A pitch too High!
Showing 28 responses by mijostyn
@terrible , Yes, the tonearm's primary resonance frequency. You want it between 8 and 12 Hz. I shoot for between 8 and 10 Hz. Now, I have to spend more of your money. Get the Hi Fi News Analog Test LP. It has special resonance tracks for both lateral and vertical resonance. When you hit the resonance frequency the carrier tone will warble and if you look closely you will see your tonearm shaking. The Tracks are self explanatory. Lateral is more important. If it starts shaking above 12 Hz you need to add weight. If it shakes below 8 Hz you have to remove weight. |
@terrible , Great. Let us know how it works out. |
He decreased the tracking force without adjusting the anti skating which is why it was skipping backwards. It sounds thin because the suspension is compressed under the two grams. Back off on the tracking force to 1.5 grams and lighten the antiskating so that the arm drifts slowly towards the spindle when you place it between grooves in the run out area. The head shell should be perfectly horizontal to a 150 gram record and the stylus should be perfectly perpendicular to the record as viewed from the front. |
terrible, you have a scale for measuring tracking force. Set it to 1.5 with the counterweight. The anti skate mechanism is magnetic and is that knob to the right of the main bearing. I can't tell by looking at the pictures it it is attracting or repelling the tonearm. The instructions will tell you that. You adjust that knob so that the arm drifts very slowly towards the spindle when you place it between grooves in the run out area. The cartridge has a suspension like a car. If you bottom out a cars suspension you get a very rough ride. As the suspension compresses beyond a certain point the suspension gets stiffer and it's resonance frequency rises. When a manufacturer gives you a tracking force range what he is telling you is that is the force the cartridges suspension works best at. Don't argue! I usually put might right in the middle. |
It is unlikely you will damage the arm. With a stylus cover on and the lift arm raised. Turn the adjustment all the way in one direction. With the table level get a sense of how the arm wants to drift backwards. With the anti skate off it will not drift at all. Now turn the adjustment all the way in the other direction. Do not force. Get a sense again what the tonearm wants to do. With the anti skate all the way up the arm will want to drift vigorously backwards. Now you know which direction is "on" and "off." You set your anti skate as I mentioned above. Look for videos on how to set up your arm. It is highly unusual for a company to make setting up an arm so difficult as we tend to change cartridges at least once in a while. |
Terrible, you need to track that cartridge at 1.5 grams. 2 grams is way too heavy for it. If you can not learn to adjust the antiskating then you will need to buy a cartridge that tracks at two grams. Those are disappointing numbers for a modern turntable if they are correct. Using the same app I get 33.33 rpm at 0.03 % wow and flutter. My table has adjustable speed. |
@chakster , Great explanation above Chak however, the recommended tracking force of the Grado is 1.5 grams. 2 grams is out of range for this cartridge and will change it's vertical compliance and bass performance which could tilt the performance and make the cartridge seem brighter. However, I agree. The speed problem is definitely going to raise the pitch audibly. But, then why did that not happen with the previous cartridge? The tonearm should still be set up correctly and the pitch corrected with the controls in back. In the mean while terrible will learn all about turntables and will fly through the next cartridge set up which should be soon as this cartridge is not compatible with the performance of this system. He should have one of the better moving magnet cartridges in the $500 to $1000 range. |
Terrible, take a deep breath and relax. It is not that hard. Turning tha antiskating control one way increases anti skating pulling the arm more strongly away from the platter's spindle. Turn it the other way and the pull is less strong. Turning the adjustment all the way in one direction will pull the arm very strongly away from the spindle the other way not strong at all although it might not turn it off all the way. You set your tracking force 1st then adjust the anti skating control so that the arm drifts very slowly towards the spindle when you put it down between grooves in the run out area. If you have a record with a blank side even better. You can also do what Chak mentions and get a test record although some disagree with this method. Anti skating is so ambiguous it is really a ballpark measurement. The general felling is less is better than more. The slow drift method is championed by Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith and Frank Schroder the tonearm designer. As for cartridges, the Goldring 1042 and Audio Technica VM750SH would be my choices. |
Ok terrible, Which channel is distorting? If the left channel is distorting you have too much anti skating. If the right channel is distorting you have too little. Don't listen to people who destroy their records by not protecting them from dust. It is a hygiene issue like brushing your teeth. @chakster , do Russians have a lot of cavities? I am not aware of the demographics. |
