Newbie - Setting Up Questions

[benham3160]

Hi,

So my plans were to build a system for less than £100, but I've had to stretch to £120, this is what I've currently got set up in my living room.

- Arcam Delta 90 amplifier

- Dual 505.3 turntable with Ortofon cartridge

- Martantz CD56 CD player

- Denon 550-L Tuner

- Kenwood late 90s tripple head cassette player (more for completeness, only own a few cassettes)

- Tannoy 603 speakers, on stands.

Now here is the rub, although all of this kit is old (mostly from Gumtree, friends or boot sales) I'm a bit underwhelmed with the performance all round, initally I was using a sixth-hand Acoustic Solutions SP101 amp, switched for the bargain Arcam and things are better but still a bit... erm.... nhrrrr

I can't help thinking I'm doing something wrong here, firstly the turntable sounds very "flat" with not a lot of trebble response - the cabling is correct and it's earthed etc but (and I'm not sure if it's the done thing) when a 45rpm single and the same CD track are compared the CD sounds a lot brighter than I would expect, apreciating that CD will sound brigther anyway. I've read that Dual did scrimp a little on the cabling, could it possibly be that the (what I guess are original) phono cables on the Dual could do with replacing and seeing what happens, or is the fault elsewhere? The amp is definately set in the correct phono mode!! It's not "that" dull!

Also, does anybody have any beginers suggestions for how to set up speaker positioning? I'm using quite lightweight stands, could this also be leaving me a little underwhelmed with the sound, especially as a I have a very deep pile carpet? I'm using very "standard" lightweight phono cables, would one of the first things to do be to replace these throughout?

Thanks for any advice!

Regards,

Andy

 

[stevebrock]

I don't think stacking all those hifi components on top of each other helps!

I commend your achievements for a £120, but realistically you have to accept on face value that this really is a beer budget set up.

For starters that turntable needs a dedicated solid support!

 

[benham3160]

Many thanks for the advice my friend, yes I know the turntable needs a solid support, that is being worked out the next few days! Due to space constraints, how many items would you say realistically could be stacked on top of each other, would 2/2and the turntable on a seperate hard-top be more acceptable?

Understood re: the budget setup, but I guess we all have to start somewhere (and all I have at present is beer money!)? I'm here to learn, so all comments welcomed! Just want to get the best out of what I've got!

Regards,

Andy