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Weird issue with my VPI... please help

I have a VPI Scoutmaster with a Shelter 501 MKII cartridge.

This is fairly new, so cartridge has maybe 40 hours on it.

Imagine a graphic EQ where you pushed the lowest band up full... and did the same to one other band in the upper midrange... and that's what it sounds like.

I thought it was something else in the playback chain, but I've isolated it to the turntable (switched phono stages to be sure). Other sources play fine so it's not the preamp or speakers etc.

Any ideas? I don't know if it's always been like this because when I first got the turntable I had some serious speaker issues where I couldn't hear the difference between any electronics (had a very muddy sound). Now that I have that cleared up (CDs sound great) I can hear the difference between different preamps etc... so I finally sit down to hear what my new vinyl collection actually sounds like... only to find out I have a problem of sorts.

The cartridge was setup by Elusivedisc.com where I bought the turntable.

Any help much appreciated!
madfloyd
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,368 posts
 
Bad cartridge...no setup error that I know will make a cartridge sound like that. I agree about Shelter cartridges...they sound fine in a VPI arm. Call back your dealer, explain the problem and get an RA number to send it back.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
Shelters are low to medium compliance cartridges. As such the ideal tonearm for them is not a unipivot such as VPI. Of course they will "work", but won't be optimized. The cartridge/tonearm combination is critical for top performance.

In fact, Shelters do much better in fixed bearing tonearms.

Anybody with analog experience would know this.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,368 posts
 
The fact that Shelters do better in fixed bearing arms is not the issue. Madfloyd's complaints are not of optimumization, but of severe frequency response errors. I suspect a bad cartridge the replacement of which will sound very good indeed. ..just my suggestion.
josephdtorres
7 posts
 
I have a scoutmaster with the signature arm from elusive disk, which I originally bought with the Shelter 501.

The problem is that the cartridge is too light for the signature arm. With the counter weight pushed forward all the way, the maximum tracking force is 1.45 grams,

Most people say the shelter tracks best at 1.85 grams. I had to remove the fine tracking bolt in the back of the arm in order to increase the tracking force to 1.85 grams. It makes tuning the arm more difficult since you no longer have fine-tuning capabilities.

My opinion: the cartridge should not be sold with the signature tonearm unless it includes the 3 gram headshell weight.

The Shelter sounds better once you increase the vertical tracking force. Setting the azimuth properly is also critical for getting it to track right. I got to where it sounded sweet, but was unable to get rid of a lot of noise. Since I decided to upgrade to the 10.5i arm and higher-end dynavector cartridge, I gave up on setting the cartridge up correctly, which takes a lot of time. So I can’t really tell you how good it can sound.

I hope this helps.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
>>The fact that Shelters do better in fixed bearing arms is not the issue<<

Your prior comment Stringbean-
"I agree about Shelter cartridges...they sound fine in a VPI arm"

You can't have it both ways.
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