Help, please! Distortion (sounds like mis-tracking) from a good condition tonearm & cartridge

[vintageaxeman]

My gear is in a rack in a cupboard. Not the best solution, but it is all neatly hidden from view and that's what I like.

My turntable has been working fine for ages, nothing amiss at all, then it was left for a few weeks, and this week, when I tried it a few times, I quickly pulled the stylus off the record because I thought the stylus might have some damage to it, as there was a nasty sound, a bit like mistracking, on a well used but otherwise good nick favourite lp of mine.

It is difficult to get kit out of my 'rack' because of course the cables are all hidden away, but I managed to get the turntable out.

Checked out the freedom of movement of the tonearm in both planes, got a hand microscope on the stylus, all clean and dandy, so then I turned my attention to the tonearm cable, its dressing, and eventually to my phono preamp. Nothing obvious.

Then I took a coffee break in town for an hour to give myself some thinking time. And what I wondered was this: Could it be that the armlift on the tonearm is not dropping sufficiently, maybe because it had not been used for a few weeks?

The reason I'm asking on the Wam is because it's a bugger to put it all back and if necessary, get it all out again to readjust. So I'm going to take a rain check on the job for a couple of days in the hope that I can get a few views from some of you guys! Cheers!

 

[SergeAuckland]

Although unlikely, it's certainly possible that the cueing arm doesn't go down fully, so the stylus contacts the groove, but is held by the cueing arm, so mistracks. However, I would expect that to skip  and stick as well, so if it doesn't, then unlikely to be the cueing arm not dropping sufficiently.   Easy to check by pushing down on the cueing arm to make sure it's fully down, then moving the arm manually. If it plays properly, then it's likely to be the cueing arm, but if that still misbehaves, it's not that. 

Otherwise, could be one of many things, all unlikely if the turntable worked fine previously. 

S

 

[vintageaxeman]

Thanks, Serge. The lp I was playing was really quite flat, so there was very little apparent vertical movement of the arm. It's just the only thing I can think of that I haven't checked already. Cheers anyway. Whatever I discover, I'll post it here....

Any other thoughts most welcome!

 

[bigfool1956]

The tonearm just sitting on the lift and mistracking has been seen before in posts I've read, definitely worth checking.

 

[uzzy]

Thanks, Serge. The lp I was playing was really quite flat, so there was very little apparent vertical movement of the arm. It's just the only thing I can think of that I haven't checked already. Cheers anyway. Whatever I discover, I'll post it here....

Any other thoughts most welcome!

It is unlikely the arm is seizing up when it was working fine a few weeks ago - unless it was in the very hot weather we had at the weekend?  The heat may have expanded the metal sufficiently to make the arm stiff.   To check the arm remove the stylus or put the guard on, zero balance the arm and blow it.  A gentle puff should see it move laterally easily.  If that is ok (lateral movement) now blow gently down on the arm and it should move up and down easily until it finally comes to rest in the zero position you had set it at (vertical plane).

If that exercise shows the arm is moving easily in both planes then it is unlikely to be an arm problem.   It could be a cartridge problem but before you determine that reset the weight (upper limit of manufacturers recommendation) and the bias and try it on an album that you are not precious about (or a track you hate on a record) .. and if it all sounds distorted again then it may well be the cartridge.  However, one last test .. perhaps a tad more difficult. It could be your phono stage at fault (amplifier fault) .. the only way you can test for that is to use a separate phono preamp and try plugging the TT into that and into a line stage on the amp you know is not distorting (e.g. where you plug the cd in?)  .. or if you have a spare amp with a phono stage try it with the spare amp in situ.

If it is not the amp distorting and not the arm - then it would look to be the cartridge has failed in some way .. good luck in your quest and let us know how you get on.

 

[vintageaxeman]

Thanks, guys.

 

[occasional thinker]

I put a new-to-me stylus on an old MM cartridge a month back, started to play an LP and rapidly lifted it off - nasty distortion. Thought it was maybe a duff stylus and left it. Went back a couple of weeks later and realised that I'd previously had a MC cartridge on, and the leads were still going to the phono stage MC input ..... doh!

Changed to MM input and all was sweet. 

I'm sure that the OP is not a dumb as me though.

 

[vintageaxeman]

Thanks Occy. No that's not the problem....all my carts are MC low outputs, and the phono stage is for them too. Dumb as you though? Yeah, sometimes!

I put a new-to-me stylus on an old MM cartridge a month back, started to play an LP and rapidly lifted it off - nasty distortion. Thought it was maybe a duff stylus and left it. Went back a couple of weeks later and realised that I'd previously had a MC cartridge on, and the leads were still going to the phono stage MC input ..... doh!

Changed to MM input and all was sweet. 

I'm sure that the OP is not a dumb as me though.

 

[Radioham]

I had had a fault where the piston on the arm lift would start to rise up about 10 minutes after playing an LP. Depending on the vinyl thickness and any warp on the record would affect the amount of mistracking.  Took me ages to find the problem the dealer replaced the arm lift on my clear audio under warranty. He also said that he has seen a few Rega's do the same.The cause seems to the the fluid in the piston going sticky. 

Alan

 

[uzzy]

I had had a fault where the piston on the arm lift would start to rise up about 10 minutes after playing an LP. Depending on the vinyl thickness and any warp on the record would affect the amount of mistracking.  Took ages to find the problem the dealer replaced the arm lift on my clear audio under warranty. He also said that he has seen a few Rega's do the same.

Alan

My Rega would not lower completely after not being used for a long time - I found that pushing it down .. raising it up .. set the lever to lower and push it all the way down and so on repeating this action a dozen times usually sorted it out and it would lower fully ok then .. Not sure which is worse - a long slow decent -  or when the damping goes and if you forget to lower the lever slowly by hand it comes down with a thump