AT 440 Distortion Issue

I have had the Audio Technica ML440 for maybe two years. I love it and it's been fine and right in the middle of a record it suddenly started sounding as if a ton of dust is on the needle; the sound is broken up on both channels. I have swapped out my phono preamp and then I put another head shell on with a different cart (ironically, the next model up by the same mfg) and it's fine, so I know it's the cartridge. Any thoughts on why this may have happened?

 

Assuming there wasn't a ton of dust on the stylus?

 

Good question but no, it is clean as a whistle! And it went from perfect to bad in an instant!

 

Are you sure it's really clean? I have the AT150MLX. My stylus cleaning regiment was brush after every side, dip in ME every so often. I thought my stylus was clean. Within the space of 1 week, at about 350 hours my stylus went south. So I replaced it. Recently, at around 350 hours again I started noticing some degradation. So I looked around online and decided to get some blu-tak as recommended by Soundsmith;

How to Care for New or Soundsmith Rebuilt Cartridges | Soundsmith »

Guess what? My stylus was not as clean as I thought. This blu-tak got some hardened crap off the stylus and now it sounds like new again! Too bad I didn't figure this out earlier. I threw away a perfectly good stylus.

 

I think we just went over this last week in a thread about distortion on my M97xe. I found some stubborn fuzz that only the blu tack could get rid of.

 

It is possible the stylus has something small adhered to it. I have never used blue tack, but it must be an effective cleaner if Soundsmith recommends it. (although I still have issues with this method) My recommendation as always is stylus cleaning fluid, or isopropyl alcohol, and a stylus cleaning brush. Always move back to front, and best to do this 60/ 60 degree X pattern back to front. This technique has always worked for me. I feel this is safer than dipping the stylus, as dipping can apply some back force on the cantilever and suspension. Probably not enough to damage anything, but I still don't like it.

 

When the exact same thing happened to my 440ML, the diamond had actually fallen off the cantilever. AT thoughtfully provided a new stylus at no cost. Maybe contacting AT would be the thing to do.

 

If you are sure it's clean then it sounds like it may be time for a new stylus.I doubt it went to sounding bad in an instant. It probably just got to the point where you noticed.

 

You say it's about two years old. Roughly how many hours have you put on it? The average agreed upon figure for useful life of styli is about 1,000 hours or so. Some claim it's more, purists swear the optimal life is only 200 hours, after which it's substandard playback. So, if you have 1K hours on it or thereabout - it's time to change the stylus, rather than wonder what's wrong with it.

 

The OP did say the sound went down the toilet in an instant. It is possible the diamond did fall off as you said, and all that's left is the bonded material that appears to be the stylus. Another possibility, the diamond is loose and produces distortion, just about ready to fall off.

 

I have also noticed a very slight degradation in the performance of my AT150mlx. It's not detrimental, but not what it used to be. What is the closest (cheapest alternative) to Blu-tak?

I have a replacement stylus sitting here just in case, but, i'd rather not install if if I don't have to.

 

What everyone else said. I've been through a few of these styli and you do not want to push the hours on them. Also, because the tip is so tiny, IME it picks up things that other styli won't, even on records that have been thoroughly cleaned on an rcm. You really need to examine it under magnification to know what condition it's in. Sometimes I've found that there was a tiny bit of lint spooled up near the top of the actual diamond. Using a plastic toothpick, you can very carefully free it. The Zerodust style cleaners or even stylus brushes won't get that kind of thing off.

 

An important note from the Soundsmith site:

"Using this method every record should eliminate the need to wet clean ever, BUT if this doesn’t cure a distortion problem due to debris build up, then either use the supplied brush and some RUBBING alcohol (NO COLORING OR FRAGRANCE) and gently stroke the stylus back to front only. Only wet clean when the dry clean doesn’t work."

and

"DO NOT WET CLEAN OFTEN - TO DO SO WILL POTENTIALLY CAUSE SEVERE DAMAGE TO THE STYLUS MOUNTING AND CAUSE THE DIAMOND TO COME OFF. USE THE ABOVE BLU-TAK METHOD."

