I Have A Problem With TT Cartridge Tracking

I have a Numark TT 100 turntable that I put a Grado Blue cart. on several months ago. It was never aligned properly and, although I had to set the tracking weight a bit heavier than the 1.5 they suggest, it played pretty well besides some excessive sibilance and sibilant distortions. Yesterday I finally got around to aligning the cartridge using the DB Systems protractor and I even replaced the standard felt mat with an Extremephono None-Felt mat. It took care of the excessive sibilance, but now my stylus is jumping all over the place, even after setting the tracking weight to 2.5! I even went as far as to tape a safety-pin to the head-shell, readjust the tonearm balance and then reset the tracking weight in an effort to stabilise the tracking. I have even adjusted the anti-skate up and down. Nothing works. It skips around on the record like it's jumping out of the grooves or something every now and again and I'm afraid to play my records on it for fear that it is damaging them.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Do you have a tracking force gauge, like from Shure? If you're JUST using the scale on the back of a tonearm, its readings could be misleading you. Make sure the table is level. I'm not familiar with the table, but it's weird that it would be that far off. Hope I helped.

 

Yes, I have the force guage scale from Shure and I used it to adjust the tracking force at an initial 1.5, give or take.

 

Sounds like it could be some kind of problem with the tonearm. Other than that, I'm at a loss (if the tracking force is set properly).

 

Grado cartridges have an unusually underdamped suspension. THey are sometimes prone to "wobble". Certain records, which otherwise appear normal, can excite the wobble.

You may be able to tame it by adding significant (more than a safety pin!)mass to the tonearm with headshell weights and rebalancing for the right tracking force. This will change the stylus/tonearm's low frequency resonance point.

You might also give Grado a call.

The only thing that puzzles me here is why the geometrical alignment would change things in this regard.

 

One thought: you haven't bent the stylus cantilever per chance.
It can be very slight, but still lead to excess annoyance. Jeff

 

Just to make sure, I got my level out and checked it on my TT. The TT seems to be perfectly level, so it's probably not a problem with how the table is sitting. I also checked to see if maybe it was vibrations from the playback causing problems, but it was happening at even the lowest of levels.

If it were a problem with the tonearm, what exactly might it be with the tonearm causing trouble?

 

I don't think so, but just to be sure I was going to buy a new stylus anyway. I was thinking along the same lines as you - with all the aligning and and measuring that I may have inadvertently damaged the stylus.

 

I noticed that about the Grado when I went to it from the stock cart. on the TT. Many records that were playing fine suddenly had the cartridge bouncing all over the place.

 

I was thinking of a damaged bearing, but now that I think of it that probably wouldn't have caused the exact symptom you're having. It's strange that this only started happening after you aligned your cart ... Usually that's a symptom of a way-too-light VTF.

 

It's known as the "Grado Dance" on the vinyl asylum. Usually it's not a case of VTF being too light, but the cartridge and tonearm getting serious resonance. As already suggested, adding weights to change the tonearm resonant frequency may help.

I don't mean to thread-crap, but I'd seriously consider another cartridge... at least, that's what I did when I found myself in this situation. I know some people just love the sound of Grados, but with all the problems that I (and countless others) have had with them, I just don't see how they can be practical. Mistracking, hum, inexplicable channel imbalances, and a dancing tonearm are just too much for me.

 

Ah ... I hadn't taken into account the "Grado dance." My comment was a general one for any cart ... When I first got my Rega table, I didn't know how to set the VTF very well for my Benz-Micro cartridge, and I ended up with the exact symptom GoldenBoy describes because (as I discovered soon after) my VTF was way too light.

My wife actually has a Grado Black on her old Luxman turntable, and it works quite well (apart from some minor tracking issues). I guess it's all about arm/cart synergy with the Grados ...

 

Speaking of hum, my Grado does indeed hum too. When playing black low level content it gets annoying. I am seriously considering getting a new cartridge, but at some point in the future. Right now, I have other things to spend my money on than yet another cartridge for this TT. I'm not even really a vinyl fan.

 

I really loved the sound of Grados. I lived with them for years despite the various problems, but eventually I caved. For me it was the sibilance tracking issue that broke the camel's back. Grado just won't admit that it's a problem, or that it's the cartridge that's at fault. I got the V-15-VMR, and was, frankly, surprised at how good it sounded. My audiophile friend and co-conspirator, on the other hand, who also liked the sound of the Grados, was unimpressed. But at least I was free from the sibilance tracking issue, finally.

