MX150 MM VS Audio Tech EV33 M/C

Hey guys. I love my MX150 on a Technics MG1200. I just got an EV33; both carts go through a Tube Box pre. I can crank the 150 and it sounds simply wonderful imo. Admittedly not broken in, the EV33 reminded me in one day why I went back to vinyl in the first place. It is very shrill on my system, and hurts my ears. I cannot turn it up very loud. I do love the gloss sheen it gives you (not sure if that is simply because it's an MC cart) but I was playing a reissue of U2 Joushua Tree, which sounds amazing on the MX, and it just bleeds my ears with the 33. It is doing that on about five other albums, and I gave up and put the 150 back on and I'm back in bliss.

I just bought a VPI Scout 1.1 and it will be here next week (well, hopefully. I got it from Soundstage and I stopped getting vinyl from them because the fastest I ever got an order was 13 days, and normally it is more like three weeks). I am wondering if there is a good chance the cart is simply mismatched with the Technics. I have read so many times here about the importance of a well matched system, and I have no doubt with the 33 it is. And, again, I realize the 33 is not broken in, but I would be surprised if that would eliminate the problem entirely. Most digital music was doing the same thing and after 16 years, I put vinyl back on and coudn't believe the difference in that regard! Any thoughts?

 

That cart probably just isn't a good match for the phono preamp you have. I doubt it's the turntable. I could be wrong...

 

Well, at least that's easy to replace. Since it's tube I'm surprised, but then again it isn't that expensive. Thank you...I had not considered that for some reason.

 

Someone more knowledgeable than I could let you know whether your preamp and cartridge are mismatched. Did you try adjusting the input gain, capacitance and impedance?

 

I did. It helped in other ways but not really with the brightness issue.

 

If I had £1 for every time i heard that
Audio Technica are bright i would be a rich man.

 

Well, imo the 140ml certainly is, the 150 less so, but the EV is just too bright on my rig. But I have read plenty of very good reviews so clearly it is not a good match with my other components, or perhaps its simply not mounted correctly. Will try it in my new Scout when it arrives, but if it's my Tube Box then it isn't going to sound good on any table. I just put it on my high end JVC vintage table and it's even worse by far than on the Technics and with a different pre. Probably need to sell it off, but it doesn't even have ten hours on it. And maybe that's the problem?

 

I dunno I have a 33EV and I adore it. It's the first MC cart I ever had that I didn't think was too bright or hard or etched sound. Now, generally, my turntable rig is brighter, more open, more detailed and faster sounding than my CD player which is a little bit on the classic "warm and romantic" side. And I'd actually like it if my CD player was more open on top than it is, so I have kind of a difference experience of this whole digital/analog thing (early CD playback, like 30, 35 years ago, drove me a bit crazy, but I don't find the whole digital is shrill/analog is warm think to hold much water in the last 15 years or more). But ear bleeding treble from the 33EV? Nothing of the sort in my rig, and I hate ear bleeding treble. In fact among a lot of people the 33EV has a reputation of being too warm (not my experience that it's warm eitther). It is revealing of relatively minor changes in set up and loading and VTA etc, surprisingly so for a cart with an elliptical stylus. I haven't done a frequency sweep so it's possible a rising top end on the cart is counter balancing some kind problem elsewhere in my system or my room -- I've mostly got a tube amplification chain (not the phono pre), I'm in a very well damped room and using a very inert turntable. But it sounds pretty flat and extended to me. And I would think it would work OK in terms of the top end on on a SL1200 family table -- those tables tend to sound warm and smooth and, to my ears, a bit homogenizing and bloated in the upper bass/lower midrange -- I dunno what the effective mass on those arms is, but but that should only impact subsonic resonance, not high frequency performance.

My 33EV is getting long in the tooth and I'm sure the stylus is worn and I was thinking of replacing it with another or maybe a PTG, which is the same basic cart but with a boron cantilever and Shibata stylus, because I'm so happy to have found an afforable MC that gives me the kind of speed and detail of a MC but without the hard edge I've heard in demos or even at home with some MCs in the past.

What do you have it loaded at? 100 ohms?

 

Yes, 100 ohms. I tried different settings as that is quite easy to do with the Tube Box. I must have either a defective cart, which I will now be stuck with, or I have grossly installed it wrong, certainly a possibility, though I am sure I installed the 140 I used to use and the MLX correctly as they sound amazing (well, the 150 more so) and there is no sibilance or other tracking issues. I have very good hearing even at my older age, so for better or worse I hear everything! There are too many good comments such as your's to suggest the 33 isn't a very nice cart. I do hear that nice gloss sound I love. I first noticed it when I installed the Tube Box, kind of a sheen over the music which is lovely. I'm assuming that's a "tube" characteristic? I assume I will be getting decent installation tools with the Scout table and I will really be careful installing the cartridge and give it another whirl. I can't believe how well balance, and fun, the MLX150 is though. It's so inexpensive I don't trust my own ears! Why I upgraded I have no idea; I'm very happy with it after my experience with the 33 but based on your input I'm going to give it another shot before selling it. I really appreciate you thoughtful comments...thank you!

 

Yup, it's mentioned an awful lot but I like it that they lean that way as long as it's not too much. The 140 is awfully close to my tolerance level, but it doesn't ever cross it. The 150 is so much more balance and musical to listen to imo, but the 140 is no slouch, especially for the price. There is no way the 33 is supposed to sound the way it does. There is clearly an issue on my end as it's very well reviewed and why I bought it.

 

One thing you could try is lowering the vertical tracking angle.

 

I used an OC9 a while back.
It was bright, but also brilliant!
Careful vta Adjustment and loading setting and it was fine.

 

Yeah, I always thought the OC9 was too bright, the 33EV doesn't sound like that so much too me, but then again, I haven't heard at OC9 in a long time at this point.