Talismann Gold v2-Something strange happening with mine
 

All,
I have a Clearaudio Talisman Gold v2 on my VPI Classic. I have had it for almost two years, put maybe 100 hours on it (Tops) and until recently, it has been fine. Recently, I have started to lose some sound in parts of songs. For example, a song I play frequently by the Doobies has a distinct opening guitar piece and it normally jumps out at you. Now..........you can still hear it, but it sounds like the guitar player for that piece is sitting about 100 yards behind the stage, so it is very, very muffled and with almost a small echo. I get a variation of thast on most everything I play.


We have tested everything, including the Fosgate Signature phono preamp and we even had VPI go through the tonearm and all is good. With that said and the fact that it has the same exact sound when hooked up to completely different equipment at my dealer's shop, we are all convinced that it has to be in the cart. The dealer is running a few basic tests in the morning at the direction of Musical Surroundings. Hopefully we will learn something concrete.

BTW-After the tonearm came back from VPI, my dealer put it all back together, re-installed and aligned the Clearaudio Talismann, etc., and it sounded fine for about three songs, then the same symptoms set in again. Frustrating to say the least.

I thought I would ask if anyone out there has had this happen to their Clearaudio cartridge (Or any other brand, for that matter.) and if so, what was the cause?

I am antsy to switch carts out on it, but I will wait to see with Clearaudio/Musical Surroundings says on this one first before I go ahead and drop more cash...............

I look forward to any experiences with these symptoms.

Thanks,
Bryan

My Talisman v2 Gold has easily 800 hours on it and it sounds fine.

If you do get another cartridge, you get a credit for your Talisman towards another CA cartridge.

Just curious, what loading do you use for your Talisman on the Fosgate? I have one too and set it to 500Ω. I tried 300Ω but that seems a bit too laid back to me.

I have mine at 500 also. That seems to be the sweet spot for me.

My dealer called yesterday. They have been talking with Musical Surroundings, where they ordered both the Talismann and the Fosgate from for me. I forget the exact terminology they used, but the essentially had to adjust the angle of the cart so the stylus was sitting properly in the groove and they say it sounds fine now. Naturally, I am on the road until Friday now, so I will pick it up then on my way home and see if the adjustment "sticks" this time.

If it doesn't stick, I will be done with that cartridge. Do you know how much credit they will give?

I forgot to ask; What tubes are you using on your Fosgate? I liked the stock tubes, but I am a big Genalex Gold Lion fan, so I ended up using them on it and the sound is great.

Sounds like they did an azimuth adjustment. If that is off enough it can definitely affect the balance of the output.

The credit depends on which Clearaudio cartridge you are getting as a replacement. For example, Needle Doctor charges $2200 for a $2750 Concerto v2 with a Talisman v2 trade. I think Ivan (MasterLu) might be able to do you even better. Ask him.

I just got my Fosgate last week and am still running in the stock tubes. I don't plan to roll tubes before I have a couple hundred hours on the stock tubes and see what they sound like.

Got my VPI back today. They worked with Musical Surroundings to adjust the VTA and so on. It sounded fine on the one lp at the dealer. Got it home and played an lp that was missing the sound before and it was sounding bad again. It's not the lp. It's not the system. It sounded bad at the dealer before the adjustment. I am taking it back in and they will work with Musical Surroundings some more. Not getting clear audio from my Clearaudio. One step closer to a Dynavector.

Man, I am tired of this.

Thoughts, anyone????

Thanks,
Bryan

This would be very difficult to diagnose sight unseen/unheard. Most indications do point to the cartridge, but the dealer & MS seem to be working on it.

Keep us posted.

Must be a bad cartridge. Mine sounds great. Give Musical Surroundings a chance. They have always taken good care of me.

Thanks, guys.

Why is it when your TT is in the shop/not performing, you always find tons of beautiful vinyl? :-)