I recently aquired a Dual CS508 and thought i would give analog a try. This is my first table, though i am familiar with the sound that a "good table can prodce. To be honest this thing sounds horrible, it has no life whatsoever.. Before i go spending money on a ortofon super10 to replace the original cartridge, is this thing worth putting time and effort into? There are also a few mechanical problems that i can fix as well, such as the arm lift not working due to a missing c clip. As far as setting the arm, i set the weight to allow the arm to float and set the side dial to the desired tracking force of 1, which was too heavy. I also noticed that the side dial wont go much beyond 1 although it is labled beyond 2. Any thoughts?
Well, perhaps it is not.. But the stylus was pretty dirty so i cleaned it as well as it would clean with stylus cleaner. Fact is that i can replace the original cartridge with a super10 cheaper than i can replace the stylus. I was just wondering if this table is worth the effort.
Good thing I know a few nurses I have worked out alot of the bugs with this thing.. I dont think the previous owner knew a thing about turntable setup as the tracking was setup all wrong. And thats bad coming from a table amature like myself. I am working solely from information i find online, so forgive my lack of experience. There seems to be a problem with the RCA plugs, I have a few laying around from my last amp build and will change those. Let me be a little more specific as to the sound I am experiencing... The highs seem too bright and the mids are all wrong. Bass is there and relitivly balanced but somewhat muffled and without life. It basically sounds like i downgraded to an extremly cheap pair of speakers. The imaging is awful, sounds almost like dual mono at best. Ill get back with what i find with the stethoscope, this unit doesn't have a floating chassis but i can get to the bearing assembly cover relitivly easy if i were to suspend it on something.. Thanks for reading my posts.
What you describe does not soundlike a bad bearing. It sounds like a poor quality contact between the cartridge pins and the leads. If you can clean and gently dis-connect and gently re-connect the leads to the cartridge pins I think you may find some improvement. Or the cart is just bad and worn out. Try the leads and also while your at it if you can replace the RCA jacks or clean them too. Which phono stage do you use?
Good call... I have used this table with two different stages; a harman kardon 3480 and a 12ax7 based preamp on loan from a friend. The glass preamp yields slightly better results but is still suffering from the same thing as the hk. I do know that this is the original cart that shipped on this thing in 81. I was leaning toward ortofon carts because thats the style this ULM arm was designed for. Any recomendations?
Yes the cartridge must be replaced. I like the Ortofons; which one do you have in mind; the 540 is a favorite but a little pricey. The OM 10 is a nice sound also and less expensive.
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I have worked out alot of the bugs with this thing.. I dont think the previous owner knew a thing about turntable setup as the tracking was setup all wrong. And thats bad coming from a table amature like myself. I am working solely from information i find online, so forgive my lack of experience. There seems to be a problem with the RCA plugs, I have a few laying around from my last amp build and will change those. Let me be a little more specific as to the sound I am experiencing... The highs seem too bright and the mids are all wrong. Bass is there and relitivly balanced but somewhat muffled and without life. It basically sounds like i downgraded to an extremly cheap pair of speakers. The imaging is awful, sounds almost like dual mono at best. Ill get back with what i find with the stethoscope, this unit doesn't have a floating chassis but i can get to the bearing assembly cover relitivly easy if i were to suspend it on something.. Thanks for reading my posts.
