Geigartt
Active Member
History: After 30 or 40 years I am re establishing my relationship with an old system. I had my vintage Dual 1219 refurbished 2 yrs ago. I was admittedly lax about what exactly was done. I don't think anything mechanical other than lubrication, new belt, power cord and phono leads were added. It cost about $250. I "tested" it to the extent that I played half dozen of my old albums. A new Shure N97xE was installed. It is also marked "M97 x" on the side of the cart. The dissimilar numbers says something (negative?), but I do not know what, about Shure.
Recently I purchased some second hand albums, one vendor does nothing in the way of cleaning of the vinyl; a second vendor is much more hands on and ultrasonically cleans about half of what he sells.
The problem: (I can't say when exactly I first noticed this. but I now get "pops" and skips/slips (it jumps forward or sticks in the same groove and repeats). I noticed if initially on an album that was ultrasonically cleaned. It happens on almost every cut, rendering the vinyl pretty much as trash; also on other new vinyl and also on some of my 70s era, which I take very good care of. And accessed very infrequently over the 50 some years they have been in my collection. The tone arm was set to 1.25 grams, anti-skate at zero. I increased the weight to 1.75 gr with some improvement, but overlall, still pretty useless. There are no obvious scratches on the new or old vinyl, but I don't know what that proves as it depends solely on my old eyes. If I mute the speakers and put my ear close to the cart, I can hear a lot of grinding and swoosh emanating from the stylus itself. It does not follow the sound track, i.e., it does not sound like music, but does sound like it is produced by the stylus physically contacting the groove.
Other than this $250, I haven't invested anything in my system over the past 50 years, which is comprised of a Sony home entertainment receiver and a Bose Series 5 bookshelf speakers and its subwoofer. Nothing remarkable about this system, I admit. I should put all but the speakers on the sidewalk and start over, that would be too easy; I would like to understand what is happening before I chuck it. I appreciate any suggestions.
Recently I purchased some second hand albums, one vendor does nothing in the way of cleaning of the vinyl; a second vendor is much more hands on and ultrasonically cleans about half of what he sells.
The problem: (I can't say when exactly I first noticed this. but I now get "pops" and skips/slips (it jumps forward or sticks in the same groove and repeats). I noticed if initially on an album that was ultrasonically cleaned. It happens on almost every cut, rendering the vinyl pretty much as trash; also on other new vinyl and also on some of my 70s era, which I take very good care of. And accessed very infrequently over the 50 some years they have been in my collection. The tone arm was set to 1.25 grams, anti-skate at zero. I increased the weight to 1.75 gr with some improvement, but overlall, still pretty useless. There are no obvious scratches on the new or old vinyl, but I don't know what that proves as it depends solely on my old eyes. If I mute the speakers and put my ear close to the cart, I can hear a lot of grinding and swoosh emanating from the stylus itself. It does not follow the sound track, i.e., it does not sound like music, but does sound like it is produced by the stylus physically contacting the groove.
Other than this $250, I haven't invested anything in my system over the past 50 years, which is comprised of a Sony home entertainment receiver and a Bose Series 5 bookshelf speakers and its subwoofer. Nothing remarkable about this system, I admit. I should put all but the speakers on the sidewalk and start over, that would be too easy; I would like to understand what is happening before I chuck it. I appreciate any suggestions.
