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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
richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,389 posts
 

@hollowman 

anyone have to adjust their VTF because they are above 7,000 ft seal levels?

We have some pretty noticeable wildlife down-under, including extensive seal colonies.  One big seal even lives on the Sydney Opera House harbour steps.  But 7,000 ft is huge ...

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,389 posts
 

In the very early days of 78s, the stylus assembly was the only transducer, and fed directly into a horn arrangement to amplify the sound.

Notewothy was a patent by Percy Wilson, the technical editor of the Gramophone Magazine, for a tangential tonearm carrying a 6' horn, floating on two baths of liquid mercury.

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,389 posts
 

@hollowman 

anyone have to adjust their VTF because they are above 7,000 ft seal levels?

Just in case you were asking about sea levels, the radius of the earth is about 20 million feet.  Gravity drops off as the inverse square of distance so will be about 0.007% lower at 7,000 feet compared with where the seals live.  Gravity is what determines the Stylus Rake Angle which is unlikely to be noticeably affected by such a minute change in Vertical Tracking Force. 

If you are worried about Vertical Tracking Angle, get a tangential tonearm because Horizontal Tracking Error is just as important as Vertical Tracking Error (on stereo records).

joeycastillo
267 posts
 

My Take

I head this sound coming from some of LP but NOT all, or maybe I don't hear it as loud. also, as another poster above said, it seemed to dampen when i have my clamp on. 

so, it seems it comes from the record itself as not all LP does it for me. 

that is my observation

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,389 posts
 

@joeycastillo 

True.  The stylus causes vibrations in the vinyl, which if not damped pass back into the stylus, introducing distortions which may sound good or bad, but are not part of the recording.

An excellent way to damp vinyl vibrations is to use the Funk Firm's Achromat platter mat.  Also made of vinyl, it couples well to the record and absorbs vibrations in microscopic bubbles throughout the mat.

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