Good morning! I have a very modest turntable (Technics BD20D), with a pretty nice sounding aftermarket stylus (Audio Technica ATN 3472BE). Admittedly a budget set-up, but running off the old trust Yamaha receiver, with pretty good mid-line Sony speakers, good enough for this kid. The question I have, and please don't think I'm nuts, I noticed this while cleaning the thing: The stylus looks slightly off center from the cantilever; looking directly down at it with it pointed up facing you, it looks like it's veeeery slightly off to me. Granted, I am not the guy with the best vision- so I had a buddy look at it, and after he looked at me like I had snakes coming out of my head, he said it DID look a bit off. Then he told me only I would be anal enough to ever notice. Anyone out there know about this???? The stylus does not look BENT, just OFF. Weird. Very weird. I appreciate any inputs. Have a good one! p
If the antiskate is out of adjustment it can pull a stylus off to one side or the other. Is that what you see? Richard.
Don't think that's the case, as upon investigating a spare stylus, same make, unused, looks the same.
I'm not sure that I understand: Do you mean the stylus tip is not centered on the cantilever? If not, is it that the cantilever itself is 'off', i.e., when viewed from above the cantilever is not parallel to the cartridge body?
I've got same problem with a MC; it can be repaired by specialist. But he said that a slight bending do not affect sound. But if it's a cheap MM consider that it's better a new original stylus (about half price of cartridge) rather than risk of ruin your vinyl.
If you mean the cantilever that the needle is on - | is not straight with the cart body, then what you describe is fairly common with new carts/stylus.
Thanks for all the responses- to clarify, the stylus is not centered on the cantilever, the cantilever is almost perfectly straight!
I agree that it seems pretty common, but is it a problem? Whenever I've had carts where the cantilever was not parallel with the cartridge sides, I've always exchanged them...
Technically, a skewed stylus (whether caused by improper mounting of the stylus to the cantilever or a bent cantilever) will throw off the azimuth of the cartridge. That means a channel imbalance. Whether it's *easily* audible or not depends on the severity of the misalignment. If the tonearm allows adjustment for azimuth, that is an option, but doing so will then transfer the imbalance to the cartridge motor (magnet & coils). The cartridge performance will still be somewhat compromised as the relative alignment of the magnetic field and coils will no longer be, uh...as well-aligned. It may still provide pleasing performance if the imbalance isn't too severe, but it won't be at its best. Obviously, leaving the skew at the cartridge/groove interface would eventually lead to uneven stylus wear which would in turn transform the stylus into a record eating monster. Best to avoid this scenario, IMHO. That's what I'd do, too. I doubt any retailer would put up much of a fight...not at the price point in question, anyway.
