Clipping/Distortion and other problems with new stylus

[badfinger74]

Hi all, hoping for some advice with a recent purchase.

After becoming fed up with trying to fix the IGD problems with my AT95E, I decided to replace it with a vintage Stanton D600EE that I already owned. I bought a replacement stylus for it on LPGear (which hopefully isn't the source of my troubles since it wasn't the cheapest stylus I've ever bought) and the difference in terms of IGD was night and day.

However, when I plugged my headphones in I realized that I was getting some pretty bad distortion on louder passages with my records. I have tried many LPs, a different turntable, a different preamp, different headphones, and even a different cartridge (I have a very similar Pickering).

There is also a strange problem I noticed when I tried to record some needledrops to Audacity. The left channel waves are higher, with the bottom cut off and the right channel are the opposite, which I guess means that somehow my left channel is heavy on the high-end and right is heavy on the low-end. I can't detect this difference while listening. It happens when I play mono records as well.

I have experimented with the alignment and anti-skate with no luck. I have noticed though that the situation is somewhat remedied by increasing the tracking force to about 3 or 3.5g, but this is much heaver than the recommended 1-2g and being as its an elliptical stylus I do not want to damage my LPs.

Everything except this distortion sounds great to my ears. But is the stylus really just junk?

Thanks so much for replying

 

[jaybirdss396]

More info would be helpful such as the exact turntable, preamp etc... But it sounds like the phono pre is clipping if you are seeing waveforms cut off. Or it could be severely mistracking.

I never really believed in stylus "break in" but I've recently had a few styli that sounded like crap for the first few hours and had to just put on a throwaway record and played it a couple dozen times with the volume down till it settled out.

Also many aftermarket styli for Stanton and Pickering need higher tracking force than the original to prevent sibilance. Even with higher tracking force some of the aftermarket styli will still never sound right.

 

[badfinger74]

More info would be helpful such as the exact turntable, preamp etc... But it sounds like the phono pre is clipping if you are seeing waveforms cut off. Or it could be severely mistracking.

I never really believed in stylus "break in" but I've recently had a few styli that sounded like crap for the first few hours and had to just put on a throwaway record and played it a couple dozen times with the volume down till it settled out.

Also many aftermarket styli for Stanton and Pickering need higher tracking force than the original to prevent sibilance. Even with higher tracking force some of the aftermarket styli will still never sound right.

Thanks for your reply! I am switching back and forth between my Technics SL-D202 and SL-1500. My preamp is a ROLLS VP29, but I've also tried the built-in preamp on my Yamaha receiver. Never had problems with either before.

If I went for a higher tracking force than recommended (say 3 - 4g instead of 1 - 2) would I be at greater risk of damaging the stylus or the vinyl?

 

[jaybirdss396]

I would start getting nervous about tracking any higher than around 2.5g. I would just set it at 2.5g and play a junk record for a few hours to break it in then see how it sounds.

 

[tabarddn51]

Not an easy one this, but yes the others are correct. I would recommend never going over 2.5 or you will damage you LP's, also I would never set a tracking weight more that 0.2 grams above the max recommended. Speak to LPgear & see if they have any clue.

Cheers

 

[vwestlife]

LP Gear's "600EE" stylus is probably equivalent to the EVG 4821-DE, which has a recommended tracking force of 3 grams:

https://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog/part_detail.asp?PNumberBase=821

And don't worry about it damaging your records. After all, 8 to 9 grams is the normal pressure!

 

[jrtrent]

. . . I have experimented with the alignment and anti-skate with no luck. I have noticed though that the situation is somewhat remedied by increasing the tracking force to about 3 or 3.5g, but this is much heaver than the recommended 1-2g and being as its an elliptical stylus I do not want to damage my LPs.

Since LP Gear doesn't seem to have tracking force specified on its website, are you getting the 1-2 gram range from the packaging you received or the original Stanton 600EE specifications?

I share your reluctance to track an elliptical stylus at such high tracking forces. Past threads have cited a study by Kogen who found that a small elliptical (.2 mil) tracking at 1.5 grams did as much damage to a record as a .7 mil conical tracking at 3 grams; in both cases, this was minimal wear described as visible under a microscope but not detectable by ear after 100 plays.

Your .3 X .7 mil elliptical is a bit fatter, so a bit more tracking force might be acceptable, but I feel safer with a conical when tracking forces are up around 2 grams or higher. I bought an AT-LP120XUSB for its 78 rpm capability, and the stock cartridge came with a .3 X .7 mil elliptical stylus designed to track at 1.8-2.2 grams. I immediately replaced it with their .6 mil conical because I simply couldn't bring myself to use the elliptical at such a high vtf.

I have no qualms about playing my 78's with the AT-VMN95SP 3 mil conical at 5 grams.

 

[Wolfie62]

Your symptoms sound like everything is fine except for your stylus. That clipping and distortion is a classic sign of a defective stylus. Send it back to LP Gear.

Either the Diamond is mounted badly or the suspension is in a bind..

 

[badfinger74]

Your symptoms sound like everything is fine except for your stylus. That clipping and distortion is a classic sign of a defective stylus. Send it back to LP Gear.

Either the Diamond is mounted badly or the suspension is in a bind..

At this point I'm inclined to agree with you. I have been trying to "break in" the stylus for a few days now with no success. Unfortunately I've gone past LPGear's return policy window.

But here's the weird thing. The Stanton cartridge I'm using came with my Technics SL-1500, which I bought last year. The ebay seller told me the stylus was brand new. He didn't give me any further info, so I just decided to replace it. I kept the stylus he sold me and it is identical to the one I bought on LPGear. I finally decided to give it a try- same exact distortion. And again just to clarify, it's not the cart- I have an old conical that plays on it just fine and I have also swapped it out with a similar Pickering.

What are the chances my turntable's previous owner also bought the exact same defective stylus from LPGear?

I'm thinking now it's time to drop some more $$ and go for an OEM...or maybe a different stylus altogether. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. And thanks again everyone for your help!

 

[Wolfie62]

I’ve had good results with this stylus.

Here.