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Thorens TD 320/Lyra Delos ringing/clinking noise

Hello all. First post here. 

I have had my Lyra Delos for about 9 months and love it. After careful setup and the break-in period, tree sound really opened up. Initially, I was using it with a Thorens TD 147, but I was getting a weird ringing/metallic sound that was audible on headphones.

Various testing determined it wasn't the motor on the table, so I assumed it was an issue with the Thorens suspension or tonearm (TP 16 mkIII). I then bought a Thorens TD 320 with a TP 16 mkIV tonearm, carefully mounted the Delos, and what do you know, I'm getting a very similar sound. It's almost like a clinking/ringing sound at around 700hz.

Before I start swapping cartridges (not easy with these Thorens tables), is this the kind of sound that could be the result of a faulty suspension/damping inside the Delos? The tracking is fantastic, the cantilever rides at a 90 degree angle during playback, which would lead me to believe that it's not the Delos suspensionm. I am still within warranty period though, so I'd like to get this resolved sooner than later if it could indeed be something defective with the cartridge. 

marblesmike
marblesmike OP
6 posts
 

@rivington66  yes, my Ares preamp has tubes, but that can't be the cause because otherwise I’d be also be getting the sound without playback, right? 

rivington66's avatar
rivington66
93 posts
 

Got it. I didn’t realize it was playback only. I get that clinking sound ever so softly when a tube is going. Well good luck! I know frustrating this can be. 

marblesmike OP
6 posts
 

Relubed the platter. Seems to have helped but the pinging of the platter when tapping it or putting it down on the subplatter seems to match the frequency of the sound I was hearing. 

I also added a fabric platter mat under my normal Thorens rubber mat, so that might be helping as well, even if it raises the VTA a bit. 

Any suggestions on how to confirm if the platter bearing is oiled enough or how to dampen the zinc alloy platter without affecting the sound too too much? 

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,469 posts
 

@marblesmike 

to dampen the zinc alloy platter without affecting the sound too too much 

I'd recommend The Funk Firm's Acromat, only available in 3-mm thickness these days.  It is a rigid acrylic mat designed to absorb vibrations generated in the vinyl by the stylus.  It can be stuck to the platter with very thin double-sided adhesive pads.  Acrylic and vinyl have about the same acoustic impedance, and the mat is filled with micro-bubbles for vibration absorption.  I have Achromats on both my tables.  There is also a more expensive version bonded to a glass plate which I have not tried

jcarr
391 posts
 

Hi again Mike:

Should you decide that there is a high probability that the Delos is the source of your problems, I'd estimate a 6~8 week servicing turnaround time after we receive it. I wish that the work could be done more quickly, but the servicing of Lyra cartridges is done by the same people (Yoshinori Mishima & Akiko Ishiyama) who build them, therefore we always need to balance on-going production vs. servicing.

The upside is that Mishima and Ishiyama have been personally taught by yours truly regarding the Delos design, they work on these cartridges every day and are intimately familiar with each detail of how they should be made, as well as what they are supposed to sound like.

kind regards, jonathan

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