I do not agree with the blu-tak method. This is not the way to remove encrusted debris, as Soundsmith specifies, but only for removal of lint and loose dust. The stylus brush has always been just as effective with the loose dust.

For regular maintenance, I clean dry with a clean stylus brush. For a wet clean, it's not necessary to saturate the cleaning brush, but wet enough to remove any sludge on the stylus. I've had to wet clean rarely, as once in a while I've spot played a used record that had some gunk from a previous record cleaner. I do not always clean a new or used record when it plays beautifully and noise free.

The best practice for keeping the stylus clean is a clean record.

I have my reservation on blu-tak and the magic eraser, as these methods are MORE dangerous than hand cleaning with a brush. I have never, never damaged a cantilever by hand cleaning in my many decades as a hifi enthusiast. My second reservation is the possibility of residual blu-tak sticking on the stylus, and depositing in the record groove. I understand it works, but don't like it!

The old way has no disadvantages. I've never had a stylus fall off by wet cleaning with isopropyl. (however do not wet clean an Ortofon) To ease any fear, a dilute solution not dripping wet on a brush will clean the stylus, and only as needed. The dry clean with the brush will remove any loose lint or particles.

 

Anything spooled around or collected at the base of the tip will not affect play, but always better to remove it! Good post and I agree 100%

 

Try cleaning it again, several times if you have to. The same thing suddenly happened to my first 440 at less than one hundred hours in. Tried brushing it but the distortion persisted. Cleaned it several more times and thought it was fubar. Then, just as suddenly as it started, probably on my 7th or 8th attempt it started playing fine again.

You might think it's clean but these tips are so tiny it's really hard to tell.

 

Not 100% sure about that. I've had instances where it was audible or seemed to have an effect on tracking, which is why I advised removing it. Maybe your experience is different.

 

I've got an AT440MLa. It's awesome. Two things:

1) It picks up dirt. I've got a Discwasher SC-2 and a few drips of fluid and I clean it once in a while - rarely. Recently it's been giving me some sibilance distortion and I just cleaned it and it's back to sparkling perfection.
2) It does NOT like certain records. I have some records that the 440MLa sounds like you've described - complete fuzzy mess as if it's totally covered with dust or somehow damaged. It may start OK at the beginning of the record and break up as it plays. My turntable has swappable headshells - in these cases I swap out the headshell to another cartridge (either an AT331EP or the Stanton L 737-E- in my avatar) and the record sounds fine.

Does it only do it with this record - and every time you play this specific record? Nothing wrong with the stylus or the cartridge.

 

I couldn't tell you what the cheapest alternative is. I'd just save up until I had the $1.99 to buy the real deal.
blu tack - Google Search »

 

This thread reminds me that the AT annual warehouse sale was this weekend. I live 10 minutes from there . Missed another one

 

I would love to attend that sale..... My first pro grade microphone was an Audio Technica Pro-4L. It was no SM-58 but it was a damn good performer. They make some pretty great headphones also.

 

I don't know of a blu-tak alternative. Blu-Tak is a cheap product, a couple of dollars. I'm sure you can buy it online if you don't have a store locally that sells it. In fact I think the one I bought is actually called Fun-Tak. Same stuff.

 

I was there Friday. You frankly didn't miss much.

 

Fun-tak can be found at your local Walmart.

 

Well, it certainly sounds exactly like a dirty stylus sounds. It looks clean so I assumed it was. I will take a closer look. Really appreciate all the great info guys!

 

I know that sounds strange, but I was playing a brand new album and it went from perfect to very distorted in an instant. I would suspect an electronic issue but a different cart fixed it. However, it is in a different headshell so there is a small possibility it could be wiring in the shell, but I wiggled the connections around and it seems fine, plus I doubt that would effect both channels. I am going to pick up the cleaning solution everyone is recommending.