Inner Groove Distortion - M97Xe - With Pictures

[ScottCash]

Guys, thanks so much for the responses and troubleshooting tips. Here are some updates to your questions and an audio file I recorded into Cubase directly from the amp. Sorry I don't have a balanced cable long enough to reach so it is only out one channel.

-Tried more tracking force. no change
-Tried variances with A/S - no change
-I don't have a spare arm or cartridge
-No arm bearing issues - glides like ice over the whole playing length of the record with a light breath of air.
-Cleaned the needle actually, I clean it about every three records
-Distortion is indeed in both channels

Take a listen to the track....it's is so annoying.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5lSyDKErWCleWptaFhvMVltaHc

 

[sruddy]

Sorry I can't help but was wondering what TF scale you have, I like the three digit measurement.

 

[enderwiggin]

In my humble opinion you should restart with the setup from scratch. The VTF should not be mesured putting the scale on the record, because the position of the stylus will not be the one it should have on the record. So, I'd do it on the mat.
Same goes for the protractor: if it's made on paper you can put it on the record, but if it's in plastic and with 2-3 mm thickness, put in the mat. You can eventually print a stevenson protractor from the VEdatabase; you'll probably get better results regarding IGD.
I think that tiny errors sum up to a bad overall result. So, keep it as precise as you can
Bye

Luca

 

[Lapslah]

I'm just eyeballing the pictures, so this may be an illusion, but it appears to me that in both pictures showing alignment on the protractor (inner and outer), the tip of the arm is pointing slightly away from the center of the platter. On the outer this would be okay, but not also on the inner. My first thought was that the arm was mounted in the wrong place, but it looks like it's an original arm in the original, non-adjustable mounting position. Is it possible that your arm could be bent?

 

[ScottCash]

I suppose it is possible that the arm could be bent. Not really sure though. I am aligning the cartridge though and not the headshell so not sure if that matters or not...

SRUDDY: Here is the link to the scale https://www.amazon.com/Yosoo-Digita...=UTF8&qid=1470226253&sr=8-1&keywords=yosoo+lp

 

[MRL_Audio]

Northwinds hit it. The headshell looks bent to me. There is a visual problem there. I'd also send the cartridge back or find something to replace it with. These are not known to be problem cartridges. Frankly given you know the overhang numbers you should be able to set that and move on. If you move to using a protractor then the overhang means nothing and don't use it. You need to decide to use one or the other but you really shouldn't use both.

 

[WaynerN]

Northwinds hit it. The headshell looks bent to me. There is a visual problem there. I'd also send the cartridge back or find something to replace it with. These are not known to be problem cartridges. Frankly given you know the overhang numbers you should be able to set that and move on. If you move to using a protractor then the overhang means nothing and don't use it. You need to decide to use one or the other but you really shouldn't use both.

There could be an azimuth problem with the headshell. I have found that the alignment pin is not always "square" to the world.

One way to easily find out is with a small frame-less mirror (better known as a "cocaine" mirror, which I do not do (BTW)), set it on an old used record, then (with the anti-skate set to zero), set the stylus on the mirror. Get your head into a position so you can view your cartridge and the image in the mirror at the same time (looking at it from the front of the cartridge). Compare the cartridge and the image, they should not seem to lean into (or away from each other) sideways, all should look square to the world. This trick actually doubles the error, making it easier to see if there is a problem.