Turntable (record player) query

[Barry Ten]

I've just bought myself a well regarded new turntable and I'm struggling to get it sound anything other than terrible - might anyone have some suggestions?

 

My old turntable was a Pioneer which came with a stack type hi-fi system bought in the 90s. It always sounded good, but recently it developed a fault and my

attempts to get it repaired were both costly and ultimately unsuccessful. I therefore ordered a new Sony turntable which had excellent reviews and seemed

a very nicely made item when it arrived. All I wanted to do was substitute it for the Pioneer one, using the same red and white RCA inputs on the back of the amplifier.

The only difference was that the Sony one needed to be plugged into its own mains supply, whereas the Pioneer just used a 5V supply from the amplifier. There's

also a ground lead on the new RCA connections which I've left loose for the time being.

 

I had to set up the tone arm balance as outlined in the instructions and may not have got it spot on, but as soon as I dropped the needle onto a record, the sound

was awful, woolly and trebly, as if there was a ton of fluff on the needle. I tried adjusting the tone arm balance to lighter or higher pressure but it didn't seem

to make any improvement either way. Before I go any further, and keeping in mind that I'm not that knowledgeable about the ins and outs of hi-fi, should I 

expect the turnable to be able to work through the existing amplifier?

[andyman7]

I'm not a master expert on these things, but is the turntable plugged into a phono (record player) terminal on the amplifier or a regular line in socket? Turntable outputs need to be run through a pre-amp before the regular amplification stage, and depending on the set up this needs be be enabled either on the turntable (if it has one) or disabled on the turntable and enabled via the amplifier input. 

 

The old turntable will have been confugured to work with the amplifier if it was all bought as one set-up, but this won't neccessarily be the case with the new one.

Edited January 9, 2020 by andyman7

[Nickey Line]

It's distinctly possible that the original deck had a built-in phono pre-amp, in which case neither he existing amp or the new deck have one, which would account for the dreadful sound. It's also possible that the new deck has a different type of cartridge to the original. There are two types, MM (moving magnet) and MC (moving coil). If the amp has a phono pre-amp stage it might be possible to change the setting if there's a switch. (MM or MC). If you still have the manual or can look it up on-line perhaps that will help?

[Paul80]

Thats going to be a difficult one to diagnose over the Tinterweb 

 

What make was the new Turntable and What cartridge is fitted , Is it a moving Magnet or Moving Coil, they need different pre-amps to work correctly, depending on your Pioneer system it probably has a MM type pre-amp built in and will sound terrible if a MC cartridge is connected.

 

Some high end turntable might be fitted with the higher quality MC cartridge or if its not new, the previous owner might have fitted a MC one.

 

If its a MM cartridge then don't know what to suggest next.

 

Not knowing the turntable you replaced, a couple of other thoughts

 

Where you connect it to the amplifier does it say Phono, I wonder if its just a standard audio input and the old turntable had a pre-amp built in, if thats the case you will need to add one for your new TT to work.

 

Working blind here though, perhaps some pictures of the connectors on the back might help.

 

Paul

[Paul80]

Sorry guys, took me so long to type the above everyone else pointed out the same as  was saying.

[Barry Ten]

Thanks all, these are exactly the kind of things I was hoping to be pointed to. As far as I remember from when I was crawling around the back, the original player's RCA connections went into a pair of Phono sockets.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Barry Ten

[Tony_S]

Does the Sony manual mention a switch for setting direct or line level out. It does sound as if you are feeding  the  fairly low output from your record deck cartridge  into a line level input. Either select line level (pre amp output) on the Sony or look for inputs marked phono on the amp.

Hope his helps. 
Tony

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tony_S

[Barry Ten]

I'll need to do a bit of digging to find out the spec of the original Pioneer turntable, but the new one is a Sony PS-HX500 Belt Drive Turntable which seems to have an Audio Technica stylus but again I'll need to see whether that's MM or MC. I must admit I was totally unaware of these differences.

[Nickey Line]

From the manual, I see the deck has a switch on the back, 'Line/Phono'. It needs to be switched to 'Line'

Additionally it's fitted with a 'MM' cartridge.

So that's some progress anyway....

Edited January 9, 2020 by Nickey Line

[Barry Ten]

13 minutes ago, Nickey Line said:

From the manual, I see the deck has a switch on the back, 'Line/Phono'. It needs to be switched to 'Line'

Additionally it's fitted with a 'MM' cartridge.

So that's some progress anyway....

 

Thanks, I've just been out to the shed to do just that - and it sounds great!

 

I still need to adjust the tone arm balance properly but at least the sounds are what I'd expect.

 

Many thanks to all who responded - much appreciated.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Barry Ten
typos

[Nickey Line]

Whey-hey! 

[Two_sugars]

You also mentioned an earth lead . . .this should be earthed to the amp to cut down on hum.

 

John

[Classsix T]

My first response would be to remove the stylus guard! 

 

C6T. 

[Phil Bullock]

RMweb at its best........great collective knowledge!

Edited January 13, 2020 by Phil Bullock