feeling jaded - serious help required

i have no idea what to do next
i feel my mc cart is a weak link in my system and my amp is not helping things either.
i have a decent setup - gorb, hr psu, ol silver 250, dino+. my cart is a £150 mc affair (benzmicro mc silver).

i am led to believe that lo-cost mc's are are a waste of space (anyone second this?)and as i have £200 available for a new cart i feel it's best served on a decent mm - any suggestions?

second problem - i am running this setup through a denon fra100 amp/tuner (dont ask). it's now time to upgrade my amp
i know that bundled phono's are never the best, but since i have possibly been under selling my front end via the cart i feel i may be able to sell the dino+ and with the freed up cash, push for valve pre with decent ish mm stage. i will add a solid state power to this . most likely MF xas100, which i know to be clean and powerful. also it's a small risk as re-sale is fairly easy.

failing that i'd pick up an mf308int. but that just seems boring.

i know this may look like i've already made my decisions but this is simply not the case. i subscribe to hifi world and read it cover to cover. i browse this site every day. i simply love listening to music. the fact is i sold a cd6000ki/pm 6010 ki and got an xray, xp100 xas110(bi amp) via kcag and castle severns sold them and got a cd7Q aca7.5 apa7(bi amp) thru cyrus icons and currently have s/h amps and speakers worth circa £200 and they are in no way (no way) humbled by their forebears. at the moment i feel i'm in a no mans land between those who aspire and those who are convinced. having spent so much time and so much money, and indeed a few restless nights along the way, it really is crunch time for me, i'm sorry to say that if my next upgrade does not get me 'there' - IT COULD BE THE END

 

I felt the same about a year ago.
I would say you need to sit back before making any decisions.
Maybe travel around and listen to some systems, it may help you decide where you need to go.
I amp currently useing a Hagerman cornet phono stage and a grounded grid pre amp, cart is a DV10x5. I like it, although a new TT is in the process of being made.

 

Get to hear as many different set-ups as possible and then compare what you liked about them to what you think you are missing from your system now, you may be surprised.

Don't spend any money right now, (except on new music, but that doesn't really count does it?) Throwing money after quick fixes is a sure fire way to become even more disenchanted with the whole thing. There are plenty of bargains to be had, wait till you know exactly what you looking for before parting with cash,

 

I'm not sure I agree about cheap MCs, although to be fair I've only had a Dynavector 10x4 Gold High (which I broke - d'oh!) - which was ace while it lasted.

I've heard great things about the lower-end Denons (the 103 and 160 IIRC) - I'm seriously considering buying whichever is the high output version, as both are supposed to be good for limiting surface noise. I'm hoping even cheap MCs should improve on groove tracking and end-of-side, over the Ortofon 540 I currently have...

 

According to the measurements and our understanding of the ear, there's not a lot of difference between two semi-respectable amps or two semi-respectable CD players, and I must say that's exactly in accord with my own experience. Obviously lots of people (especially on the Naim forum funnily enough ) report massive differences between one CD player and another and that's fine too.

Soooo.... it could be that you're just immune to these jaw-dropping improvements of 'mysterious' origin. That being the case, what is there to worry about? Get yourself a really good pair of speakers, forget about upgrades, and be happy.

 

Just wondering - what's the problem you have with your current cart and amp?

 

Dreemer i think you have been listening to the wrong KIT
Cyrus, MF, Marantz etc all very Hifi sounding.
Why not try something Like the Prima Luna Amps or Unison Research Unico.

Curt

 

Dreemer,

Instead of buying an entirely new cartridge, why don't you spend that £200 on a high quality step-up transformer instead?

1) It will increase the performance of your MC cart (which seems fine to me btw)
2) It will make life a bit easier for your phono stage!
3) Its something that should last several system upgrades, (unlike a £200 MM cart, which you'll want to change again when you have £5k turntable) It will increase the performance of your analogue front-end no matter how expensive your system becomes.

Just don't ask me which one to get, 'cos they seem to be as rare as hen's teeth these days

DT

 

Theres plenty of MC step ups available

And I have to disagree with all £200 MCs being junk too, they're not. My spare is a nice sounding audio-technica for that money which knocks the spots off any MM I've heard for £200.

 

Personally theres no way I'd buy a new cart if I were you until I'd heard what it sounded like through a better amp.

You might be able to chuck that 200 pounds youve got at the amp.

My gut guess is that the amp is more of a problem?

 

thanks for the replies fellas.
i'm glad the £200 cart issue has been mostly debunked, this will enable me to dem prospective amps with a cart i at least know.
as for the step up transformer - this is one of those improvements that to put it bluntly annoys me about this folly. my front end is a fantastic set up by most peoples standards. i'm not blowing my trumpet here but circa £2k on a vinyl spinner from possibly the most respected t/t company in the uk, whilst not over the top in hifi terms, should IMO require no upgrade whatsoever to deliver the goods. bear in mind the t/t and dino both have upgraded psu's - where does it end? no, the front end (cart ambiguity aside) is not the problem.

 

Step ups are different. The more gain you ask from an amplifier (i.e. phono stage) the more extraneous noise it will pick up. MC's have more detail but also lower output so you get more noise picked up in the dino. If you use decent MC step-ups you will lift the output from the cartridge to MM levels so less gain is required and you get less noise. And so forth.

 

thanks again bottleneck. the amp, it would seem from popular view is the real weak link. no surprise there. as inexpensive as the speakers are, i still feel that they posses enough positive quailities to be kept whilst the amp search goes on.
i reckon i can get £400 for my dino+ on ebuy. if i use buy it now. this will mean my budget is at £900 and rising. i'm not in brand new territory and neither do i wish to be.
i mentioned earlier a valve pre through solid state power - i think this could possibly give me the sound i am looking for. is this the way it works or should the two never meet? i believe i can procure a unison research c5 valve pre with onboard phono and an mf xas100 for £1100 combined. i like the idea of the unison because it has a remote. small potatoes maybe but how on earth do you live without one - please let me know.

 

cheers ANEX. i was wondering

 

Another contender could be the Croft Vitale SC pre-amp, very simple hard wired design with a valve phono stage. Can usually be found at under £400 used

 

Why not just buy a valve power and pre? You'll never look back and don't believe a word of the slow bass, wooly sound etc. nonsense. Its true for vintage gear with dodgy transformers but not anymore. Oh and you'll actually get a soundstage.
Runs...

 

keep the valve pre amp suggestions coming.


any news on the solid state power issue?

i have a few days off next week, hopefully i will get up to the emporium and ask for some take home dem stuff

 

i dont have any other format of note. with this in mind i find the inclusion of a seperate phono is surely adding extra signal paths. if i stay on this route the next thing is going to be better cabling etc. this is why i would like to lose the dino+ if poss.
have not heard much about valve int's. - bad idea?

 

Nothing wrong with valve integrates. Although thats not what I meant.
I wouldn't go for integrated phono though, imo its the same as seperating pre and power and taking it further psus and amps etc. You'd think short signal paths and the like would make it a better idea but in reality psu cross talk, noise and whatnot generated by other components in the amp could actually make the phono stage noisier. Stick with the dino.

 

I would also keep the offboard phono stage,I found this a huge improvment over onboard ones,I had a Copland valve amp,even a little Creek was miles better than the onboard one,which was highly rated.I use valve pre,class T power,but keep the offboard phono stage.

So first I would think a better amp,then I would go for better speakers as well, a change of speaker I personally feel brings real benefits.