius i
eastside_guy OP
29 posts
 
Wow, you guys are great!! I have many leads now.
I set the preamp to MC via an internal jumper because
it seemed like MM didn't have enough volume. I only
tried it for about 10 seconds and felt like the
preamp distorted when it got to 1 o'clock and still
wasn't loud enough. That's why I switched to MC.

I'll see if the MM sounds right if not too soft. If
this fixes it then I just need a highier output Grado.
I went out of my way to get the VPI 1.5mv version
because people said it did better with the hum problem. Well I still hear the hum but its not that bad so long
as the music is playing to drawn it out.

Does the P25 have the hum problem too? I'm thinking
mabye I should have gone that route.

Tom
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