Setting up Turntable and Cart on Nova

Just giving my thread a bump to see if there is anyone out there who can advise me here. I have my fingers and toes crossed ????????

Best regards

Leon

Leon, I think it's rather difficult to advise here.  I don't really know your cart or phono stage very well.  I would go with whatever Arcam advise for their phono stage as the best match gain-wise for your cartridge. Too much gain may well result in possible overload and hence distortion, as headroom is reduced. Either way, even after phono eq and pre-preamplification, level from an analogue source will always be slightly lower than the level from digital (thanks to the rather high 2V level set by  CD redbook - vs. about 1/3rd of that for even the highest output analogue sources), however AFAIK the Nova does give you some option to trim levels.  

Most of all, trust your ears and go with what sounds best to you.

Leon,

I don't have the Arcam phono pre-amp, nor the Ortofon cartridge but I think I've experienced what you're describing - initially  I had my Nova set to 2.5V, with my Rega phono preamp. I found the sound was better when set to 1V and the level was closer to that from the streaming part of the Nova so I've left it there.

Electrically you can use any of the three settings - if you hear distortion or it's too quiet change it - which is what you've done.

Finally, check whether the lid of your turntable and the record  have a static charge in them - if you play with the lid down it can have an effect on the apparent tracking force which can cause the distortion you describe; this affected my turntable when new until I worked out what was going on and treated the lid with anti-static spray (I'm assuming your turntable has a plastic lid - I'm not familiar with it).

Did you use a local dealer who may be willing to check out your new cartridge or are you on your own with this one? If it distorts at a setting where its predecessor (quintet?) worked fine and assuming you know what you’re doing aligning it, it suggests a fault. Can you get it checked in another deck and maybe on a high powered stereo microscope if available to see how the diamond is aligned in the cantilever and if there’s any damage.

I have had as a preamp Naim 62, 82, 52, Uniti, Superuniti, and Nova. On every single one of them the phono input was significantly quieter than the others. On the Nova, input trim is only a limited help.

Just turn up the volume when you listen to vinyl (and don't forget to turn it down again when you change source!). There is nothing wrong - it's just a quirk of Naim pre amps. Set the phono stage to the best sound and adjust the Nova volume - it will have plenty of welly.

Richard Dane posted:

 Either way, even after phono eq and pre-preamplification, level from an analogue source will always be slightly lower than the level from digital (thanks to the rather high 2V level set by  CD redbook - vs. about 1/3rd of that for even the highest output analogue sources), however AFAIK the Nova does give you some option to trim levels.  

Most of all, trust your ears and go with what sounds best to you.

Thanks Richard. Could I ask then; Is there a correlation between the lower level than 2V for CD and the input sensitivity settings on the nova (0.5V , 1V, 2.5V and 5V)? If so it should follow that selecting 1V is probably more appropriate. Sorry if that’s a daft question! 

Kind regards 

Leon

TallGuy posted:

Leon,

I found the sound was better when set to 1V and the level was closer to that from the streaming part of the Nova so I've left it there.

Electrically you can use any of the three settings - if you hear distortion or it's too quiet change it - which is what you've done.

 

 

Hi Tallguy,

Thanks for sharing your experience and confirming there is no issue with what input sens is selected. Either trim or sens gets me there so I guess it comes down to personal preference?

I don’t have a lid on my TT. It’s on a shelf covered that way but again, thanks for the food for thought!

Kind regards 

Leon

yeti42 posted:

Did you use a local dealer who may be willing to check out your new cartridge or are you on your own with this one? If it distorts at a setting where its predecessor (quintet?) worked fine and assuming you know what you’re doing aligning it, it suggests a fault. Can you get it checked in another deck and maybe on a high powered stereo microscope if available to see how the diamond is aligned in the cantilever and if there’s any damage.

Hi yeti, 

I did use a local dealer and have spent £1,000s so wouldn’t be an issue to go and raise it I guess. It did occur to me there must surely be variances with cartridge production that could cause this sort of thing and having overcome the distortion issue by lowering the preamp 10db and raising trim, on the confirmation of this being of no detriment I should have cracked it without having to go through going back to my hifi shop.  But you are right and I have pondered the same; Perhaps there is an issue? You wouldn’t expect such a variation. I suppose though if one cart was on the verge of breakup at that setting whilst the other was just tipped over then it may only be a minor variance.. Who knows! The final aspect is I do hate returning things. Just the look on a salesman’s face is enough to put my off going back! ???? Not saying they would be anything less than accommodating; I had to return a brand new pair of B&W wireless headphones that weren’t right and these were replaced absolutely without qwarm. But yeah, returning items is awkward for me, the whole explaining the issue, as if you have to put forth a convincing argument to get the end result I hate that! ????????

Thanks for chiming in

Leon

Pev posted:

I have had as a preamp Naim 62, 82, 52, Uniti, Superuniti, and Nova. On every single one of them the phono input was significantly quieter than the others. On the Nova, input trim is only a limited help.

Just turn up the volume when you listen to vinyl (and don't forget to turn it down again when you change source!). There is nothing wrong - it's just a quirk of Naim pre amps. Set the phono stage to the best sound and adjust the Nova volume - it will have plenty of welly.

Cheers Pev! ????????

Best regards

Leon

Leon Wadsworth posted:

Richard Dane posted:

 Either way, even after phono eq and pre-preamplification, level from an analogue source will always be slightly lower than the level from digital (thanks to the rather high 2V level set by  CD redbook - vs. about 1/3rd of that for even the highest output analogue sources), however AFAIK the Nova does give you some option to trim levels.  

Most of all, trust your ears and go with what sounds best to you.

Thanks Richard. Could I ask then; Is there a correlation between the lower level than 2V for CD and the input sensitivity settings on the nova (0.5V , 1V, 2.5V and 5V)? If so it should follow that selecting 1V is probably more appropriate. Sorry if that’s a daft question! 

Kind regards 

Leon

I couldn't say Leon.  A question probably best posed to Naim.

Richard Dane posted: I couldn't say Leon.  A question probably best posed to Naim.

No worries Richard, thanks! ????????