Let's talk about CROSSTALK !

[nniemiec]

I simply want someone w. more experience vs. me to confirm that what I'm hearing qualifies as crosstalk & is simply corrected for by adjusting azimuth:

I play a record & can hear a faint advanced signal of what is about to be played - it's very noticeable w. solo piano or vocalists who are simply accompanied by piano. Is that crosstalk?? if not, what am I correcting for & how?

Thank you all!

 

[nniemiec]

That's a pretty huge pressing flaw, no?

 

[maxhifi]

It also comes from analog tape recordings, however in that case it's called print through. This is one of the reasons tapes are archived backwards (i.e. tails out), so that the print through doesn't start until after the music, and the beginning part is quiet. There's no telling if you're hearing the issue from the record you're playing, or if it's an artifact from the master tape which has been recorded on to the record.

Nothing about your equipment is causing this issue, it's built in to your records. This is more common on older or low budget type recordings. If it bothers you, buy better recorded records, or turn on your air conditioner to mask it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print-through

Crosstalk is sound which should be going to the left channel going to the right, and vice versa.

 

[heavyrock]

Yes it is called "pre-echo" IIRC. I believe there was some technology introduced in the 80's into lacquer cutting to help minimise this. Read a deep treatise about it so somewhere on a cutting website, I thought on sst-ffm.de, but do not find it now.

 

[ripblade]

Pre-echo.... there's also post-echo. Usually the result of cutting the grooves too close together then leaving the lacquer lying around too long before plating. Direct Metal Masters (DMM) are intended to prevent this, but cutting metal is more expensive than cutting lacquer, so you only see it on higher end records.

 

[c_dk]

While setting the azimuth of your cartridge for maximum channel seperation, also known as minimum crosstalk, what you are describing is as others stated, either pre or post echo.

Interestingly there was a AES technical paper decades ago, a thesis for peer review, in which the authors put forth a theorem, speculated, that the reason many listeners found that records sounded better than CDs was that CDs lacked post echo.