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Zyx mistracking issue

Hi all!
I experiment some mistracking issues with a Zyx R100H that I acquired on e-bay in 2012. My tech confirms that the tip is not worned out (I listen no more than 2-3 hours/week on average). My Zyx is mounted on a LP12 with a Zeta arm.

Has anyone experienced tracking issues with Zyx cartridges? All reviews I found stated a flawless tracking performance. Could it be some compatibility issue with the Zeta? Is the suspension particularly fragile? As a comparison my backup table is a Thorens TD160, grace 707 arm and grace F9e cartridge; this backup setup does not have mistracking issues despite its older age.

Thanks for any clue.
vepiteski


vepiteski
gilles130
128 posts
 
The zyx suspension is particularly fragile but I am not sure your problem is relative to that fact.
lewm
12,460 posts
 
2.2g is well above the recommended range, is it not? That’s usually not a good way to combat perceived mistracking. What’s the effective mass of the zeta?
vepiteski OP
9 posts
 
According to https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge_database.php?m=Zyx&mod=r100h&t=any&sort=2&Sear...=the tracking force is 1.7-2.5g. At 2.2g, I mistracking is much reduced on music recordings (piano) but still fails the sibilance test record.Also, the Zeta has an effective mass of 16g, and again from the vinylengine site, the match with the R100 is perfect.


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chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Hey, just like any ZYX cartridges the compliance of your cartridge was measured at 100Hz, so your calculation with vinylengine is all the way wrong if you are not converted 100Hz to 10Hz before. I was in this quest too, lol

When i asked Mehran at SoraSound (official distributor) to confirm the 10Hz compliance with Nakatsuka-San, the answer was very strange, they could not tell me anything about 10Hz compliance to make my measurements correct. They said it’s dangerous to measure compliance at 10Hz, so they use 100Hz in Japan.

All Japanese cartridge manufacturer measure Dynamic Compliance @ 100 Hz (not at 10Hz like in our world).

As you can see on official site your model has 15×10-6cm/dyne (horizontal dynamic compliance at 100Hz) and 12x10-6cm/dyne for vertical.

What does that mean?
In our world you have to convert it to 10Hz (just multiply on 1.7)
The result will surprise you, but this is more or less correct:

**horizontal dynamic compliance: 25.5cu @10 Hz
**vertical: 20.4 cu @10 Hz

ZYX dynamic compliance is medium-high, it is probably the reason why the weight of them is light.

This is all you need to know before you will calculate resonance frequency.

I owned two ZYX cartridges before and even official distributor could not answer the simple question about "real" dynamic compliance.

I also experienced distortion in one channel on my ZYX Airy3, but only in burn-in period, and ONLY with Grey Market sample i bought from 2juki on ebay. My second sample was higher model Premium 4D SB and it was from SoraSound (USA), i can’t recall any problem with it.

Do you have grey market sample from 2juki ?


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