Problem With Pre amp

Hi all,
I'm new to the hobby and forum so I apologise in advance if I've posted in the wrong place and any other mistakes.
I recently bought a Project Debut Carbon, but needed a preamp as my amplifier has no phono stage.
I purchased the 'Project Phono Box E MM' and hooked up the RCA cables. The sound was definitely louder but very muddy
and distorted.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong here?

 

I would start by ensuring the ground wire (and input and output cables) are firmly connected.

Have you adjusted the gain? If your still having trouble that might be something to look at...

You have the Ortofon 2M red still on the debut Carbon I assume? I'll look for the gain settings for it and post them here if I find them.

 

Now I'm not sure the phono box e had gain settings? Is there a set (or two) of small dip switches on the bottom?

 

Maybe check the manual to be sure you've connected it right:
http://www.project-audio.com/inhalt/en/manual/manual_phonoboxe.pdf

Otherwise, there really isn't much to it. No user-adjustable settings at all.

It's also possible that your turntable is not set up properly or things got knocked out of alignment.

What amplifier do you have?

 

What line stage/integrated amp are you feeding with the phono pre?

 

Hi guys, thanks for all of your responses!
The amp is a NAD C352 stereo integrated amplifier.

Also it may be worth mentioning that I tried the same turntable on my other amp which doesn't need a pre amp
and it sounds perfect? I've also tried grounding the preamp but the sound is still very muddy.

 

It sounds like the ProJect Phono Box may be defective. Can you test the turntable plus the Phono Box on your other amp? Plug the Phono Box output into a high-level input such as AUX, TAPE IN, CD, or TUNER.

 

Well, not sure what's going on. If the problem is distortion, as per your original post, it's possible that the 40 dB of gain -- if you're using the Ortofon 2M Red, with its 5.5 mV output, you probably don't need more than 35 dB gain -- and the 500 mV output voltage off the phono pre into the 330 mV input sensitivity NAD are somewhere along the chain overloading. Does it overload with the integrated's volume knob at all levels, or only as you turn it up? I mean that's not a huge output voltage or an extremely sensitive input, nor enormously more gain than necessary, and if it works find with CD player it ought to work fine with that phono pre, but who knows, maybe coupled with the hotter than necessary gain you're having a problem. You are going into one of the line level inputs on the NAD, yes?

If the problem is "muddy" sound -- which to me means rolled off high frequencies, an indistinct and muffled quality, not overload sort of distortion -- I'd suggest making sure the cables are known-good cables; and using the shortest possible, lowest capacitance possible cables between the turntable and the phono pre. A bad cable/connection could certainly also produce distortion.

The possibility also exists, as per @Apesbrain that there's something wrong with the phono box. Did you buy it new?

 

Is it plugged into the correct spot on preamp?

 

Where do you have the Project Phono Box E MM plugged into the back of your NAD C352?

 

I have it plugged into DISC L and R

 

Hi, there has not been an update to this and I was wondering if you resolved the issue?

 

Not yet. Still struggling unfortunately.

 

Have you tried different inputs beside disc one? If it were me I would have called Project and talked this over with them. Sorry to hear things still distorted. Any chance you could try the phono stage in a friends system or take it to a willing HiFi dealer to try it?

 

Isn’t there “Do not connect the phono amplifiers output to a phono input (sometimes labelled gram, disc or RIAAJ on the amplifier.” in the “Instructions for Use” of your “Pro-Ject Phono Box”?