Debut Carbon fettling

[Dhammavijaya]

I got myself a Debut Carbon turntable last week, and am enjoying it. It's a very engaging listen and gets my feet tapping. In fact It leaves me feeling quite peeved that music reproduction has been degraded over the years as we have been sold the digital myth.

I am looking to do some minor fettling though. The sound is very clear and 'forward', if you know what I mean. This is quite striking and impressive, if a tad piercing in the higher registers. I'm wondering if I can tweak it a little to tame this, and give the sound a bit more 'body', again if you know what I mean.

I've only had it since Friday, so I'm wondering if I can expect the top end to mellow a bit as the cartridge breaks in. It is the Ortofon Red M2. I'm also wondering if a cartridge upgrade would help. Obvious candidates are the blue M2 or Denon DL 110.

Are they any vinyl aficionados who could share their experience or comment?

 

[Guest]

The cartridge should mellow with play, the 2M Blue is a big step up from the Red but it's won't give you a warmer sound, just more of everything.

You could try a different mat, rubber normally sounds a bit softer at the top and heavier at the bottom, cut up some place mats/drawer liner from Ikea and experiment, they all sound different.

Make sure your near the top of the tracking force range for the Red, can you adjust the arm height on the debut (i'm guessing not) you could try thicker mat to bring the top of the cartridge level with the playing surface (if it's not already) or slightly tail down, this will balance the sound up a bit.

 

[bandit pilot]

As Rob says, the VTA plays a huge part. I'm in a similar position having recently jumped back into vinyl replay. I'm finding that the height adjustment of the arm is as effective as a tone control, but mine does have 2 points of adjustment to play with. I got mine sounding just right about a week ago. So in the interests of keeping sanity at bay, I changed the stage yesterday and need to start all over again.

Do sleep well in the certain knowledge that you are not alone in the frustration and excitement of faffing and experimentation. But also make a short list of the organs you can do without in order to fund the upgrade obsession :^

 

[naxos10]

Can agree that a mat change could certainly tweek the sound. A smoother smoother cartridge, something like a Sumiko moving magnet if altering the tracking force does not help much.

At what hieght and on what have you got the MS10i's mounted? Are they sited near a rear wall?

 

[Guest]

At what hieght and on what have you got the MS10i's mounted? Are they sited near a rear wall?

I guess that must be aimed at me? They are on 600mm stands about 6" from a solid wall:^.

 

[PeteM]

I also bought a Debut Carbon a few weeks ago to replace my original 15 year old Debut deck. Like you I also found it a bit bright at first so played about with mats to try to give it a bit more body, I found that a felt mat from my old deck made a noticeable difference, so then tried a 1.5 mm cork mat sourced cheaply from eBay which made the sound that little bit fuller still. But the best sound I felt was with a thin leather mat I made myself from an offcut again sourced from eBay. That said, I found that the more I used the deck the more the sound became fuller and richer to the point that I now play most records without a mat, just using the leather mat on some which I find a little bright.

My advice for what its worth would be to wait on spending big money on cartridge upgrades until you've put a few hours on this one.

 

[Dhammavijaya]

Thank you all for the helpful comments. I shall enjoy seeing how the sound develops.

- - - Updated - - -

P.S. Paul. Do you have the acrylic platter?

- - - Updated - - -

PPS. I mean Pete.

 

[DPICT]

For what it's worth, i have a project rpm 5 and had the same issue as you. It came with an ortofon 510 which i found to bright/sharp so i tried the goldring 1042, it was a bit better but pricey for what it is and still quite bright. When the cat pranged it for me i fitted a 2M blue, it was the worst move i made, it was sonically cutting and lasted 2 weeks before i flogged it. Then i went for the denon dl160 and still have it 3 years later, best move i made imo.

If you cant live with the 2M i recon you'd get on well with a dl110. dont think the 160 is available anymore (could be wrong tho) but the 110 is a very decent cart too and very close to the 160 soundwise.

 

[PeteM]

I've actually got the carbon esprit sb, but yes it has the acrylic platter.