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Tracking error distortion audibility

I recently unpacked my turntable from a couple of years of storage. It still sounds very good. Several times during playback of the first few albums I literally jumped from my chair to see which track was playing as it sounded so great. After a while I realized the "great" sound was always at one of the "null" points. They seem to occur at the approximately the proper place (about 125mm from spindle) and near the lead out groove. Questions:
Is this common? I have improved the resolution of my system since the table's been in storage but I don't remember hearing this before.
All others geometric sources of alignment error not defined by the null points (VTA, azimuth etc.) are essentially constant through out the arc correct? If so they should cancel out. I assume the remedy is a linear tracking arm but I am surprised at how obviously better the sound is at these two points.
Table - AR ES-1, Arm - Sumiko MMT, Cart. - Benz Glider, Pre - Audible Illusions, Speakers - Innersound electrostatic hybrid
Do linear arms really sound as good across the whole record as I hear at only the nulls with my set-up?
feathed

Showing 2 responses by halcro

halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
Dan_ed beat me to it!
I was just about to write a similar response although I wasn't quite believing what I was reading.
Here was a guy (Feathed), who wrote a question about a perceived problem in his arm/cartridge set-up "Tracking error distortion audibility" yet continues to defend his set-up and argue illogically against any proposed suggestions to help him?
I have 2 different arms and cartridges and do not hear this distortion and I have heard at length 2 parallel tracking arms (the Air Tangent and the Rockport) and hear no differences to a well set-up pivoted arm.
I am at a total loss as to the intent of his post, but perhaps he was simply looking for an argument?
halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
Axelwahl,
I have a 10" Continuum Copperhead and a 12" DaVinci Ref Grandezza mounted on my Raven AC-3 and I can hear no increased distortion on the Copperhead over the DaVinci on the same recordings.
I agree with Dan_ed that without correct alignment, the 12" arm will sound just as poorly as the shorter one without correct alignment.
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