At what vol level do you get rumble / flutter?


Hi everyone. I hope my Pro-ject Xpression has not started the dreaded rumble / wow / flutter problem. I recently tried a heavier MC Ortofon on my table and after switching it in and out (professionally done), my table will make the woofers rumble / wow / flutter as soon as my normal cartridge (Ortofon MC-3 turbo, HO MC) hits the record with the volume at about twice as high as my normal listening position, which is not party cranking levels, but twice as high is and that is where I see the rumble. Would you say this is normal for Pro-ject and similar tables? Will a Rega RP3 act similarly? Rest of system is posted and it is less noticeable with the rumble filter on. From what I remember, my table did not do this before the cartridge swap. Luckily, it is still under warranty.

TIA
sbrownnw

Showing 9 responses by sbrownnw

But does this sound normal for Pro-ject or other turntables or should I be looking at getting this table repaired under warranty or maybe replaced?
I have a rumble filter on my Pro-ject phono tube box Ii but it does not remove it all plus it sounds like the table is not operating up to spec.
Forgot to mention it is on a wall shelf with long lag bolts into the studs. It is on its factory isolation cone feet.
@johnny, I will have my shop try adding 4 grams of weight with heavier hardware, etc. I do have the Clearaudio Clever Clamp. I hope it works! Thanks.
@johnny, never had the factory cartridge on my Xpression. Had two mc-3 turbos on it and recently had the ortofon mc 25 fl with the heavier counterweight and it did the same thing (the 25 fl is about 10g). How do I add fluid? Is the tape u mention for my tone arm easily removeable if it does not work out?
@johnny, my table is at my dealer now. It has the lighter 65g counterweight for cartridges between 4-7 grams. How do I calculate the effective tonearm mass with this lighter counterweight (10g lighter that the factory 75g for 7-12g cartridges). I might have him put in a pair of 1 gram brass screws to bring the weight up a little.
I forgot to mention my turntable is on a custom steel wall rack bolted to the studs in my house but is in an audio cabinet (no doors). The section of the audio cabinet that houses the turntable has some of the back panel removed so the steel rack arms can come through. Could my problem be caused by this setup?

BTW, I put a new Vincent Pho-8 up against a new Pro-ject phono tube box II (my demo one was replaced under factory warranty after 1 channel got noisy) this weekend. The Pro-ject won out with better sound stage, realistic instrument sound and just overall more musical. I hope to upgrade the wall wart for the Pro-ject tube box. Would this one be a higher quality less noisy power supply?:

http://www.powerstream.com/EA1050.htm
EA1050A-61 16V 4A 5.5x2.5x11mm $57.50

Thanks everyone,

Scott
I added a pict of my entire system (on my system page) to show the config. Turntable is in the upper right corner.