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Distortion when playing lps, Shure V15 III plus Jico HE

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Depthgrammar

Member
Hi all, I have a problem with distortion playing lps. Turntable is a Dual cs5000 with a vintage Shure V15 iii cart, Jico HE stylus. I tried the amplifier with another turntable and there was no problem, so it's not the phono stage. The distortion almost sounds like there's a glob of dust on the stylus, and it's mostly intermittent, though occasionally a whole record will sound distorted. The needle is less than a year old, should have many hours left on it. I tried brushing it and cleaning it with magic eraser - that didn't fix it. I don't have another stylus handy to try. Wondering if this sounds like it could be the cartridge itself going, or is it likely to be that the stylus has gone bad somehow? Any way to tell? I'd rather not have to buy both cart and stylus again, but I love the sound when it's working. Any thoughts?
 
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Sometimes fibers from the Magic Eraser can get wrapped around the diamond tip of the stylus. If you have an Blu Tak, try dipping the stylus in a small blob, see if that helps.
Otherwise, I'd check VTF. You might be too light.
 
Give it as up close a visual inspection as you have the means to do, Verify there isn't a blob on the stylus, Verify all your alignments, remedy as required. Verify your cartridge wire connections are solid and sound. Rebalance your tonearm and verify VTA.

Short of a microscope, you have connectivity, cart and tonearm setup, and your ears to work with for a start. Another thing you might use in your investigations.......see if the distortion is at the same spot on a record....this won't prove it's the record, but if it repeats you might explore a cleaning process for it and see if that changes anything.
 
I hope you didn't brush it with the magic eraser as your not suppose to brush a stylus with it you dip it into ta piece of magic eraser. You may have damaged the stylus. Just an idea.
 
Products with the words Magic or Smart make me very skeptical. I find the plain old stylus brush that came with my AT cartridges is really all that is needed.

However, you do need to look at the stylus up close, so perhaps a jeweler's loop, or a really strong magnifying glass is needed for stylus inspection.. I also think there is a hunk of some type of junk on the stylus causing the distortion. I've had that very thing happen to me.
 
Thanks - all good suggestions. It does seem to me like some gunk on the stylus is the most likely explanation, so I was surprised cleaning didn't fix it. And yeah - I only dipped the stylus into the magic eraser, didn't brush. I'll give it a close look w/ a magnifying glass and redo my set-up, see if that is the fix.
 
The oem stylus is a huge high-profile chunk of diamond.
Your new one is the smallest bit of diamond glued to a metal stud. I have had Grado bonded styli fall off their stud, and expect same from JICO bonded. And if your stylus is still good, remember that it is very low-profile and the smallest dust bunny will dislodge it from the groove.
 
Well, in addition to magic eraser I tried an AT brush and blu tack. Redid my setup to make sure the tracking force was right et al, and the problem persists. So it seems like the stylus is no good, no? I'm a little worried I'll order a replacement stylus and then discover the cartridge was the problem. I definitely want to stay with the V15 iii, but is there a replacement stylus that's sturdier?
 
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You might want to recheck the tightness of your headshell wires.

Check your cartridge pins using a DMM. See if resistance changes at all by pushing the cart pins while reading resistance.
 
Depthgrammar said:
Well, in addition to magic eraser I tried an AT brush and blu tack. Redid my setup to make sure the tracking force was right et al, and the problem persists. So it seems like the stylus is no good, no? I'm a little worried I'll order a replacement stylus and then discover the cartridge was the problem. I definitely want to stay with the V15 iii, but is there a replacement stylus that's sturdier?
Click to expand...

No offense, but you don't even know what the problem is yet. For under $20, you could probably find a 50 power jeweler's loop.

I've brushed my stylus a couple of times after some weird noises during playback, with my jeweler's loop, discovered a short hair that would not dislodge. A wet cleaning fixed that.
 
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If you play a passage and have distortion, play the same passage several times......is the distortion there and the same each time? If it is clear some of the plays (everything else the same), the stylus isn't the issue.
 
I had a similar issue a few years back--distortion happening on a stylus that should have had plenty of good hours left. I kept brushing the stylus and dipping it in a magic eraser, and the distortion just wouldn't go away. VTF, AS and alignment were all good. It wasn't until I looked at it through a jeweler's loupe that I discovered that there was a doughnut-shaped ring of gunk around the stylus that brushing and magic eraser weren't able to remove. A quick cleaning with rubbing alcohol took care of it.

Since then, I've changed my stylus cleaning method to a single dip in blu-tack before each LP and a brushing with a close-pile carbon fiber stylus brush as needed. The issue hasn't recurred since then.
 
You would be taking a chance with alcohol. Might loosen more than just dirt.
And as yourType III being bad, it would cut out completely on one or both sides. No distortion. Just as I said, no sound.
 
I had that cart, with distortion on the right channel. Bought a new stylus. Same thing. Went to check connections and It crumbled on me. Obviously the lead was barely making connections internally. shure1.jpgIt did "wear" out. I crazy glued it together, stuck a magnet on it. It lives on as a fridge decoration.
 
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