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45worlds Forums » 78 RPM » View Topic
| Equalisation Yes or No |
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| 28th Jan 2014, 8:59 AM | #1 REPORT | |
 | nidostar Member since Feb 2014 82 Points | I've been digitising my LP, Singles and Cassette collection for some years now. With Brian Davies's ClickRepair suite of filters I get excellent results. Having been given a Shure M78S cartridge for Christmas I have started digitising my collection of 78s which has sat in the loft for the past 30+ years untouched. Again the results I've been getting are impressive. However, the one thing that baffles me is the issue of equalisation - applying an inverted RIAA curve followed by EQ for the particular brand of 78 I'm converting. I fully understand the concept. However whenever I apply the curves the end result sounds very tinny. The high frequencies seem vastly magnified and even the slightest distortion accentuated to the point that it is not enjoyable to listen to. Applying furhter low end EQ and a low pass filter to compensate just seems to result in a sound quality not dissimilar to what I started with before introducing all the EQ. Is this others experience also? Or am I missing something? My setup is a Shure M78S cartridge, Garrard 401 turntable, SME 3009 S2 arm, Yamaha A-S500 amp and Apple iMac using Audacity. |
| 28th Jan 2014, 2:08 PM | #2 REPORT | |
| scrough No picture 'cos I'm not into 45rpm :( Member since Jan 2013 3469 Points Moderator | Are you sure you are using the correct EQ for the record label? I use the EQs listed here. And are you certain that you are doing everything right, eg not accidentally applying the EQ twice? To reduce distortion, carefully cut off the higher frequencies - these records weren't meant to be played on modern equipment that can handle these higher frequencies. And a point that I've noticed - young people are used to much more bass content in music than oldies like me, and tend to produce bassier restorations. |
| 28th Jan 2014, 5:04 PM | #3 REPORT | |
| nidostar Member since Feb 2014 82 Points | Thanks. I've consulted various tutorials on-line and am pretty sure I've followed instructions to the letter. Using Brian Davies's Equalizer app I notice that when applying, for example, the RIAA to HMV/Blumlein setting the bass is reduced by around 5db at 100Hz but increased by as much as 20db at 20kHz. Hence I find the result thin and shrill. Especially as most 78s don't contain info much above 7 or 8 kHz, I think. There's clearly something I'm not doing right but I'll keep at it. Oh, and I doubt it's an age thing where I'm concerned. I'm much closer to the Senior Citizen end of the scale than my preference for bassier sounds might suggest! |
| 31st Jan 2014, 11:52 AM | #4 REPORT | |
 | Juke Jules SUBS Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow Member since Jan 2011 4150 Points Moderator | I've no experience of this, but just a thought: if you are inputting the cart to a 'Phono' equalised preamp then applying the inverse curve, could you try just inputting to a non-equalised input? Presumably you'd then just apply the new 'curve' A second thought, this time about the cart load: ""But, why do I need to even check it? Surely the equipment makers today have adopted the RIAA standard and built the correct playback curve into their gear?" The short answer is, probably they have. But, the problem is not in the amplifier circuit. The problem is in the cartridge loading. If the phono cartridge is not properly loaded with the correct resistance and impedance, it will not play back flat. It will send the wrong curve to the amplifier for decoding. In other words, garbage in - garbage out. Many modern preamps have user adjustable cartridge loading just for this purpose. (Ahem, like our Granite Audio preamp.) The RIAA feedback loop in the amp assumes that it is getting the correct curve to begin with. I've lost count of the number of systems that I've checked and found the frequency response off by 6 to 10 dB due to improper cartridge loading. That means the volume at certain frequencies was off by 4 to 10 times! Many times a 10 cent resistor is making an $800.00 cartridge squeal like a ruptured canary. Since most high end audio equipment is sans tone controls, the listener is stuck with some bad or harsh sounds." - from http://www.graniteaudio.com/phono/page5.html That sounds like a small soldering-iron job Edited by Juke Jules on 31st Jan 2014, 12:13 PM |
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