Now that you're "dialed in" put on Bad Company, self titled debut. You should be blown away. If not it's back to the drawing board.
Update on VPI and classic rock lps
Well, after listening for a few days with further tweaks, I can report the Scoutmaster can play classic rock lps.
I have played quite a few of the lps I previously complained about being overly compressed and lifeless. The improvement with these tweaks is much larger than I would have expected.
Changes:
1. I had my amp on BDR cones, switched to two sets of Aurios Pro Max. Much more air and spaciousness, and at the same time more detail and precision, less smearing.
2. Thread drive on Scoutmaster. More impact, dynamics improved, again more precision, less smearing.
3. Cayin phono came with the metal shrouded tube dampers with springs. Took those tube dampers off, replaced with Herbies. Wow, opened up the sound by a large margin! Those metal cages were obviously damping down the sound something terrible.
Taken together, these three changes have allowed me to enjoy my large collection of classic rock lps again! I'm still looking for a bit more bass impact, and there is a bit of hardness in the mids and lower highs. I suspect a change to Mullard 12ax7's from the present Sovteks will alleviate that bit of dryness. As for bass impact, I'm still trying to figure that one out.
At last I'm hearing at least a bit of that magic I remember from back in the day, when listening to these records on my Dynaco system. I suspect a whole lot more of these recording are going to prove to be satisfying in the future!
I guess I have to eat crow now, I may have mislead some in criticizing these recordings. I now realize they weren't as bad as I believed. Sometimes even an old dog can learn new tricks, and I haven't even listened to my good recordings with the new setup!
I have played quite a few of the lps I previously complained about being overly compressed and lifeless. The improvement with these tweaks is much larger than I would have expected.
Changes:
1. I had my amp on BDR cones, switched to two sets of Aurios Pro Max. Much more air and spaciousness, and at the same time more detail and precision, less smearing.
2. Thread drive on Scoutmaster. More impact, dynamics improved, again more precision, less smearing.
3. Cayin phono came with the metal shrouded tube dampers with springs. Took those tube dampers off, replaced with Herbies. Wow, opened up the sound by a large margin! Those metal cages were obviously damping down the sound something terrible.
Taken together, these three changes have allowed me to enjoy my large collection of classic rock lps again! I'm still looking for a bit more bass impact, and there is a bit of hardness in the mids and lower highs. I suspect a change to Mullard 12ax7's from the present Sovteks will alleviate that bit of dryness. As for bass impact, I'm still trying to figure that one out.
At last I'm hearing at least a bit of that magic I remember from back in the day, when listening to these records on my Dynaco system. I suspect a whole lot more of these recording are going to prove to be satisfying in the future!
I guess I have to eat crow now, I may have mislead some in criticizing these recordings. I now realize they weren't as bad as I believed. Sometimes even an old dog can learn new tricks, and I haven't even listened to my good recordings with the new setup!