Lots of Sibilance w/ Empire 698 -- Help!

[Chief Brody]

Hi all,

I've had the 698 for several weeks now. Gave it a new drive belt. New motor grommets. It's in excellent condition. I swapped out the stylus to a recommended NOS Empire as the original was worn down to almost nothing.

Now, every moment there's something higher pitched, whether it be instrumentals, words beginning/ending in "s" or "ch" sounds, it's pretty badly distorted.

I've checked connections over and over again. Made sure the cart/stylus is lined up right. No luck.

It was mentioned elsewhere that the VTA needed to be adjusted, but I don't know how to do that on a 698 and I don't know if that will fix it.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Balifly]

Hi all,

I've had the 698 for several weeks now.

I swapped out the stylus to a recommended NOS Empire as the original was worn down to almost nothing.

It may be the stylus.

What did you have and what did you replaced it with?

 

[MRL_Audio]

Why a new thread about the same issue? I realize the other started as a rebuild thread but morphed into the issues with simbilance.

 

[Chief Brody]

Why a new thread about the same issue? I realize the other started as a rebuild thread but morphed into the issues with simbilance.

Better visibility. Someone with helpful input may not want to look at a “build” thread.

 

[MRL_Audio]

You were getting good feedback there. Simbilance comes down to three things in my estimation. Stylus, setup (VTF, AS, SRA, etc.) and LP quality. Nail those and it’s gone.