Needles & Grooves

Hot typically means bassy, and pretty loud, sometimes people use it to mean not dynamic but it's mostly a volume and intensity thing.. it seems more like you are talking about a matter that's too bright (maybe RKS is a bit too bright with his masters compared to say Chris bellman and Bernie grundman who is more intense and heavy or Kevin Gray who is pretty flat and detail oriented)

You are actually spot on with what "hot" means. Unfortunately, I would check this against other available sources. I have this one Bobby Fuller Four album that sounds exactly like that, but I had to confirm against a digital source that it was my copy and not the recording.

What sucks is when it IS the recording/mastering. For example, "Elvis Presley Blues" by Gillian Welch. There are times when she punches the words so hard I wince.

How old is your stylus? Have they always sounded that way?

It sounds like your cartridge isn’t tracking well. Could need to tweak your alignment, or it could be a sign your stylus is getting worn.

A hotter cut will often sound better if you’ve got everything set up correctly, but it can cause the issues you’re hearing if you don’t.

Interesting. My stylus is around 75 hours rn, just got it replaced and realigned, brought it to my local hifi shop. He said the azimuth is still off and the Fluance head shell doesn’t support azimuth adjustments! So I may need to get a different headshell!

Which cart are you using?

Ortofon Blue with a Shibata tip @D Jilla

@Ghost oh that's the issue

Shibata is infamously cursed. And if is JUST the black stylus on the blue it isn't supposed to be compatible

Weird! That’s basically the exact same setup I have with just the standard blue stylus. I’ve never had issues with tracking, but also don’t have any of those records to say for sure.

@duke86fan I initially thought that, but I actually replaced my stylus because I was experiencing the same issues with the standard tipped Blue on the recordings I listed above. It's been very difficult to trouble shoot. It feels like the Shibata has just accentuated what was there prior!

Yeah, I’m stumped then - hopefully you can get it straightened out! Definitely one of those times when spinning records gets frustrating.