New gear not what I hoped

[alex42]

I have recently bought a pair of Tannoy DC6T speakers and Arcam A19 amp to go with a Project Debut Carbon tt. I thought this setup would be significantly better than the very old amp and bookshelf speakers I was using but it's not great and certainly not worth what I've paid for everything. I don't know if my expectations for the system were too high or if it's just a case of 'burning in' the new equipment. My other thought was that the tt is letting the whole thing down. I'm new to this so hoping someone with more knowledge can help me out.

 

[Andy Clough]

You've certainly got a good system there, have you experimented with the position of the speakers in the room? All speakers will benefit from running in, how long have you had them?

 

[matthewpiano]

What are you main reservations and concerns about this system? Is there anything you are finding particularly difficult to get on with sound-wise?

The Debut Carbon is a good budget turntable and should be more than good enough, but what cartridge have you go on it?

 

[peterpiper]

Burn in might help,

have you got a cd player to try ?? or another source to see if you get a better sound, maybe the cartridge is not set up right ...ie tracking alighment , tracking force etc, although if its a debut carbon the pre installed ortophone red should be set up correct and ready to go

 

[drummerman]

What did you have before and how did you come about your new system?

 

[davedotco]

The OP appears to have a major issue with the system, I very much doubt the issue is burn in.

Most likely it is one of two things.

Poor setup. Not just the tracking weight on the player but the whole set-up, support and positioning of the player along with the support and placement of the speakers in the room.

Poor equipment choice. The system is poorly chosen and not suited to the OP's requirements.

To narrow this down we need much more information on the setup and an idea of how the system was chosen. We also need to know in what areas the OP thinks the system is lacking.

 

[peterpiper]

another point alex, have you checked the polarity of the speaker connections, another easy mistake by newbies , especially if the speaker cable pair is not colour coded or marked with - or + , what you get with reversed polarity is poor soundstage, lighweight bass , missing punch, and kind of a hole in the midrange,

please check for this, its makes a huge difference

 

[bigfish786]

Of your setup, and room layout, this may help us understand the issues.

if the tt is sounding a bit poor, it may be down to the built in phono stage on the amp. My arcam a70 has a phono stage but is quite weak and weedy.

 

[lindsayt]

It's quite possible that Alex's old system is about as good as his new system.

I don't think that would take much doing, as we are only talking about a Pro-ject Debut Carbon, Arcam A19 and Tannoy DC6T's.

I think that there's scope for improvement in the TT, amp and speakers department of Alex's system - without spending more than about £300 on each replacement item.

 

[Zax89swe]

Hi, what do you not like with the sound? If its the bass performance I can really understand becouse the drivers is not strong. I Have Tannoy DC6Tse and Jbl studio 290 and when I A/B tested them with same amplifier I can clearly hear that one stand out, with little more coloration in the cabinet but very superior in all other areas especially the bass, not even comparable. The funny thing is that I bought the tannoys to replace the Jbls and had so many thoughts going on in the head like the soundstage and timing will sound sweet with the tannoys but man what wrong I had. Tannoy has released the xt series with 8inch woofer aswell but sorry Im waiting for Jbl what they have to offer when they celebrate 70years!