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Talk Me off the Ledge - A cry for help

I got an MMF 2.1 about 3 weeks ago along with some used reggae records in good condition. I cleaned the records and they sounded very good. I bought the Pink Floyd reissue of DSOTM and the vocals sound horrible. Everything else on the record sounds awesome but the vocals are ssssooo sssibilant its hurting my ears. Ive adjusted the tracking weight with a Shure gauge, fixed the azimuth with the included paper graph and played with the VTA to try to make the arm parallel to the record, all with NO SUCCESS. The vocals still sound like crap. My 2.1 came with the Music Hall Tracker/Goldring Elan cartridge and Ive played it close to 40hrs. Could it need more breaking in? Any suggestions on improving the sound? Should I abandon the cartridge and get another one? Thanks for all your help guys!
bundee1

Showing 3 responses by twl

twl
3,251 posts
 
Just putting the arm parallel with the record doesn't get it. You have to play around with it until you get it right. When you use different thicknesses of records, you sometimes need to adjust the VTA to suit the thickness of the record, because the thickness changes the VTA.

Once you get the "hang" of VTA adjustment, it will be rather easy to dial it in for those certain thick records that move it off enough to hear.

If all your other records sound ok to you except DSOTM, then your cartridge is satisfactory for you. You need to figure out what is different about this record. My guess is that it is a thick record and changing VTA.

Adjusting VTA is a fact of life with vinyl, and you'll be doing alot of it, so it's best to get used to doing it. Try making very slight adjustments, first moving it down slightly at the rear, and if that doesn't seem to improve things, try moving it up slightly in the rear. When I say slightly, I mean slightly. Then you will hear what differences these changes make, and you'll get an idea of what to do when you want to change the sound characteristics that you want. This is a try-and-listen type method. There is no other method than this. All analog users do this by try-and-listen.
twl
3,251 posts
 
Obviously something moved in shipment. There should never be a 10 degree slope on the arm. About 1-2 degrees up or down, from parallel is about it. If it was supposed to be way up there, it would sound boomy as hell down where you are playing it now.

If you want another reference point, use the SRA(stylus rake angle). Put the stylus in the groove of a non-moving record. Look at the stylus from the side, and if your eyes are real good, you can see the little diamond sticking down into the groove under the tip of the cantilever. This tiny diamond stylus shaft should be sticking straight up from the record. If it is tilted noticeably either forward or backward, then you should adjust your VTA so that the SRA is vertical. Then use that as your starting position for listening testing.
twl
3,251 posts
 
You just need to "snug" the screw. It doesn't have to be real tight. Just so it stays in place, is all it needs.

It might just be the album. I don't know, I don't have that particular record.
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