Needle Care and Questions

Alright @HiFi Guy hoping to get your expertise here. I completely re set up my cartridge and everything was perfect and I was still having issues with the right channel. I hooked up my old player and I’m still having the same issue with that one. My next step was swapping the speakers to see if that was the issue...still had the same issue. Then I noticed on my amp power level that it seems the right channel isn’t getting as much power as the left. At least that’s what my eyes see. I made a video for you all to check out. I was testing with a mono recording to ensure the same sound would be coming out of both speakers. Could this be an amp issue? Check it out and let me know what you think please.

 
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feesrevenge said:
Alright @HiFi Guy hoping to get your expertise here. I completely re set up my cartridge and everything was perfect and I was still having issues with the right channel. I hooked up my old player and I’m still having the same issue with that one. My next step was swapping the speakers to see if that was the issue...still had the same issue. Then I noticed on my amp power level that it seems the right channel isn’t getting as much power as the left. At least that’s what my eyes see. I made a video for you all to check out. I was testing with a mono recording to ensure the same sound would be coming out of both speakers. Could this be an amp issue? Check it out and let me know what you think please.

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This does appear to be an amp issue. Did you also try it with other sources? Like FM and CD?
 
For those who use the mofi stylus brush, do you use a liquid cleaning solution as well? If so which? Was wondering about using the same mix I am using for record cleaning...is that ok/safe?
 
epyon415 said:
For those who use the mofi stylus brush, do you use a liquid cleaning solution as well? If so which? Was wondering about using the same mix I am using for record cleaning...is that ok/safe?
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I use the MoFi LP9 Cleaner
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But make sure you can use a fluid on your styli, some manufacturers specifically instruct users not to.
 
Just upgraded to a VM95ML and it's properly weighted, aligned, and overall sounds pretty great! The only issue I'm trying to figure out at the moment is when I first drop the needle at the start of the record. It almost always jarringly goes from the edge into the first song, causing a loud skip. Is this something that adjusting the anti-skating would fix or is there something else going on here?
 
NewsFedora said:
Just upgraded to a VM95ML and it's properly weighted, aligned, and overall sounds pretty great! The only issue I'm trying to figure out at the moment is when I first drop the needle at the start of the record. It almost always jarringly goes from the edge into the first song, causing a loud skip. Is this something that adjusting the anti-skating would fix or is there something else going on here?
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I’d just cue the needle closer to the run-in groove. I used to have this issue when I cued too close to the outer rim of the record, especially on records with curved lips.
 
kvetcha said:
I’d just cue the needle closer to the run-in groove. I used to have this issue when I cued too close to the outer rim of the record, especially on records with curved lips.
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I don't think that's it. No matter where I place the needle, it seems to jerk right into the groove and it happens with just about every record I've placed on the turntable.
 
I'd guess anti skip also. My PLX1000 is set at like 3.5 instead of exactly at 2 like my tracking force.
There is a video around showing how test via a larger blank vinyl section.
 
Update: Yup, it was the anti-skate. Thankfully my collection has exactly ONE single-sided record where the reverse is blank instead of an etching (thanks Portugal. The Man) and was able to adjust it perfectly with it. Thanks for the help, glad it was a relatively quick and easy fix.
 
NewsFedora said:
Update: Yup, it was the anti-skate. Thankfully my collection has exactly ONE single-sided record where the reverse is blank instead of an etching (thanks Portugal. The Man) and was able to adjust it perfectly with it. Thanks for the help, glad it was a relatively quick and easy fix.
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There was a discussion here (or in a related thread) recently about this method of setting anti-skate. @HiFi Guy noted, and research backs him up, that if you are setting this to achieve non-movement (toward outer or inner edge) when your stylus is set on blank vinyl, you're doing it wrong. Not sure how you've set your anti-skate with the blank side, and obviously you've solved the problem you were having, but you might want to search for that previous discussion.
 
