Buzzing with HFN Test Lp II


Hi everyone,

I just received the new version of the HiFi News Test Lp. Everything is ok with respect to the test tracks except one. I have a big buzzing sound from my RIGHT speaker with track 8, Side 1, which tests anti-skating. Apparently, this means that my anti-skating is off. The first 2 tests for it are fine. But, no matter what anti-skating I apply, track 8 is just buzzing loud as hell. Now let me get this straight, I want the tonearm to be skating AWAY from the center of the record, right? Or just not skating at all? I dunno, my main concern is record wear. I just bought some brand new LPs and I really dont want to mess them up.

Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions.
nismo
What tonearm and cartridge combo are you using?

Anti skate is intended to compensate for pivoted tonearms natural tendency to fall in towards the center spindle. Ideally, the HFNRR tracks should all play cleanly without any buzzing in either channel. The fact that you are able to play the first two test tracks indicates that your misalignment in relatively minor. Unless there is something else seriously wrong with other elements of your cartridge setup, you will not damage your records due to a minor misalignment of the anti-skating adjustment.
Hi Onhwy61,

Thanks for the info. Whew, I was worried there. I haven't been playing any of my prized LPs because I didn't want to ruin them. I am using a Moerch UP-4 unipivot tonearm with the Green dot armtube(lightest) and a Stanton CS-100 MM cartridge. Do you set your arm to skate outwards or just enought to not move inwards toward the spindle?

Again, Thanks in advance for any additional info.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Nismo,
I spent yesterday going through the same ordeal, while setting up my new Spacedeck. Luckily, TONY007, who sold me the deck, coached me via phone. According to him(and I agree)the antiskate is a fairly minor adjustment, and not the big concern here. The real issue for me was the VTA. My tonearm was too high compared to the platter. Nonetheless tracks 6 & 7 played fine, but 8 had the big buzz from the right. When I lowered my tonearm a bit, track 8 played fine. 9 won't track at all, but so far every record I've tried works fine.
If your arm has no VTA adjustment, check your azimuth. It's possible that the outside edge of your headshell & cartridge are slightly higher than the inside edge. Good luck!