I have recently brought an AR XB back to life. New belt, new Grado Black cart, new mat, new RCA jacks.....the TT was in incredible original cond as it was in my Dad's closet for 25 years with very little use. My question is.....my Toshiba SD-3860 DVD player has much better sound reproduction (at least to my ears) and WAY better volume.
Powered by Sansui G-901, B+W 604's or AR 58BX's are the speakers.
I can see the volume being better but I would have thought the sound would be better. Am I missing something? I have recently gotten back into vinyl and am looking for THE sound.
Thanks,
Andy

Did the cartridge get set up correctly? A misaligned cart could be causing the discrepancy.

with digital audio you get so much processing to clean the sound, a wide dynamic range s/n ratio, zero noise, etc. I wouldn't bother trying to compare the 2. Take each for what is gives. Old fashioned TT vinyl sound with a whopping 75-80dB s/n sounds pretty darn good. So does a zero niose 100dB plus s/n cd/dvd. there's gonna be trade offs. Get your analog system tweeked to perfection and you'll be happy. JMO.

You are plugging the AR TT into the phono input on the Sansui, right? (sorry, don't know the model you mention)

If you plugged it into the same jack as you put the DVD player's audio output, that explains the difference in volume, and sound quality too since there wouldn't be proper EQ done to the phono signal.

Well, you are using a $25 cartridge in a 25-year-old table. It's not going to be a giant-killer. Just because it's vinyl, doesn't mean it's magic.

Micropassatman's totally right. Get that sucker aligned and you'll hear a difference right away. There are tons of places with downloadable paper alignment gauges. www.vinylengine.com has some that print out fine and work great.

I prefer CD by far over vinyl. But even the lowliest TT and cart will benefit immensely by proper alignment. Even tin-eared me can tell the difference. You will too. :thmbsp:
Tom

Thanks for all your replies:
It's not a $25 cart where I live...it's $60 cdn...and the table is about 35 years old. I haven't seen that the age of the table is a concern from this forum....quite the opposite in fact as this forum is primarily based around vintage.
I thought the Grado Black was supposed to be decent from what I read here too? If that will make a huge difference then I am game to pay more.....as that isn't the issue. I just followed recommendations from here and the local hi fi store.

As far as alignment....thanks for the advice...it was done by my local tech but I'll try the device and see what improvements I can make.

The phono input I am using is the correct one. There are multi inputs on the G-901 and I have a G-8000 as well but that produced the same result. The DVD is plugged into the aux input.
I think also I may be expecting too much. The sound is ok, just not up to the DVD player.
If anyone has additional suggestions please let me know. I have a Thorens TD150 II that I may resurrect.

Well, yes, setup is 95% of a 'table's sound. Here (http://store.acousticsounds.com/category.cfm?id=146)'s a good place to start.

You also might be able to tweak your input volume on the phono section of your receiver: pop the top and there might be a trimpot in the circuit. As I know nothing about Sansuis, I don't know if it exists or not.

Here (http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=34)'s a place to ask more AR questions.

How does the table sound? Too siblant? Boomy? Muddled? Have you tried it plugged into the Sony receiver and compared the output?

Well, a 35 yr old cartridge probably needs to be replaced. The rubber bushings may be all dried and stiff by now, causing horrible damage to the records. My Shure V-15 type V was so stiff, it was like it was glued to the dang mount. Bought a new stylus and all was good again.

The difference in the 2 is one of crispness compared to lushness. My brother-in-laws who are big mp3/cd/digital fans always like the cd version of anything I play them. It is what they are used to. Bright, clear, crisp, pumped up levels and all the upfront sound that goes with it. With vinyl you get a whole different sound. Fullness and a richness that you need to listen for when you first get back into vinyl. What seems like softer volumes and sounds is actually the full range of the performance as it moves through it's paces.
Get your gear set-up right and then sit back and let it grow on you. I like both for what each has to offer, but vinyl is my preference these days.
I don't know the B+W's, but the AR 58's have always seemed to suck the life out of the music, too analytical and cold sounding to me. Maybe this is what you are hearing.

Thanks again guys......to confirm.... the AR is 35 years old....but the Grado cart is brand new.
One of the problems I have is my room size....B+W's are in a room with 18' ceilings, open concept. It is very hard to fill. The AR58's are actually in a smaller room (the house is wired for multi room) so they actually sound better as a result of that.
I just spun a Grover Washington album....cranked the volume up very loud (wife was out) and it actually sounded awesome. So maybe the problem has always been my wife is home too much?
I'll try all the suggestions above......Andy

I just spun a Grover Washington album....cranked the volume up very loud (wife was out) and it actually sounded awesome. So maybe the problem has always been my wife is home too much?
I'll try all the suggestions above......Andy

One other thing that comes to mind that hasn't been mentioned, what's the condition of your vinyl? Playing clean(ed) vinyl makes a hell of a difference, both to the sound you get and to the life of your stylus.

One other thing that comes to mind that hasn't been mentioned, what's the condition of your vinyl? Playing clean(ed) vinyl makes a hell of a difference, both to the sound you get and to the life of your stylus.

Something else that just occurred to me, make sure you get your VTF (vertical tracking force) correct.

Just last week I forgot to reset the VTF when I installed my V15 cart and halfway thru the 1st record I was thinking that I might need a new stylus. Fortunately I subsequently discovered that the VTF had been set at 0.2g rather than the recommended 1.2g.

So maybe the problem has always been my wife is home too much?

Yes, divorcing the wife was the best $175,000 I ever spent on the stereo. Sounds WAY better now.