Grado Cartridges and Stylus - Questions and Advice.

LeeVing said:
Does yours have an issue with bottoming out on the label when it gets to the runout groove?

Mine does for a bit before the Q-Up kicks in.

I did notice that it rides a bit low. Not a lot of clearance from the cart to the record.

View attachment 55924


I'll get the protractor back out.
Click to expand...

It doesn’t bottom out on the label but it does run very low and the sound it makes at the end of the run out groove is at a different note to any previous cartridges. I’ve looked at it closely and it’s not touching anything so I figure that it’s ok!

Sorry I had this typed last night and for whatever reason didn’t hit send, just saw the draft!

I suppose where I place the scale it would be roughly at the middle of the platter.
 
Last edited:
Joe Mac said:
I suppose where I place the scale it would be roughly at the middle of the platter.
Click to expand...

I reset it for the middle at 1.70

That gives me around ~1.60 towards the outer platter and ~1.90 towards the inner.
1.6-1.9 is the suggested tracking force, so this seems to be the ballpark it needs to be.

Seems to be tracking this 45 RPM Mastodon just fine.
 
kvetcha said:
It seems...unusual that tracking force would vary across the record.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I hadn't really noticed it before now.

No one else has a difference when measuring at the outer area of the platter vs the inner area?

I'll play around with the record mats and see if that is an issue.

I put fresh batteries in my scale, so that shouldn't be a problem.
 
Last edited:
I got my sprirt level out and it seems that my TT is no longer level. Not sure what happened with that.

I know I leveled it out perfectly when I set it up in this house when we moved in.

After Fleetwood Mac is over I'll work on that....then see if that changes the tracking force.


EDIT - I re-leveled it between records...same varying tracking force. I'm just gonna leave it for now.
 
Last edited:
LeeVing said:
I got my sprirt level out and it seems that my TT is no longer level. Not sure what happened with that.

I know I leveled it out perfectly when I set it up in this house when we moved in.

After Fleetwood Mac is over I'll work on that....then see if that changes the tracking force.


EDIT - I re-leveled it between records...same varying tracking force. I'm just gonna leave it for now.
Click to expand...
I wonder if your vta or azimuth is off.
 
RichGrado said:
This Sunday Vinyl is Free Wheelin' by Bob Dylan from Mobile Fidelity. I enjoyed breaking out this classic, its been too long.
I moved some equipment around today, Q Acoustics 3030i's, VPI Scout, Grado Aeon, Parasound JC3+, and all kinds of Schiit made up the system.View attachment 56344
Click to expand...

Nice @RichGrado, spinning some Björk on my Opus tonight!

B9034DD1-C674-4D07-AE27-0DBA1411883A.jpeg
 
LeeVing the same thing happened to me. I recently changed cartridges on my U Turn Plus. Had always checked the weight near edge of platter and with the OM 5E got exactly 1.5 every time. Now with the Grado Black 3 I had to move the counter weight and was shooting for 1.6 but sometimes I got numbers all over the place ? Also the U Turns's internal anti skate pulls the stylus off the scale if I try near the center of the platter, so I gave up on that. The scale is new. Just checked again near the edge and got 1.6 go figure.
 
Joe Mac said:
Thats the one thing with not having a detachable headshell, no interest there, doing a full cart install between records isn’t my idea of fun 😂
Click to expand...
Agreed, that's really why I went ahead and filled the "holes" to put together a second system with the main prerequisite being a TT with detachable head shell :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top