This is more of a public awareness post for us Mid Hifi peeps who have recently made the dive back into vinyl. I did back in 2020 and did my research and decided on a packaged deal- please be gentle on me- from one of the two biggest online sellers out there. They set up too and provided some simple instructions to finish the set up when it arrived.
Fast forward a couple year down the road and I am thinking I should bring the table to my local audio repair guy in Northern Litchfield County, CT for a check up. I was concerned that maybe something was off, and man was I glad I did.
My turntable is ProJect Classic SB- you know that 1970's vintage looking one, coupled with the second generation Sumiko Oyster Blue Point II. This guy is extremely busy with endless warranty and service work- so it sat for time before he could check it out, but he knows what he is doing. He soon discovered that the most he could track the cartridge was at 1.47 grams-the Sumiko is supposed to track at 2 grams.
The problem was the counter weight. Next challenge was finding the right one and it was not an easy task, as tech support was tough for ProJet and he ended up fining something posted online back in 2018 on counter weights for ProJect turntables. He also reached out to a peer, who has a very reputable brick and mortar store here in western Connecticut for assistance.
As many of you may know most online sellers do not even sell counter weights.
He eventually found what I needed- for only $35 too, but I was shocked that this turntable was paired up with this cartridge-and this was not a cheap one either, it could not even track it properly. Why would that even happen? So for over two years I have not gotten the best performance I could from this set up.
So as they say buyer beware and add this tale to the long list of questions when sourcing a table, verifying settings, if your new table was set up at the factory correctly, or upgrading your cartridge
