GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: The mystery of Koetsu Onyx Cartridges.

Post Subject: Sounds like fun!Posted by mem916 on: 10/15/2011

Yes you don't want to go over 0 "dBFS" for sure. In fact it is not good to even hit 0 dB from what I have read in an AES paper. Something odd happens when you play it back (I can't remember the details). I shoot for peaks at -2 or -3 dBFS when I record digitally. The sample I sent you peaks at -1.8.
Some people do post processing to "normalize" up but I am skeptical of any post processing so I take the time to adjust the input level. The Tascam
has built-in attenuators to allow this. However I got to thinking that perhaps they are not very high quality so I did another pass at the Stravinsky this morning with the Tascam's inputs bypassed. Instead I used the Callisto to attenuate the signal from the IO down to roughly the same input level. Later I will post a link to the new file. The connection between the Callisto and the Tascam is an un-balanced (RCA) Dominus cable. Everything else was the same so if they sound different it should be informative.

For your recording don't worry about getting the same exact level as my file. What I can do is analyze it with a program that will tell me what to do with my volume controls to match within a dB or so when I play it back. I playback through an Audio Aero Capitole MK II which has analog volume controls an is pretty accurate in it's display of "dB's of attenuation" and does half dB steps.

Certainly I understand why people would be upset if they paid good money for a cartridge and then didn't like it. I think I was lucky that I didn't try the Onyx first. I think if I was running Koetsu I would discontinue that model. However some people must actually like it.

I'm not saying this was the case for you but perhaps others have not adjusted the azimuth and VTF properly on their Koetsus. I had a hell of a time for a while with my Jade. It was distorting on various recordings that I was *sure* had not sounded that way before. I finally tracked it down to my crappy digital stylus force gauge that was reading half a gram heavy! I got rid of that thing and bought a Sure balance beam type stylus force gauge. I noticed with the Coral that getting the azimuth set very close to perfect helped a lot too. I'm not one of those guys who obsesses over VTA but occasionally I will play with it too if I hear something "not quite right".

I'm interested to hear your file and compare notes too. And naturally if you are ever in my area let me know, I could play the LP for you on my system. (I live in San Diego).

Mark

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