Inner Groove Distortion- Turntable problem?

[beat_truck]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that can hear little or no difference when adjusting A/S. Even with it off or cranked to the extreme, I can't hear much difference. I have a blank disc, so I know that it is at least working.

 

[Grenadeslio]

For whatever reason, many people aren't that good at properly balancing a tonearm. Even though I can do it very well, my OCD leads me to use a digital scale to check my work. They are cheap and there is no reason not to have one.

And it makes the process so much quicker and easier, at less than $10 it just doesn't make sense not to have one.

And if using a digital scale for an analog piece of gear bothers anyone there's always the Shure SFG-2 at 5X the price lol. I still have one, it was what we had.

 

[GChief]

And it makes the process so much quicker and easier, at less than $10 it just doesn't make sense not to have one.

And if using a digital scale for an analog piece of gear bothers anyone there's always the Shure SFG-2 at 5X the price lol. I still have one, it was what we had.

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No thanks. My $9 digital from China is quick and easy with my XA.

 

[beat_truck]

I recently bought a Shure SFG-2 because I had two of those Chinese junk digital scales that died with nearly no use. I was not wasting my money on a third. The first one would always kill the battery if I left it in it, too.

 

[GChief]

@Grenadeslio...

 

[GChief]

I recently bought a Shure SFG-2 because I had two of those Chinese junk digital scales that died with nearly no use. I was not wasting my money on a third. The first one would always kill the battery if I left it in it, too.

That sux... I have 2 and both of my daughters do also, like $9 bucks off of Amazon. I even took the weights they can with to work and they are dead on. Guess we got luckily with 4 goods ones.

 

[beat_truck]

That sux... I have 2 and both of my daughters do also, like $9 bucks off of Amazon. I even took the weights they can with to work and they are dead on. Guess we got luckily with 4 goods ones.

Yeah, that's typical for my luck. Like I said, I barely used them and kept them in the original boxes, etc. They were different models, but both from Ebay.

 

[Final_Baton]

playing with VTF and he doesn't hear any difference... yeah that's not normal either. like AT ALL.

maybe it's not zero-balanced well and he's currently rocking a super high VTF. which would explain wahy he doen't hear any difference when fine tuning VTF nor adjusting AS.

 

[GChief]

@80sonvinyl, you did say it is new... did you take all the shipping locks off . I have seen people do it from time to time

 

[80sonvinyl]

playing with VTF and he doesn't hear any difference... yeah that's not normal either. like AT ALL.

maybe it's not zero-balanced well and he's currently rocking a super high VTF. which would explain wahy he doen't hear any difference when fine tuning VTF nor adjusting AS.

How on earth could VTF be broken? It's literally a weight on the arm, there's nothing to break in the first place
I am pretty confident with tonearm balancing, after all there's not much to f**k up, it's just getting the arm horizontal lol.
I said that I didn't hear any increase/decrease in distortion on problem LPs when increasing VTF. I didn't say I couldn't hear any change in sound...never really paid that much attention tbh. What sort of changes would I hear? Increase in bass maybe?

 

[80sonvinyl]

@80sonvinyl, you did say it is new... did you take all the shipping locks off . I have seen people do it from time to time

I'm not sure. It's a crying shame they don't make the instruction manual for these things in Braille. How else are us blind folk supposed to know how to set them up?

Sarcasm aside, yeah I did. Sorry just couldn't resist

 

[80sonvinyl]

For whatever reason, many people aren't that good at properly balancing a tonearm. Even though I can do it very well, my OCD leads me to use a digital scale to check my work. They are cheap and there is no reason not to have one.

Got the loan off one from a friend and confirmed it recently. No improvement.
I'll spend a grand on a turntable but I'll procrastinate buying a €20 scale, LOL. I know I should but since it doesn't improve things, I thought what's the point

 

[GChief]

I'm not sure. It's a crying shame they don't make the instruction manual for these things in Braille. How else are us blind folk supposed to know how to set them up?

Sarcasm aside, yeah I did. Sorry just couldn't resist

You would be surprised.

 

[80sonvinyl]

That seems strange too as changing stylus pressure definitely should affect sound. May I ask what other equipment you're listening through?

I mean, it's possible that the turntable got knocked around in shipping but you said there were similar problems with the previous turntable.

A Cambridge Audio Duo preamp. I plug the headphones into that. When listening through speakers I have a pair of Pioneer DM40 active desk speakers. Modest, but no point in a big investment on that end at the moment. I don't have my own place, if you know what I mean haha.

 

[80sonvinyl]

You would be surprised.

Believe me, with other things in life I'm one of those people haha

 

[Mr Boochie]

Just to rule-out something you've probably already ruled-out... The table is level? Using a bubble level in both Y and X-axis. And throughout the travel arc of the tonearm?

 

[patient_ot]

Got the loan off one from a friend and confirmed it recently. No improvement.
I'll spend a grand on a turntable but I'll procrastinate buying a €20 scale, LOL. I know I should but since it doesn't improve things, I thought what's the point

It won't fix groove wear. Nothing will. It is a good tool to have around to set up your turntable.

Might want to get out of vinyl though, and quit while you are ahead.

 

[80sonvinyl]

It won't fix groove wear. Nothing will. It is a good tool to have around to set up your turntable.

Might want to get out of vinyl though, and quit while you are ahead.

I still love vinyl, and maybe I'm just expecting too much. However maybe there is something amiss with my setup or the hardware itself. I have two camps here both pushing each viewpoint. Some will say that imperfections like distortion are part and parcel of the hobby, then more will chime in and argue the opposite. I mean, I know it's difficult over the internet but in terms of this most recent debate over the antiskate, it's really either one or the other: Either it's normal for very little to no difference in sound to occur at the dial set 0 - 3, or it's not. If not, I will arrange for my TT to be looked at ..it's still well under warranty so no problem.

Try and see things from the point of view of a newbie to the hobby. Forums are full of contradicting opinions and views and if I was a veteran of the hobby and knew my stuff + my equipment, I'd take some stuff with a pinch of salt. However I don't have that luxury yet so I'm in the habit of seeing each reply as true, if you understand.

 

[80sonvinyl]

That should be enough to hear nuances, especially if you have good headphones.

It's a tough call. There are differences in how people hear things. Maybe you are very sensitive to distortion, which is why you pick it up. Vinyl will never be perfect. If you ask someone else to listen, you can compare notes.

Other than that, all I can recommend is to follow the good advice in this thread. Go through everything as if you were setting up from the start.

Lord, I hear nuances and then some! But of course not the ones we are looking for at the moment, it seems!
As regards distortion, I have had a guy in a respected hifi shop listen and he reckoned they were just 'bad recordings'. Funny though how I get so many ! And I know it's not foolproof, but surely there'd be one or two mentions of this under the pressings on Discogs etc. And I had my brother, who knows nothing about vinyl, listen to one of my worse records. Heard it clear as day.

Like honestly enough LP's play like this to make me ponder whether my setup is capable of playing hot cut records.
Id be getting second and third opinions obviously, but we're in full lockdown over here.

 

[80sonvinyl]

If I had an LP120 or something , obviously I wouldn't be pushing this saga as much. But it's a new 1000 € turntable, and a well respected cart. I know miracles don't happen no matter how good equipment is, but I'm just a bit unhappy with the sound out of this.
Give me a bucket load of surface noise and pops any day over fuzzy vocals or guitars.