Empire 598 Distortion/Buzzing Question

Hey everyone,

So a couple years ago I dug my dad's old turntable out of storage, and quickly fell in love with listening to records. However, I gather that this table (Empire 598) is a little more uncommon, and I have trouble finding answers to questions as I come to them.

Anyway, my current issue is a distortion/buzzing that begins around the halfway to 2/3 point through a side. Once it starts, it becomes worse and worse through the remainder of the side.

My self diagnosis of this was cartridge misalignment. I recently got new speakers and a new receiver, so I think this has been a problem but on my old set up wasn't very noticeable. Anyway, I ended up realigning the cartridge twice but the issue persists. I'm a little concerned here because the manual I found online for the 598 has a very simple, straightforward alignment process, and I'm worried I may be missing something.

After that failed I re did my counterweight balance, tracking force, and anti skate. Unfortunately, the problem persists.
The cartridge I'm using is a mission 773 high output moving coil (was on the table when I pulled it out of storage). I had the cartridge retipped about a year ago, maybe a little more, and I don't think I've played enough on it to need to retip it again.

Any tips/help any of you have would be greatly appreciated. I'm starting to run out of ideas.

Thanks!

 

I know the 598 intimately and can probably help you, but you're going to need to be more specific about the problem and if possible, post a video. I'm assuming that the buzzing is coming from the speakers? Does it sound like mis-tracking or just electronic buzz? I've seen a similar issue before in an Empire tonearm. The problem is that the insulation on the wires hardens over time, depending on how the table has been stored, and can flake off or corrode, causing bare wire to touch the inside of the arm tube or elsewhere when the arm is rotated in a certain position. So it could be the arm wiring, but it could also be something else. This is strange. Empire arms are usually fairly bullet proof.