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AR XA help

schaale

schaale

Active Member
Hi all. I have a modified XA with a grado gold cart and 8mz stylus. My problem is I can't seem to get rid of distortion in the higher freq. I tried differnt stylus force, moving the wires for the tonearm around and it stays the same. I've used differnt receivers, amps, phono preamps and it stays the same. Is there some thing else that could cause this? Thank you
 
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Is there any stubborn buildup of crud on the stylus? I've had deposits that only alcohol cleaning could remove, but be sure it's safe for your stylus. Some end up with no diamond if wet cleaning is done! I've also had distortion that turned out to be some tiny micro-thread wound on the cantilever. Use a good magnifier, 10X or greater.
 
I haven't tried any other carts. I bought the cart from Marc Morin and he set it up for me in my headshell. There is some crud build up that seems like it doesn't want to come off using magic eraser. I haven't looked at it with a micro scope just with a flash light.will
Alcohol hurt the 8mz? At $100 I don't want mess it up
 
It also seems like it gets worse the longer I play records. Could not be grounded right and its building up static or capacitance?
 
schaale said:
It also seems like it gets worse the longer I play records. Could not be grounded right and its building up static or capacitance?
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Don't think that would be your problem, more along the lines of arm setup.
Have you adjusted the pivot bearings and oiled the arm spindle well?
I'm sure Marc can sort the problem out as soon as he comes back from R/R.
 
sfrost said:
Don't think that would be your problem, more along the lines of arm setup.
Have you adjusted the pivot bearings and oiled the arm spindle well?
I'm sure Marc can sort the problem out as soon as he comes back from R/R.
Click to expand...

I sent the tonearm to Marc to have the shaft polished and sapphire bearings installed. I could see if it got worse as the arm moved towards the center of the record but after about a record and a half it does it the whole time. Hopefully it's something simple
 
schaale said:
I sent the tonearm to Marc to have the shaft polished and sapphire bearings installed. I could see if it got worse as the arm moved towards the center of the record but after about a record and a half it does it the whole time. Hopefully it's something simple
Click to expand...

clean your diamond. Use what Joe Grado told me to use when i bought my first Signature cartridge back in the 70's......your fingertip. You can feel just how much pressure you're putting on the cantilever, you can't "feel" that with a brush. what oils may be on your finger tip will not affect the diamond or its mount. It won't goo up the albums. But it sounds like you got a big ol' hunk a sumthin on it now.......which will chew up your vinyl. The 8MZ should play perfect in your arm. If not, send me the cart and headshell and I'll inspect it for a problem that may have cropped up.
 
Hi Marc. Hope you had a nice and relaxing vacation. I'll try cleaning it with my finger tip tomorrow. Hopefully that's all that it is.
 
I got a chance today to clean the stylus with my finger. There was a lot of junk on it. It still looks like some on I don't have a strong magnifying glass to look. The distortion went away and the voices and music sounds good but there is a lot of static in the back ground. I have the stylus force set at 1.5g and the table level. When I made the new plinth I used some monster cable interconnects soldered to the term strip on the bottom
 
schaale said:
I got a chance today to clean the stylus with my finger. There was a lot of junk on it. It still looks like some on I don't have a strong magnifying glass to look. The distortion went away and the voices and music sounds good but there is a lot of static in the back ground. I have the stylus force set at 1.5g and the table level. When I made the new plinth I used some monster cable interconnects soldered to the term strip on the bottom
Click to expand...

Still sounds like the diamond is dirty, and or your albums have a lot of static built up debris in the grooves. The Grado should track a touch better in that arm set at 1.6 - 1.65 gr.

You'll probably want to pull the headshell and examine the diamond with no less than 30 loupe, 60 is better.
 
I'll change the tracking force. I'll get a stronger magnifier. If the finger isn't getting the junk off, what other method would recommend?
 
schaale said:
I'll change the tracking force. I'll get a stronger magnifier. If the finger isn't getting the junk off, what other method would recommend?
Click to expand...

With the cartridge in hand, inverted so diamond is up, I use a diskwasher stylus brush and ronsonal lighter fluid. Stroke back to front only, and only slightly compress the stylus. You really need the magification to see exactly what's on the diamond first.
 
The original Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works very well. A quick search will give good directions on how to use it.

I always have little pieces handy and give them to friends.
 
marcmorin said:
With the cartridge in hand, inverted so diamond is up, I use a diskwasher stylus brush and ronsonal lighter fluid. Stroke back to front only, and only slightly compress the stylus. You really need the magification to see exactly what's on the diamond first.
Click to expand...

gtrfxr said:
The original Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works very well. A quick search will give good directions on how to use it.

I always have little pieces handy and give them to friends.
Click to expand...

That's what I've been using and it isn't working on the tuff gunk. Marc ill get a magnifying glass and give the light fluid a shot
 
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