Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

brownsugah said:
I think I already know the answer to this, but I’m going to ask anyway. Is the Schiit Loki (or any Equalizer) worth it? I was thinking about adding one to my set up to enhance the sound of my cassette player. I was talked into buying one from a friend who loves his equalizer and was wondering if it’s worth the investment?
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I gotta be honest, equalizers drive me bonkers. They're a great tool for fine tuning sound to your liking, but in the hands of the wrong person (Me), it ends up being more of a headache than it's worth, it becomes a vicious cycle to me and a bit obsessive.
 
brownsugah said:
I think I already know the answer to this, but I’m going to ask anyway. Is the Schiit Loki (or any Equalizer) worth it? I was thinking about adding one to my set up to enhance the sound of my cassette player. I was talked into buying one from a friend who loves his equalizer and was wondering if it’s worth the investment?
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I have a Loki to add a bit of warmth to my digital side. I like it.
 
AnthonyI said:
I gotta be honest, equalizers drive me bonkers. They're a great tool for fine tuning sound to your liking, but in the hands of the wrong person (Me), it ends up being more of a headache than it's worth, it becomes a vicious cycle to me and a bit obsessive.
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I'm in this camp as well. I look for things that allow me to set it and forget it. But I wouldn't forget all that tweak-ability. I'd be making tweaks from album to album. It would put me in a position where I'd be always listening to gear and rarely enjoying music. But people that have the Loki generally speak very highly of it.
 
I have a Loki in my setup, but I wound up keeping it bypassed 99% of the time (Schiit includes a switch for that). Still, there have been a couple times I wanted to turn the bass down or something. If I remember an album that needs it, I'll update this post.
 
displayname said:
I'm in this camp as well. I look for things that allow me to set it and forget it. But I wouldn't forget all that tweak-ability. I'd be making tweaks from album to album. It would put me in a position where I'd be always listening to gear and rarely enjoying music. But people that have the Loki generally speak very highly of it.
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I made minor corrections: deep bass 3 o’clock, bass 1 o’clock. Midrange and treble flat. Then I tucked it way behind my DAC. So it’s set it and forget it.
 
Do any of these EQs allow for per-channel adjustments? I’ve got some room modes I’d like to work around.
 
Not that I've seen. The Loki at least always applies the same curve to both channels.
I wonder if you can pull the guts and hack it?
 
Quick update: bonus of having to take the TT in for repairs is the the Grado Gold3 is installed and I was able to pick it up before the plague shut everything down. Everything is tight and "new" sounding (new speakers, new cartridge, so more treble and tighter top end) but the detail on the Grado is a noticable difference. I'm excited to have everything calm down.

I've got the acrylic platter on the Project Debut -- can anyone recommend a good non-felt mat?
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
Quick update: bonus of having to take the TT in for repairs is the the Grado Gold3 is installed and I was able to pick it up before the plague shut everything down. Everything is tight and "new" sounding (new speakers, new cartridge, so more treble and tighter top end) but the detail on the Grado is a noticable difference. I'm excited to have everything calm down.

I've got the acrylic platter on the Project Debut -- can anyone recommend a good non-felt mat?
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Iirc you don’t use a mat with the Pro-Ject acrylic.
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
Quick update: bonus of having to take the TT in for repairs is the the Grado Gold3 is installed and I was able to pick it up before the plague shut everything down. Everything is tight and "new" sounding (new speakers, new cartridge, so more treble and tighter top end) but the detail on the Grado is a noticable difference. I'm excited to have everything calm down.

I've got the acrylic platter on the Project Debut -- can anyone recommend a good non-felt mat?
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You don’t use a mat with the acrylic plater on that one. It’s designed to be used naked, it has a little indent for the record label and everything!
 
Hi all -- slightly lazy follow-up (apologies I'm not sure which thread to search) -- with a project debut carbon and Grado Gold3 is there any difference (or rather recommendation) on settings for the phono pre?
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
Hi all -- slightly lazy follow-up (apologies I'm not sure which thread to search) -- with a project debut carbon and Grado Gold3 is there any difference (or rather recommendation) on settings for the phono pre?
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Hi @HuddieLedbetter,

When I had the Grado Gold2 with my Pro-ject Carbon Debut Esprit, I had it hooked up to a MoFi StudioPhono (correction: rechecked my notes and I had it at 46dB gain) and later to a Parsound JC3 Jr. (correction: I had it at 50dB) and both were set at 47k ohms input impedance. That seemed to be the sweet spot for me where it sounded good and to match the levels of my digital chain so that I wouldn't be running for the volume control each time I changed from analog to digital (otherwise I'd have to adjust volume).
 
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HuddieLedbetter said:
Hi all -- slightly lazy follow-up (apologies I'm not sure which thread to search) -- with a project debut carbon and Grado Gold3 is there any difference (or rather recommendation) on settings for the phono pre?
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Yeah I’m on 47k too, I think that’s standard for all MM carts? I have the gain on its standard setting, I don’t turn the +6db on (I’m not sure what gain it adds default, I can’t find the figures anywhere...). I think it sounds better with my preamp adding the gain rather than the phono stage.

Edit: The default gain is 42db so I set it at that rather than the optional 48db.
 
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Joe Mac said:
I think it sounds better with my preamp adding the gain rather than the phono stage.

Edit: The default gain is 42db so I set it at that rather than the optional 48db.
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That's interesting. Since I have a passive preamp, i.e. no gain, should I consider upping my gain on my phono pre as a result? I've played around with it before and currently running my Grado Gold2 at 46db, but have also tried 40 and 44db. 40db sounded a little lifeless and I'm enjoying the livelier 46db quite a bit. I know my ears are the only thing that matters of course, but is there a school of thought re phono gain with a passive pre?
 
Splunders said:
That's interesting. Since I have a passive preamp, i.e. no gain, should I consider upping my gain on my phono pre as a result? I've played around with it before and currently running my Grado Gold2 at 46db, but have also tried 40 and 44db. 40db sounded a little lifeless and I'm enjoying the livelier 46db quite a bit. I know my ears are the only thing that matters of course, but is there a school of thought re phono gain with a passive pre?
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I’ll leave that to people who know more than me. That said reading my preamp literature, 76 is line level and it goes up to 100. I usually play 55-60 which is below line level so who knows what I’m talking about!

I just know I prefer to have my preamp turned higher with a lower gain on the phono than the opposite lol.
 
Splunders said:
That's interesting. Since I have a passive preamp, i.e. no gain, should I consider upping my gain on my phono pre as a result? I've played around with it before and currently running my Grado Gold2 at 46db, but have also tried 40 and 44db. 40db sounded a little lifeless and I'm enjoying the livelier 46db quite a bit. I know my ears are the only thing that matters of course, but is there a school of thought re phono gain with a passive pre?
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iirc you want to check the input sensitivity on your amplifier and try to come in at or under that value to avoid clipping.

You can use this calculator to figure out the math using the output voltage of your cart and the sensitivity of your input to determine ideal gain.

Cartridge Database Tools - Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com www.vinylengine.com

e.g. my amp has a 550mV input sensitivity, so I would have a 5mV cart like the Gold2 at 40db gain to produce a ~500mV output.
 
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