distorted sound

julian_photo

julian_photo

Member
Hey everyone nice to make my first post here finally after reading a fair bit. I have jvc FX l-FX4 turntable that was my grandfathers. Now i have an Ortofon OMP 5 cartridge that i've put on it in hopes that would make it sound better. The issue i'm having now is that often with more distorted parts of songs is sounds like the sounds is peaking and getting all distorted. One good example is the icy thumbs album by the white stripes. Sound is going though a yamaha stereo amp with a phone input. My speakers are Mission M71's.

I'm trying to decide if i should be just buying a new turntable or if there is something else that can be done.

thanks for any advice you have
Julian
 
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You have no way to check that the turntable is the problem...Is the rest of the system working OK?

Have you cleaned the stylus?
 
the rest of the system works great for the turner, xbox, blu-ray. i cleaned it using some alcohol and its almost brand new, its p-mount style btw.
 
OK, P mounts don't allow you to tweak the alignment - but they are aligned correctly as all the cartridges must meet the design specs. There may still be issues with tracking force (that's the downward weight carried by the cantilever), or it might be the anti-skate settings? Both of those should be user adjustable. Have you dropped by VinylEngine.com to see if there is a manual for that model? Also, have to ask - the records are clean? Also, is this a new cartridge and stylus, or the one that's been on there for decades?
 
I don't know for sure if this is the problem, but the OMP5 isn't the best choice as the required tracking force, 1.75g, is .5g higher than that spec'd for p-mount, 1.25g. The stylus is shared by the OM-5E, a standard mount cartridge for turntables with adjustable tracking force. Add to that the fact that p-mounts should weigh 6g and this weighs 5g, and you are actually running at 1.5g under the required tracking force. This could easily result in distortion. Why Ortofon chose to use this on a p-mount is a mystery. Seems they offer these cartridges as token models to satisfy p-mount users, but they really don't understand the concept behind p-mount. Unfortunately you had no way of knowing this. The AT-92ECD for $25 shipped on ebay would have been a better choice. AT, Shure, and of course, Technics, who developed p-mount, were the ones whose cartridges were spec'd the most accurately.

Of course, the stylus could also be damaged or defective. As broc suggested, if it is used, it's probably shot.

In the future, before you buy anything, run it by us here at AK first.
 
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Are you using a yamaha HT amplifier? I haven't heard anything "good" about the phono pre-amplifier sections on the newer HT amplifiers.
 
Thats so much for the response so far. Its all very interesting even if i end up replacing the table just because i want to. The amp i'm using is a yamaha rx-396 stereo only. The cartridge and stylist are brand new and i'm fairly sure i didn't damage it at all when i was trying to clean it, but i will try and have a good look at it. The only adjustment i can find in anyway on this thing is anti-skidding which i set to 1.5g.

All the records i currently own i've bought new. Admittedly i have not cleaned them other than with a carbon brush. The audio is mostly free of pops and clicks, vocals sound great. It really just loud guitar that seems like its peaking.

thanks again
Julian
 
Don't ever clean an Ortofon stylus with alcohol as it is a solvent for the adhesive they use to attach the stylus to the cantilever. Ortofon's own instruction manuals warn against this. If you must wet clean the stylus use either plain water (distilled is best) or a solution that does not contain alcohol.
I killed an almost new stylus for an OM30 by forgetting this and cleaning it with a mild alcohol solution.
 
hey sorry for all the posts here. Anyway i just played radiohead - in rainbows and everything seems fine still so i didn't kill it. There is much less distortion in this album and its sounds pretty good.

One thing i noticed was the whole tonearm is moving around a fair bit. up and down a little but mostly left and right across the record plane, not sure if thats normal or not.

I'm still considering an investment in a new table at some point.
 
How many albums have you had problems with ?? is it possible the records are bad pressings ? maybe the back & forth is the pressing is not "centered" , do you have any older Vinyl in good shape to try out ??
I have read mixed reviews on the Radiohead & white stripes pressings , if you search them on here there should be some reviews good or bad on them ...
 
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