tonearm issue


My SME-V just came back back from service and is now mounted on my new Sota Onxy with new Ortofon X40. So, everything about this setup is new to me unfortunately. The arm is skating in terribly skipping through the first part of the first song but only certain records.  I have followed the manufacturers manual for set up as well as I can. I have tried adding extra antiskating moving the dial to the max. This did nothing. I'm not sure what part of this new setup I should concern myself with. What else could cause this problem?

thejeenyus54

@thejeenyus54 

Could you explain what was done when the arm was serviced. Was it rewired ?

A good test is to balance the arm/cartridge to zero, and set the antiskate to 0, so the arm is floating, and then you can see straight away if the arm has a tendency to swing one way or the other.

I know from being an SME distributor some years ago that often re-wiring had not been dressed correctly where the wire goes from tube to vertical column resulting in excessive pull on the arm one way or the other.

Good tip. I'll try that. It was rewired but not this time. I've had this for 25+ years. The re-wire was 10 years ago. The service was on the arm lift this time. The adjustment screw for that mechanism was stripped.

It's something, patience and good methods are needed.

Back to basics, you need to check/re-check everything. I use several levels simultaneously (check that they agree with each other first, some are a speck off)

mine and friend's TTs

I once found a platter that was not properly seated on the spindle. off/on, done

I once found a TT that was sitting in a plinth, unfastened, another: one screw of 3 tight, the other two snug but not tight. An arm not really tight on the arm board, mechanic's elderly father forgot to tighten the wheel nuts om my wife's MGB, 

recently found two removable headshells not perfectly parallel with the tonearm, put little 10mm diameter bubble levels on the headshell, and acrylic block with lines behind the headshell, not the arm for VTA

adjustable feet to level the plinth, I shake rattle and roll them to see if they settle different than they just were, and re-check after a few days.

 

You might want to simply level the whole suspension, Those springs are pretty loose and doing shipping will bounce around substantially.