I am new to this forum

[Ericcklau]

Hi everyone I am new to this forum and I like to listen music from vinyl records. This is what I bought recently for my beginner setup. I find that the sound is not as good as I expected, mid range is a bit rough not smooth. I checked the alignment seems to be fine. Should I change the cartridge?

JVC L-A40 with JVC Z-1S cartridge.

[wen]

yes, many options depending on budget, i have used many Ortofon, others cite Shelter 201, someone else may post, you will have to sort a budget, what other gear are you using?

[Ericcklau]

8 minutes ago, wen said:

yes, many options depending on budget, i have used many Ortofon, others cite Shelter 201, someone else may post, you will have to sort a budget, what other gear are you using?

I am just using a 20 plus year old AV amp with phono  and a bookshelf speakers.

[rocky500]

I have had a couple of these in the past and they are very good for the price.

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/audio-technica-at95e-bl-dual-magnet-cartridge

[Ericcklau]

Thank you got your advise I will have a look at it this weekend.

I have had a couple of these in the past and they are very good for the price.
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/audio-technica-at95e-bl-dual-magnet-cartridge

[Ericcklau]

My friend introduced me to Grado cartridge. It looks very good made of wood.

[DanD2019]

Hi Eric, what did you end up doing or are you still deciding.  I'm similar to you,  new to vinyl, so I'm interested to learn from your experience. Thanks Dan 

[Guest]

The AT95 cartridge, carefully set up (take your time aligning it) will be right on the money for this deck.

Chances are your AV receiver isn't ideal either, but stick with it until you find a suitable replacement.

[Batty]

+1 to what Grizzly said.

[Ericcklau]

Yeah agree with you the AV receiver is the next target of replacement.

The AT95 cartridge, carefully set up (take your time aligning it) will be right on the money for this deck.

Chances are your AV receiver isn't ideal either, but stick with it until you find a suitable replacement.

[Ericcklau]

Hi Dan

I am still deciding, yes is a good place to learn few things here.

Hi Eric, what did you end up doing or are you still deciding.  I'm similar to you,  new to vinyl, so I'm interested to learn from your experience. Thanks Dan 

[Tweaky]

You might want to try a separate phono stage after cartridge replacement.

 

The signals coming from the cartridge are tiny / weak in comparison to the signal coming from a CD / DVD / Tape Deck, this means that signal needs a massive amount of amplification to get it to a high enough level that you can hear it through your speakers.

 

As with any signal, it can suffer interference, in your case I strongly suspect that the phono stage on your HT amp would be suffering from this, what with all the other electronics it holds within it's case, the phono stage would also in all likelihood have been a after thought in it's whole design, and only added to give functionality.

 

Another reason to get a separate phono stage is it can give the ability to adjust the cartridges loading [The signal it ends up sending to the preamp section of your HT amp], which is it's capacitance and ohm-age, every cartridge can be bettered by having these controls available.

 

I strongly suspect that if you have the ability to control the loading of your current cartridge you would be able to find a setting that got rid of that midrange harshness, that in combination with not having as much electronic interference going on.

 

There are plenty of none expensive phono amps around, plenty get sold in the forums classifieds.

I'd look for the  PROJECT brand as a starting place, the beauty of having a separate phono stage is you can keep it as you upgrade, and it also adds the ability to use a turntable with a amp that does not have a phono input.

Of the current new PROJECT phono amps available, the Phono Box S2 is the one I would recommend...RRP is AUS $230

https://www.projectaudio.com.au/products/phono-box-s2

You could probably find one of it's predecessors cheaper used on Ebay if funds are limited.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Tweaky

[Ericcklau]

Thank you for the good tips and advice, I will start to look into it after replacing my cartridge. Thank you

You might want to try a separate phono stage after cartridge replacement.
 
The signals coming from the cartridge are tiny / weak in comparison to the signal coming from a CD / DVD / Tape Deck, this means that signal needs a massive amount of amplification to get it to a high enough level that you can hear it through your speakers.
 
As with any signal, it can suffer interference, in your case I strongly suspect that the phono stage on your HT amp would be suffering from this, what with all the other electronics it holds within it's case, the phono stage would also in all likelihood have been a after thought in it's whole design, and only added to give functionality.
 
Another reason to get a separate phono stage is it can give the ability to adjust the cartridges loading [The signal it ends up sending to the preamp section of your HT amp], which is it's capacitance and ohm-age, every cartridge can be bettered by having these controls available.
 
I strongly suspect that if you have the ability to control the loading of your current cartridge you would be able to find a setting that got rid of that midrange harshness, that in combination with not having as much electronic interference going on.
 
There are plenty of none expensive phono amps around, plenty get sold in the forums classifieds.
I'd look for the  PROJECT brand as a starting place, the beauty of having a separate phono stage is you can keep it as you upgrade, and it also adds the ability to use a turntable with a amp that does not have a phono input.
Of the current new PROJECT phono amps available, the Phono Box S2 is the one I would recommend...RRP is AUS $230
https://www.projectaudio.com.au/products/phono-box-s2
You could probably find one of it's predecessors cheaper used on Ebay if funds are limited.