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Stylus/cantilever stiff and noisy--WARNING!

If you can hear the music from the needle (at the needle/cart) when volume is minimized, cue the tonearm up as soon as possible.

The suspension elastomer on the stylus has stiffened up and will not only sound poorer but can damage the grooves because of lack of compliance.

I've had this happen a few times and it seems to happen very quickly. Literally, a week or two after last playback.

This usually happens with older styli or new-old-stock styli or carts.

I was able to get a an ADC (1977) stylus working after a wd40 treatment (this is common "cure" for the issue). But the problem came back very quickly.

A "feel" test (fingers on stylus) might  also help get the "feeling" for good compliance vs. bad.

I had this happen again on some new-old-stock Shure replacement styli.

I'm not certain if there is some sort of test or "rule of thumb" that us vinylphiles can use to:

(a) ascertain it is indeed elastomer/suspension related

(b) gauge the ORIGINAL mechanical compliance of the stylus.

Maybe comments related to following might be useful :

Shure , Stanton or Pickering stylus are stiffer than other manufs.

DJ cantilevers are stiff.

Mass of tonearm vs stylus compliance.

Thx!

hollowman
lewm
14,671 posts
 

"(a) ascertain it is indeed elastomer/suspension related" is the best advice, because usually it's not. All cartridges can be microphonic to some degree and therefore actually generate energy of the music being reproduced so as to move the air around the cartridge, thereby creating audible sound. I guess this could be a more intense phenomenon with low compliance cartridges, but even old high compliance cartridges that still work are likely to have higher compliance than a new low compliance MC, for example. Anyway, that is my take.

fa8362
23 posts
 

Agree with lewm. What he describes is very common. All or nearly all my cartridges play audibly at the record, regardless of age.

larryi
4,578 posts
 

The chatter one hears from the playing of the record comes primarily from the record surface itself, not from the cartridge.  The stylus playing the groove deforms the groove which then snaps back to its original shape (elastic deformation).  It is this vibrational energy imparted in the record causing the record itself to vibrate that one hears.  If you have a very effective clamping system that holds the record tightly to a platter that damps this vibration, you will hear less chatter.  I hear much less chatter when I turn on the vacuum clamping system of my turntable than when I do not turn it on.

tablejockey
4,403 posts
 

"I was able to get a an ADC (1977) stylus working after a wd40 treatment (this is common "cure" for the issue)"

What is the WD40 treatment? 

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