10-02-2026, 04:56 PM
Hello,
Thought I would report back. The cartridge I am using is mono only Astatic P-51-3. It has a 3mil stylus and has a very rigid pickup to handle the weight of the tonearm. Tried both a solid state and tube phono preamp. Both were over driven by the cartridge itself. Disconnected the 1M resistor across the cartridge while listening to the phono and the bass response, volume increased. The original cartridge had an even lower volume output but as with everything else I remove is stored inside the cabinet for any future owner to have. Repositioning the cartridge made a great improvement also. The back of the cartridge had to be lowered closer to the record and placed 1/4" spacers between the cartridge and tonearm. The extreme downward slope of the tonearm had the needle digging backwards in the groove. On the first video it creates a swish-swish sound that is gone now. Intended to use the same record but UT keeps blocking it so had to use a lesser-known record for demonstration. Even though the phono is still quieter than the radio fidelity is good now!
Phono
Thought I would report back. The cartridge I am using is mono only Astatic P-51-3. It has a 3mil stylus and has a very rigid pickup to handle the weight of the tonearm. Tried both a solid state and tube phono preamp. Both were over driven by the cartridge itself. Disconnected the 1M resistor across the cartridge while listening to the phono and the bass response, volume increased. The original cartridge had an even lower volume output but as with everything else I remove is stored inside the cabinet for any future owner to have. Repositioning the cartridge made a great improvement also. The back of the cartridge had to be lowered closer to the record and placed 1/4" spacers between the cartridge and tonearm. The extreme downward slope of the tonearm had the needle digging backwards in the groove. On the first video it creates a swish-swish sound that is gone now. Intended to use the same record but UT keeps blocking it so had to use a lesser-known record for demonstration. Even though the phono is still quieter than the radio fidelity is good now!
Phono
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