Raul seems to be my personal critic, following me around on these pages to disagree or debunk what I might have written. Raul notwithstanding, I have no problem with anyone setting AS any way they want to. I was merely re-quoting a fact: blank LPs do not generate the friction force on the stylus tip that is generated by any LP with actual grooves encoding music. This is not a truth that emanates only from me; others have also mentioned it. Raul or anyone else can take that or leave it. Nor do I dispute the fact that the skating force is constantly varying across the surface of an LP, largely in fact due to groove tortuosity and also to the constantly varying tracking angle error. Thus, there is no such thing as one correct amount of AS, even for any one single LP.
MC cartridge loading: still baffled
I am using a low output moving coil cartridge- a retipped Linn Troika. Recommended loading is 100-200 ohms which I have always followed. My phono pre is an Ayre P-5xe and set to the highest gain. Years ago, Michael at Ayre said most moving coil cartridges sounded best when loaded at 47k ohm using their phono pre. I just got around to trying this setting and it does sound more open and better to me. Lately, I am discovering that much of the dogma that I have been following isn't necessarily correct, at least with my system and to my ears. Another example I found recently is that my arm/cartridge performs just fine with very little anti-skate force as opposed to just picking a setting equal to VTF as universally suggested.
Back to the loading question: is the proper loading more a function of the phono pre or the cartridge itself?
Back to the loading question: is the proper loading more a function of the phono pre or the cartridge itself?
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- 31 posts total
A good explanation of the blank record and the similar use of the run-out section of the record can be found if the last listed video here: https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/videos This is the method now endorsed by Peter Ledermann and Frank Shroeder (tonearm maker). It is also the method described in the instruction manual of one of my cartridges (I believe it is the one for the Lyra Titan, so J.C. Carr is also endorsing this method). The video explains why this is a reasonable approximation. Someone mention listening for how well centered is a soloist on records with a well-defined center image. To me, that would work only if your cartridge had perfect channel balance and few owners are that lucky. I would rather have the cartridge set up for optimum physical alignment, and compensate for channel imbalance with the balance control on my linestage. |
- 31 posts total