Yesterday, Wify sat down with listening to some vinyls using the CNC phonostage and commented that the sound was slightly (marginally) dull when compared to vinyl played through the NAD 106. This was an interesting comment from a neutral observer who knows little about what's inside the equipment but who is extremely familiar with the sounds of the different equipment. I thought I'll fiddle around with the jumper settings in her presence and check on what sounded the best to her ears. The source was my SL3200 running on its usual M44-5. Started with the 18k jumper and she said it sounded very dull, as we moved across the jumpers from 33k to 47k she said that it brightened up as we reached 62k, she said that it sounded the most lively. We tried some combos, 18k in parallel with 33k and then with 47k and similar other combinations, all of which she rejected saying it was sounding "boring". Finally, just for the sake of argument, I removed all the jumpers and left all 4 resistors open. She jumped up and said that this is what she was trying to hear, it sounded very bright and chrisp. Interestingly the bass had not dropped and the phonostage was sounding very lively. I did notice that the ticks and pops were enhanced a bit but nevertheless she started enjoying the music and actually ended up sitting throught 2 Eagles records (Hotel California and One of these Nights). I did notice that these loading resistors roll off the highs to a certain extent. Any comments or suggestions?
