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Can you guys take a quick look at this? need feedback

Grindhouse80

Grindhouse80

New Member
WIN_20211229_01_35_46_Pro.jpg i just had another accident with a ortofon 2m blue. im so clumsy. i thought the cue lever was up and i ended up dragging it a lil across the record. i have a microscope thats pretty good and a good price. just wanna be sure its usable before i potentially damage my records. thanks in advance everyone!

heres a more accurate pic. once again being clumsy i knocked it off the computer table. go easy on me .
 
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It's not easy to be sure from that picture but it looks to me like you have lost your rock. In other words the stylus tip appears to be gone.

The brightness is too high or something. Can you try to get a front or side view? I could be wrong.
 
cool. before i spin some more records is there another way just to make extra sure its all good to go? like a different angle or something. anything. i just want to feel rest assured i wont damage my records. thanks btw montycat for your help so far! :)
 
If you look at the cantilever from the side and it still appears to angle downward slightly from the cartridge body kind of like the image (this isn't necessarily exactly what it should look like but close) it's likely fine.

You can also test a crappy record and see if it plays ok.

VTA_vs_SRA_Diagram (1).png
 
thanks montycat for the explaination and picture. can you tell me what i should look for when testing a crappy record? distortion hiss crackle stuff like that right?
 
Hey Grindhouse, and welcome to AudioKarma!

It's hard to say from the pictures, but the first shot you provided seems to show that the stylus is not quite properly aligned on the cantilever but that might be just the angle of the camera. Please provide more pics showing the stylus relative to the cantilever, and try to reduce the brightness a bit as Monty suggests.

My experience is that with a stylus just a bit off, you would hear more channel imbalance and the soundstage might not snap into focus as well rather than "distortion, hiss or crackle" which would point more towards a record that's not in very good condition although I suppose a badly skewed cantilever/stylus might tend to pick up a bit more surface noise. Let's see some more shots, and try to get them as straight-on as you can.

Meanwhile, from what I'm seeing so far I would refrain from playing my valuable LPs until you have more information. Another good idea would be to check alignment with a protractor if you have one, preferably one that has a mirror surface. If you don't have one with a mirror surface, it's fairly easy to fashion such a tool by just using a standard mirror and dropping the stylus down on it to see if things are perpendicular and if you get the "hour glass" shape that the stylus will make with its reflection if things are right.
 
Grindhouse80 said:
thanks montycat for the explaination and picture. can you tell me what i should look for when testing a crappy record? distortion hiss crackle stuff like that right?
Click to expand...

Those sounds might be there on the crappy record anyway! I'm actually thinking just about tracking, as in does it stay in the groove and play music, and look right (like the picture). Alignment as Fishead describes is also important of course.
 
Hey @RB47 - while a decent picture it's not good enough to see the wear facets on the stylus. For that you need something like the Shure SEK-2. Proper magnification and lighting are the key.
 
Fishead said:
Hey Grindhouse, and welcome to AudioKarma!

It's hard to say from the pictures, but the first shot you provided seems to show that the stylus is not quite properly aligned on the cantilever but that might be just the angle of the camera. Please provide more pics showing the stylus relative to the cantilever, and try to reduce the brightness a bit as Monty suggests.

My experience is that with a stylus just a bit off, you would hear more channel imbalance and the soundstage might not snap into focus as well rather than "distortion, hiss or crackle" which would point more towards a record that's not in very good condition although I suppose a badly skewed cantilever/stylus might tend to pick up a bit more surface noise. Let's see some more shots, and try to get them as straight-on as you can.

Meanwhile, from what I'm seeing so far I would refrain from playing my valuable LPs until you have more information. Another good idea would be to check alignment with a protractor if you have one, preferably one that has a mirror surface. If you don't have one with a mirror surface, it's fairly easy to fashion such a tool by just using a standard mirror and dropping the stylus down on it to see if things are perpendicular and if you get the "hour glass" shape that the stylus will make with its reflection if things are right.
Click to expand...
hi fishead! thanks!

i had my turntable fully setup and aligned at a record store. i initially wanted him to just align it cause i have a hard time with that. but he did the whole setup for me with it. that was before i started using my brand new ortofon 2m blue which was aa few days before christmas. so it must be the picture or maybe cause of the accident that it looks not quite properly aligned.i will take more pictures of the stylus.

i noticed a difference in better sound quality when i started using this stylus compared to my previous stylus which was a worn damaged ortofon 2m red. my records that had problems before sounded much better when using the blue.

i tried a record im quite familiar with and it sounded fine. some good quality. however when i tried old test record it sounded like crap but then again i havent used it in ages and i havent wet clean in ages either.
 
Montycat said:
Those sounds might be there on the crappy record anyway! I'm actually thinking just about tracking, as in does it stay in the groove and play music, and look right (like the picture). Alignment as Fishead describes is also important of course.
Click to expand...

hi montycat

true i tried a few test records and they sounded like i remember which is horrible . but one of my good ones still sounded good
 
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