I now have that AT that's selling discounted to $99 here and there (ATML-440 I think) which also tracks sibilance very well and has a bit more life than the Shure. I think it's a bargain. A tad bright.

When I did have Grados I was able to deal with the wobble, either by adjusting mass on the tonearm or by using the SME tonearm damping gizmo. Also some Grado styli do seem more prone than others.

 

At $99 the AT-440ML is a steal. It's been discounted to that price for quite some time. It doesn't quite track the high-frequencies as well as the Shure but it does a darn good job. Anyone looking for a bargain might want to check it out. It'll easily handle everything but the "torture" track on the Hi-Fi News Test Record. I agree that it's a touch bright. To me, the Shure sounds more "real" and "solid" and I prefer it's sound...but that's just my humble opinion.

As for Grados...I had a Grado Red that mistracked right out of the box (what seemed like) any and all sibilance. Very frustrating.

 

I've been really impressed with the tracking grace of the Shure V15. Seriously amazing work, this cart.....

 

"Grace" - A perfect description. Effortless handling of the most difficult passages. It's hard to go back to anything else afterwards...

 

No kidding. The real winning revelation is when you play records you thought were sub-par and a tad noisy. Then with the v15 they sound really great.... not much noise at all....

The stylus seems very tiny and delicate. I can't imagine going back to anything else either...!

I would recommend this cart to anyone. Best $220 you could spend for your analog rig.

 

Another confirmed V15 user here...I bought it when it originally came out in the early 80's. I shipped my dead stylus off to Shure last week, and am waiting for it to be returned.

Despite that, the sound of my Grado still isn't bad, considering I spent all of $45 on it back around 1980. For that much I never expected it to track all that well. To be honest, my Dynavector DV10X3 tracks no better than this Grado GF3E+. My Grado is on an older turntable which likely has a higher-mass arm. A bit of wiggle, but nothing too bad.

 

I'm another Shure convert, having tried an AT331LP along the way (still keep it as a spare).

I could understand the Grado issues on a $50 cart like the black. But it seems that all of their carts have these issues, except possibly their Reference Series (of which I have no experience with).

 

I'll join in on the Shure love-fest. It's such a nice cart that I never think of "upgrading" it.

I used a Grado Black on my Dad's old Technics table when I was getting back into vinyl and upgraded to the Red after a couple of years.
The distortion didn't bother me at first but eventually started to drive me nuts. Some LPs distorted from start to finish, no matter how much I fiddled with alignment and tracking.

I never had the "dance" problem though, and the hum was there but it didn't intrude on the music.

All that's in the past, the Shure is king in the "affordable" cart game.
Their entry level model is supposed to sound pretty close to the V15. It's under $100 and could be a serious contender.
Dan C

 

I was considering that entry level Shure cartridge and was actually wondering if anyone knew how it sounds and tracks? That V15 is just too much money for me to spend on a TT. Especially when the price of it is nearly half the total price I paid for the table to begin with. I'm not really into spending too much cash on vinyl hardware, but I think that I will have to replace this Grado sooner rather than later.

 

The Stanton 680 EL-II is a great cartridge for you as well GoldenBoy.

 

Thank you everyone for all of your help and suggestions. I thought I'd let you all know that after taping a Nickel to the headshell and re-balancing the tonearm, changing the stylus, and readjusting the tracking weight that my problems seem to have been solved - for now anyway. The re-alignment of the cartridge seems to have greatly reduced the sibilance and sibilant distortions, although every now and again there seems to be some excessive sibilance that pops up, but not as frequent or as noticeable as before. Apparently, according to some of the previous posts, this is one of the characteristics of the Grados anyway. After cleaning up many of my records with the Allsop Orbitrac 2, I have played back several of them - even the tough ones - and my tracking problems seem to have been solved as well, with the tracking weight set exactly to 1.5 according to the Sure gauge (give or take whatever the margin of error is). After I am sure it is all fine, I will try to readjust the tracking weight down slightly as the new Extremephono None-Felt mat should allow for this.

Even though it's all up and running, I still think I will eventually get that entry level Shure cartridge as long as I don't hear anything bad about it in the meantime. Hopefully it will sound and track better than this Grado Prestige Blue. Don't get me wrong though, outside of the occasional sibilant tracking problems and the 'wobble', which is seemingly fixed, the Grado is still a pretty nice sounding cartridge.

 

Thanks. I'll take that into cosideration when I do get around to replacing my cart.