Russ I said:
There was a discussion here (or in a related thread) recently about this method of setting anti-skate. @HiFi Guy noted, and research backs him up, that if you are setting this to achieve non-movement (toward outer or inner edge) when your stylus is set on blank vinyl, you're doing it wrong. Not sure how you've set your anti-skate with the blank side, and obviously you've solved the problem you were having, but you might want to search for that previous discussion.
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It was earlier in this thread, thanks for pointing that out. Fortunately, I also have an album that has a giant amount of deadwax (thanks Flying Lotus for making a 30-minute album a double LP at 33 rpm) and I tested on that and... it goes slowly to the end. I'm not sure how slow is slow enough, but it seems pretty slow and is definitely a world of difference from how it was before I messed with it tonight. I lessened the anti-skate just a little bit from where I had it after doing the blank record method and it still seems good imo.
 
NewsFedora said:
It was earlier in this thread, thanks for pointing that out. Fortunately, I also have an album that has a giant amount of deadwax (thanks Flying Lotus for making a 30-minute album a double LP at 33 rpm) and I tested on that and... it goes slowly to the end. I'm not sure how slow is slow enough, but it seems pretty slow and is definitely a world of difference from how it was before I messed with it tonight. I lessened the anti-skate just a little bit from where I had it after doing the blank record method and it still seems good imo.
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It's all a bit baffling to me, but I think that actually is the way to go--backed off a bit from standing still. And of course, the proof is in the playing.
 
NewsFedora said:
It was earlier in this thread, thanks for pointing that out. Fortunately, I also have an album that has a giant amount of deadwax (thanks Flying Lotus for making a 30-minute album a double LP at 33 rpm) and I tested on that and... it goes slowly to the end. I'm not sure how slow is slow enough, but it seems pretty slow and is definitely a world of difference from how it was before I messed with it tonight. I lessened the anti-skate just a little bit from where I had it after doing the blank record method and it still seems good imo.
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The album You're Dead? If so, is it just watching the time it takes to go from the last track on the side to the very very end?
 
Splunders said:
The album You're Dead? If so, is it just watching the time it takes to go from the last track on the side to the very very end?
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Here's the earlier post with the link on the alternate way of setting the anti-skate:

HiFi Guy said:
Setting anti skate with an ungrooved record is wrong, and if you did set it so the arm is stationary, you’d have too much anti skate.

I use the Soundsmith method, explained here:

How Do I Adjust Anti-skating On My Cartridge? | Soundsmith

www.sound-smith.com www.sound-smith.com
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The tl;dr of it is to place the needle at the end of a side where the deadwax starts and see how quickly it goes across the runout. You'll want to see it go across the runout slowly. How slow it should be is never really said so I ended up doing both methods: used a blank record side to adjust the tracking where it doesn't go anywhere, and then I put it on a normal record side's deadwax (You're Dead) to see how slow it would go. It went pretty slow! I eased up the anti-skate a little bit (from a 4 to a 3 on my setup) and it still tracked slow but it's now at a point where it's not gonna stay put on a blank record.

It all seems fairly subjective but the music sounds good and my original issue of the needle slamming into the groove has been resolved. So even if it isn't perfect, it's a helluva lot better than where it was before.
 
How important is a headshell??

I just recently got a Sansui record player and I was wondering if I should mount my ortofon cartridge on that or leave it on the ortofon headshell I bought for it.

Does a headshell make that big of a difference?
 
Critter said:
I hope it's okay that I started this thread. I felt like it was missing.

Here's my first topic to get things rolling. I bought an OG copy of Horses by Patti Smith. It is shattered in a very substantial part of the record:

View attachment 1434

I'm not going to get a refund, nor would I try, as this was really undetectable in the lighting at the store. I'll be looking for a replacement copy. But in the meantime, here's the question: will this tear the crap out of my needle?

I ask because it sounds SO good despite the popping caused by the shatter. I'm scared to play it again though.
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There are some cart/styli combos that will play that record and survive. Shure SC35C, Stanton 500AL, Stanton 600A, Stanton 680AL, Stanton 605SK, Ortofon Pro S, likely some others but those are the ones I'm most familiar with.

My approach is that anyone who enjoys finding and buying used records should have a beater turntable/DJ cart to audition the questionable records or at the very least, if you use a magnetic cart, a conical stylus to pop on in place of your "good" stylus to audition the questionable records. Swapping styli can be inconvenient and if you use moving coil, impossible, but a turntable/cartridge/preamp combo can be assembled for about $100 as an audition station.
Pat
 
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