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Goran, I was shocked when I compared some receivers' RIAA preamps to my RTS405 and an original development board showcasing the MC1303 chip. The roll-off was very noticeable on the receiver. No wonder people would say "LPs sound warmer than CDs"! I've mentioned this elsewhere--perhaps when I first did it--that I compared about a half dozen or more LPs to CDs that i had from various manufacturers. I adjusted the cartridge loading first by ear in the RTS405 RIAA preamp and then checked on a CBS STR? test record. It was flat to within 2 dB at 12 kHz. I don't recall what happened above that. What was interesting was that when I had LPs and CDs sounding reasonable for "quality-oriented" major manufacturers and reissuers, some of the LPs from mass-market manufacturers sounded amazingly bright/screechy, reminding me of the comment from a major manufacturer back in the day that went something like this: "The average phonograph in the U.S. costs $39.95. We make our records so they sound good on that." Thanks for confirming that this is somewhat common practice. I wonder why this preamp would print an erroneous curve? Do you suspect there might be erroneous curves published someplace that some manufacturers might think are correct? Has there ever been anything like "The Prague Compromise" for LPs? For those who are wondering, "Prague Compromise" is a cassette tape "oops" see http://richardhess.com/notes/2006/05/17/cassette-equalization-the-4-db-ambiguity-at-16-khz/ and http://richardhess.com/notes/2010/10/08/cassette-equalization-redo/. Cheers, Richard On 2012-02-16 10:55 AM, Goran Finnberg wrote: > Also when I look at the printed RIAA response curve on top of the box I note > that the response is elevated below 1 kHz and depressed above 1 kHz. > > Such an inbuilt chosen EQ inaccuracy will always sound nicer than a really > accurate RIAA preamp having basically flat response from 20 to 20 kHz. > > This Rek-O-Kut RIAA curve inaccuracy will tend to lessen perceived mid freq > harshness and increase the LF warmth since the errors are over at least 5 > octave either way. -- Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.