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Why are the vocals on some records hidden behind the music on my system?

Help! I am new to this forum, but have been into audio for over 45 years and have never had this problem before. I was lucky enough to come into some money and decided to use some of it to up grade my system for the first time in almost 30 yrs. The system consists of McIntosh MC-402, McIntosh C-100, McIntosh MCD-500, VPI HW19 MKIII, Soundsmith Aida, Furutech Ag-12 phono cable, Furutech silver head shell wires, Furutech interconnects and Furutech speaker cables (yes I like Furutech) and Raidho XT-3 speakers. Now on some albums the vocals are buried behind the music and you have a really hard time hearing the singer? Not all albums are voiced in this manner but enough that it is bothersome. I have a large dedicated man room (24 x 27) with minimum treatment. CDs sound just fine so I feel that it is with the phono preamp in the C-100? I have moved the speakers 100s of times and have them at 5' 8" apart and 8' 1" to the focal point and the soundstage is good and the vocals are better, but you still have to really listen hard to hear certain vocals on some albums. Most of my albums are 30 to 50 years old and have been cleaned with a sonic cleaner (best thing ever imho). Even some of my new heavy vinyl has this problem.
scooby2do

Showing 3 responses by czarivey

czarivey
5,671 posts
 
what phono input you're using MC or MM? In both cases it's loose-loose.
In case of MC the impedance is too low and MM the input is too low.
The solution is you should either have LOMC <.5mV or HIMM >4mV or outboard phonostage or replace load resistors of your MC input.

czarivey
5,671 posts
 
if you place cartridge on its top and you’re facing pins, than bottom left is left earth and top left is left signal. same with right side. to eliminate issues with room treatments, try first headphones and see how things are working for you. some records may be more sensitive to out of phase than the others, but still feel like your cartridge isn't great match.
czarivey
5,671 posts
 
As an additional idea, I would suggest calling to McIntosh to find out what's the best solution on using your cartridge. It also seems to me that you should not have these problems regardless of how far you underdriving your input and they can probably test it on their equipment. I used .5mV Shelter cartridge on my Musical Fidelity V-LPS MM phonostage and was able to bring volume. Vocals were OK and balanced every record played.
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