Another possible issue is cable/phonostage capacitance. Do you know what load your cartridge is seeing? I'm no expert in this, but I believe that the higher the picofarads, the lower in frequency and the steeper a response peak might be caused. According to one site I read, sibilance is generally in the 4-10kHz range, and I've seen graphs of different cartridge loading that can create a sizable peak in that region, so possibly you have a mismatch between cartridge needs and the total capacitance of your tonearm/cable wiring plus phono stage input. The recommended range for the CN5625AL is 100-200pF. Your Pioneer PL-50 is an early 1970's model that might not use the lower capacitance cables that later turntables were fitted with, a response to the frequency needs of quadraphonic records, or so I've read. As an example, Shure used to design their cartridges, up to and including 1973's V15 III, to operate best between 400 and 500 pF; 1978's V15 IV was designed to use 200-300pF, and Shure said this change was in response to the lower capacitance wiring most turntables were then being fitted with.
Really? You go doling out this "advice" to a noob with a cheap AT and a Pyle pre that's hearing sibilance? Absolute unnecessary, overkill, and not at all practical information. On the surface, it might look like you know what you're talking about. But the first rule of effective communication is to understand your audience. SMH.
To the OP -- There are a few things that can cause mis-tracking and distortion. I can tell you my best guess is that your problems will be solved by getting a new stylus. But I'll cover all the bases here (notice that I did NOT mention capacitance loading because
it is not applicable to your problem).
Here's what can cause sibilance and/or distortion:
-- Setup issues
-- Dirty stylus
-- Damaged cantilever
-- Damaged or worn stylus tip
-- Bad suspension
-- Tonearm problems
Setup: Typically with a conical stylus like the one on your AT, you don't have to worry as much about alignment (how parallel the stylus is in the groove) but you do have to worry about tracking force and azimuth (more on that below). For tracking force, I assume you have balanced the arm properly (zeroing the weight and re-setting the gauge). Go ahead and try the higher end of the recommended tracking force range and see if it gets any better.
Dirty stylus: Lots of times, a stylus can get lots of gunk built up on it and that will affect tracking. The best way (I've found) to clean heavily gunked-up styli is using a special kind of brush (
tight fibers like this one) and a couple drops of liquid, a mix of mostly distilled water with a little bit of alcohol. If you don't have a good stylus brush, see if you have one of those Magic Eraser cleaning sponges around (the white ones with the microfibers). Gently dab the stylus into the sponge and see if your getting detritus left in the sponge when you do.
Damaged cantilever: Make sure your cantilever (the metal tube that the stylus is attached to) isn't bent. Look closely and see if you see any dents or tears in the tube wall. Also check azimuth, the angle of the stylus in the groove. If it looks like the tiny tip of the stylus is pointing left or right, that can cause distortion (
here's an exaggerated example). Not that I've seen a stylus (an AT as a matter of fact) where everything looked straight but the tip was glued badly on the cantilever at an angle. Either way, if your azimuth is off or you cantilever is bent or damaged, it's probably best to replace the stylus at that point.
Damaged or worn stylus tip: hard to confirm this without a microscope. If you don't know how old your stylus is, it might be time to just replace it.
Bad suspension: The suspension on a stylus is actually a tiny rubber ring that holds the stylus in place. On AT styli, the suspension is exposed, sitting right next to the plastic housing (you'll see two little angled protrusions sticking up right in front of it). Distortion caused by a bad suspension usually means the suspension has hardened and isn't very pliable. You can *gently* wiggle the cantilever to see if this is the case. It should give without too much resistance. (FYI, when a suspension is too soft or loose, the plastic housing drags the record).
Tonearm problems: Make sure that the armlift piece isn't sitting against the tonearm when the record is playing. That will prevent the proper tracking force from happening. Also, when you're doing the zero balancing for the tracking force, make sure that the arm moves easily up and down and side to side doesn't feel like it's binding anywhere in its travels.
Like I said, you're probably looking at a new stylus.
Here's where I shop. eBay will have lost of the 4211-D6 as well. Of course, you could also get another cartridge.
) it's better to run carts close to the high limit. Try to set up the cart to 2,5 (if not 2,9) and see how it goes.
