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Project evo 2

mike0565

mike0565

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I purchased a project evo 2 that came with a pick it evo mm that's made by ortofon pre installed about a month ago. For the first 10 hours or so it sounded great with plenty of detail. But after a while I started to hear sibilance on some of my vinyl.
At first I thought it was a particular record
(Yesshows), but then I started hearing it on other records as well. I take extremely good care of my vinyl so I ruled that out but just to make sure I played the same records on my other table (Dual Golden One) and had no issues.
So then I figured that the cart must be out of alignment. So I readjusted everything, cart, tracking force, and anti skate. Still have the same thing, sibilance to a point where it starts to distort. Im picking up a Sumiko Rainier on Tuesday to install to see if in fact that it is a bad cartridge.
Has anyone had this issue with a cartridge that you either purchased separately or pre installed?
 

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lini said:
Did you already visually inspect the needle?

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
Click to expand...
Yes, it looks fine as far as I can tell. When I googled the issue I did find others that had the same sibilance issues that purchased the Evo 2 with the pre installed cart. It's the first table I've ever purchased that came with a pre installed cart. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced the same issue.
 
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Bought the ProJect Debut Carbon Evo (original) with the factory installed Sumiko Rainier cart, a few years ago. In my experience, they work extremely well together.

Just today, I was listening to Rush 'Grace Under Pressure' as I was doing kitchen duties (on the system that serves my kitchen and dining room).

Based on your pleasant initial performance and the subsequent degradation, I would think the stylus got gunked up, or something happened to the cantilever. I wish you luck, keep us informed of your findings.
 
mike0565 said:
Yes, it looks fine as far as I can tell. (...)
Click to expand...

Alright, if the needle looks ok and is clean, the next idea would be to increase the tracking force to the maximum of the manufacturer-suggested tracking force range (should be 2 g in case of the MM Evo), in case you haven't already tried that. That might help by improving the tracking ability a bit.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini


edit: typo extermination *sigh*
 
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lini said:
Alright, if the needle looks ok and is clean, the next idea would be to increase the tracking force to the maximum of the manufacturer-suggested tracking force range (should be 2 g in case of the MM Evo), in case you haven't already tried that. That might help by improving the tracking ability a bit.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini


edit: typo extermination *sigh*
Click to expand...
No such luck!!
Im relieved that it's not just me that has experienced this issue. Others have as well according to what I've been reading. I pick up the Sumiko tomorrow and I'll go from there.I'll post an update after I dial it in. Thanks for the suggestion. I've never experienced anything like this with a brand new cart.
 
Very likely debris on your stylus.
Crap builds up solid and a brush wont remove it.
On customers cartridges I often have to with a blade literally scrape it away.
Alcoland lots of scrubbing see how it sounds
 
mike0565 said:
I purchased a project evo 2 that came with a pick it evo mm that's made by ortofon pre installed about a month ago. For the first 10 hours or so it sounded great with plenty of detail. But after a while I started to hear sibilance on some of my vinyl.
At first I thought it was a particular record
(Yesshows), but then I started hearing it on other records as well. I take extremely good care of my vinyl so I ruled that out but just to make sure I played the same records on my other table (Dual Golden One) and had no issues.
So then I figured that the cart must be out of alignment. So I readjusted everything, cart, tracking force, and anti skate. Still have the same thing, sibilance to a point where it starts to distort. Im picking up a Sumiko Rainier on Tuesday to install to see if in fact that it is a bad cartridge.
Has anyone had this issue with a cartridge that you either purchased separately or pre installed?
Click to expand...
my first deck when I retuned to the hobby was a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon that came with a Ortofon Red cart. For the first few weeks, it sounded pretty good, then it didn't. I thought maybe I'd bought some bad pressings, but when I took them back to the store, they sounded fine on their setup. I then thought it might be the stylus was worn out- I'd bought it used and people can exaggerate about how little wear is on the needles... New stylus also sounded like crap, so I upgraded to an Ortofon 2m Blue on the same cartridge body. It sounded great for a minute, then it too sounded awful, with loads of static and sibilance.

It was midwinter and the ambient humidity in my home hovered around 30%. My vinyls were as clean as they could be without an ultrasonic bath. It turns out that I was experiencing static build-up on the vinyls. A carbon brush cleared it up for half a side, then the sibilance would return. I ultimately solved it with a Hudson Hi-Fi Antistatic Cleaning Arm, which totally eliminated the static buildup for the entire side of the vinyl. I've since sold the Pro-Ject, but I'm still using the anti-static arm to great effect on my current deck, a Denon DP-37F
 
Gigantic said:
my first deck when I retuned to the hobby was a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon that came with a Ortofon Red cart. For the first few weeks, it sounded pretty good, then it didn't. I thought maybe I'd bought some bad pressings, but when I took them back to the store, they sounded fine on their setup. I then thought it might be the stylus was worn out- I'd bought it used and people can exaggerate about how little wear is on the needles... New stylus also sounded like crap, so I upgraded to an Ortofon 2m Blue on the same cartridge body. It sounded great for a minute, then it too sounded awful, with loads of static and sibilance.

It was midwinter and the ambient humidity in my home hovered around 30%. My vinyls were as clean as they could be without an ultrasonic bath. It turns out that I was experiencing static build-up on the vinyls. A carbon brush cleared it up for half a side, then the sibilance would return. I ultimately solved it with a Hudson Hi-Fi Antistatic Cleaning Arm, which totally eliminated the static buildup for the entire side of the vinyl. I've since sold the Pro-Ject, but I'm still using the anti-static arm to great effect on my current deck, a Denon DP-37F
Click to expand...
thanks for the suggestion. I changed out the cartridge to the Sumiko a little earlier and everything seems to be fine for the moment. One of my test tracks to listen for the sibilance or distortion is Brain Damage by Pink Floyd. The Sumiko has seemed to correct the situation for the moment. Time will tell. I wouldn't rule out the antistatic cleaning arm but I really don't want to stick something to the plinth and have it leave a mark. that's just me but if I had to I would.
 
mike0565 said:
thanks for the suggestion. I changed out the cartridge to the Sumiko a little earlier and everything seems to be fine for the moment. One of my test tracks to listen for the sibilance or distortion is Brain Damage by Pink Floyd. The Sumiko has seemed to correct the situation for the moment. Time will tell. I wouldn't rule out the antistatic cleaning arm but I really don't want to stick something to the plinth and have it leave a mark. that's just me but if I had to I would.
Click to expand...
It is felt-bottomed and simply rests on the plinth
 
cafe latte said:
Very likely debris on your stylus.
Crap builds up solid and a brush wont remove it.
On customers cartridges I often have to with a blade literally scrape it away.
Alcoland lots of scrubbing see how it sounds
Click to expand...
I think he's right. Look at the stylus under magnification.
How did you check alignment?
 
Thanks everyone for the help with my issue. I changed the cartridge to the Sumiko and all seems good so far. I'll know more after it gets some more playing time. I'll revive the thread regardless of the situation. Thanks again!!!
 
For all who followed this thread and gave suggestions to help thank you. It turns out that the problem was in fact the cart that came pre installed. The Sumiko has been playing absolutely fantastic.
 
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