Sussurro MkII and surface noise?

I added a new Sussurro to my table in January and have enjoyed it very much all year. Then recently, after seeing a notice on Analogue Corner from MF about a few WallyTraktors still being available, I ordered one to use with my Helius Omega arm. Wow. After just a few minutes (well maybe a half hour) of readjustment and suddenly the cart sounds WAY better. I've got the arm as low as I can with my setup and the arm is just a hair's breadth above horizontal. The VTF is 2.15 to compensate a bit for the slightly high arm and the SRA looks good in my scope. Yes, I did tweak the azimuth a bit by ear as well. At any rate, everything now sounds as I'd always hoped but thought wasn't quite possible with my equipment. Surface noise is nonexistent on most good vinyl and the soundstage is to die for now. And believe me I've spent many hours messing with everything from tweaks to amps trying to get to this place. 
So yes, from my 40+ years' experience, these styli are indeed tricky to get aligned just right. but boy is it worth it!

@tonyptony 
What happened with your surface noise?  I was very surprised to read about your trouble.  I got a new Sussurro a few weeks ago.  I previously had a Benz Micro Wood SM.  The SS was definitely quieter.  I have a Rega table and simply mounted and eyeballed the alignment.

Hi @dhite71. At the moment I have no update for you. I was running a Benz LP-S nicely until I packed up my house for my retirement move. At the moment now, only the digital side of my system is set up in the new house. I need to get the room painted, the rug installed, the electrical done, before I unpack that behemoth of a VPI Avenger and set it up. I don’t want to do that more than once! :-) I do plan to hook the Sussurro back up, though. 

@tonyptony,

Good luck on your retirement move and congratulations on your retirement. I can’t wait to make our last move to our retirement house, wherever that may be.



I have a Benz Ruby Z, Benz LP, and Benz LPS to compare to the Sussaro MKII that I acquired a few years ago. The Sussaro MKII did not have any noticeable surface noise, whatsoever. The only time I hear noise, is when I am playing loud, and it is when the cartridge tracking is in between tracks on the record. These are used on SME V tonearms and Transrotor Apollon turntable. In bound is the new  Transrotor TRA 9 tonearm in gold finish to complete the three ring tonearm circle. 

This noise is what I would call groove noise due to the amplification levels being higher than normal. If your system is quiet and the noise you hear in the record when loud playback levels are induced, it is more than likely groove noise (my novice explanation is that you are playing louder than normal). The Sussaro holds itself very well compared with the upper tier Benz line up. 

I also have a Hyperion that is on one of my other tonearms and same thing, no noise. If you don’t hear noise constantly when playing the record, then I would suggest it is groove noise. If your hearing static noise at all loudness levels and during playback and in between tracks, then yes, probably something is not right. Double check settings, but that is going have to wait when you settle into your new house and get the room ready. Good luck.

@audioquest4life , I’d love to get your thoughts on how the LPS and the Sussurro MKII compare to each other. 
I packed up all my stuff a year ago June. With all the crazy stuff going on it took me until July of THIS year to get everything here. But those delays resulted in me getting a tremendous price for my house, so I won’t complain. I moved all the audio gear myself, of course. :-)