@chakster , I love those screws. You have a great housecleaner. You need to pay her more and stop spending money on cartridges. |
Terrible, no a few bouces should not bother it. I think atmasphere thinks you got another new cartridge and was thinking the bad sounding one was a previous cartridge and not the Grado. Ralph, he got the cartidge sounding better by finally getting the arm ajusted correctly. Looking at a stylus to determine wear in not easy. It takes a special high powered (read very expensive) microscope and you have to know what you are looking for. Even the cheap usb microscopes we use for alignment purposes are not strong enough to detect moderate amounts of stylus wear. It is just the very extreme tip that wears. I can do it with a binocular medical microscope with special lighting but it is like looking at a CT scan, one slice at a time because the depth of field is very small. |
So everyone knows where we are bands 6 - 9 are bias adjustment tracks +12 to +18 dB in 2 dB steps at 300 hz @terrible , You are only getting through the 12 dB track without distortion. But the key here is which channel is distorting and how much. The right channel is the groove wall to the outside of the record. The left channel is the groove to the inside. If the right channel is distorting more than the left you need to increase the antiskating force. If the left channel is distorting more you have to decrease it. Many people think this method over predicts antiskating and fall back on the slow drift test. Anyway , because I can't distinguish one channel form the other I can't tell online. The next tracks are lateral and vertical resonance. Lateral resonance is at 9 Hz and it is easy to see as the stylus pops right out of the groove. Vertical is at 13 Hz and well dampened. I suspect when you get your antiskating set well it won't pop out of the groove. From a resonance standpoint you are all set! Band 4 is tracking ability and you are distorting. Again I suspect because the antiskating is off. Which channel is distorting more will give you an idea whether you should add or subtract antiskating. |
@terrible , No! You use your tonearm lift an gently lower the arm in between grooves in the run out section and watch which direction the tonearm drifts. The stylus is not in the groove! It will find a groove in a couple of seconds but that is more than enough time to determine what the arm is going to do. It should drift slowly, very slowly towards the spindle. If you have a record with a blank side like The Lumineers Cleopatra you can use that. This is the method Frank Schroder and Peter Ledermann recommend and it really is quite simple. |
@terrible , Laser discs are smooth, no grooves. You can use them like a blank record. Laser discs are long out of production. Warning! Many people believe in adjusting Their antiskating so that the tonearm stays still on the blank record. This overestimates antiskating. The arm has to drift slowly towards the center towards the end of the record. This is not a vitally critical adjustment like VTF. There is no exact value because the amount of pull on the tonearm varies with multiple factors. It is a ball park adjustment. |
@terrible , if the vinyl is not perfectly flat the tonearm might wander back and forth a little. As long as the net motion is towards the spindle you are in business. If it does not head in one direction or the other dial a little less anti skate. As for what to put on the SME 12A, that could be a long list. The Windfeld Ti is a great cartridge. Some would even say as good as it gets. The Lyra Kleos would do very well. The Soundsmith Paua would be another. Grado Statement 3. Clearaudio Stradivari. Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua. My Sonic Lab Eminent EX and I am sure a lot of others.
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@terrible , You would get Soundsmith's The Voice and use your MM input. The Voice is a great cartridge. Of the two you mention I would easily take the Kleos over the Hana. Between The Voice and the Kleos depends on the music. The Voice is going to be a better rocker but some might prefer the Kleos on classical and acoustic music. The Voice has a guarded cantilever, the Kleos sticks out in thin air, an easy target. The Voice has a much less expensive rebuild price and the manufacturer is easy to get to. The Voice is a high output Sussurro. Peter Ledermann told me the only reason it costs less is the market. People who buy high output cartridges are not prepared to spend as much as MC buyers. Peter insists that is the only reason. |
@terrible , the Voice comes in two compliance versions mid and high. With the 309 I would go for the Mid compliance version. You might have to add a little weight. Soundsmith makes very nice graded cartridge screws. They come in a set of four different weights. You order the cartridge directly from Soundsmith on their web site. As far as I can tell The Voice is in stock. The Hana tracking is listed by them as 70 um. This is not as good as a $4000 cartridge should be. The Soundsmith will do an easy 80 um if not 90 and at a lighter VTF. The Kleos spec is not listed but I have used one and it tracks fine. I can easily recommend both the Kleos and the Soundsmith as I have used and listened to both. I have not used or heard the Hana. |