TURNTABLE NOISE ON NEEDLEDROPS

Hello

I have been for sometime experiencing noise on needle drops im suspecting its tt rumble
Currently using the dreaded AT LP120 with preamp removed and cork mat fitted with a Shure M447 which a replaced a Ortofon 2M Red which also gave me similar noise


Im suspecting my USB pre amp may be the issue http://www.hollywooddj.com/smproaudioxp203.html
But im not 100% sure anyhow I have upped a link here http://www.divshare.com/download/26458953-110

Sure I can remove the noise with software but If I could reduce it in anyway it would be greatly appreciated

 

What is a cork mat? That is not the platter mat is it? Because if it is, then you need rubber mat which is the best for rumble noise on a TT. I have tried the common felt mats vs the rubber, and rubber won for deadening TT noises that can creep into drops.

Anyhoo hope you find out what's up here.

 

Yes it sure is ok ill look to replace it with a rubber one and see how I go thanks

 

Are your speakers pretty close to the TT?

 

Listened. It's vinyl noise, that's all. Turntable has nothing to do with that. Records rumble. That's why we have CD's.

 

Sounds like you have two kinds of noise there: baseline vinyl whoosh and ringing on the one hand, and some kind of right channel crackling that sounds like either dirty vinyl or poor tracking. On the first score, the best turntables, tonearms and carts do a better job minimizing that noise with deader platters that terminate vinyl resonances, deader tonearms that don't ring, better cartridge suspensions, but nothing gets rid of all the mechanical noise associated with vinyl playback. That's the biggest drawback of the medium.

There are probably ways you could reduce some of that noise on your turntable short of a complete upgrade -- with tonearm arm tube damping tweaks and platter damping tweaks (including trying some different mats, I like the Herbie's Audio Lab mats for terminating vinyl resonances) -- but frankly I don't think that sounds too bad in terms of the level of noise for a very inexpensive table, at least on the basis of this one sound file of a few seconds of the run-out of the Hendrix track . That right channel noise at the end of the track suggest to me that it might be worth checking to make sure the records are clean and make sure the stylus is clean -- I like the Onzow Zerodust for stylus cleaning -- the anti-skating force is properly adjusted, if the azimuth is adjustable that it and cart tangency are optimized. Something that reduces stylus-groove friction can help with both kinds of noise too, but there are no great solutions/treatments to achieve that reduction. Maybe using Stylast is the easiest such method, but I'm not a huge fan of dabbing that kind liquid on the stylus for fear of it migrating up the cantilever.

 

Thanks for your reply the noise shows up on everything I listen to, platter damping is something I have been considering because it does seem to have a ring type noise on everything - what would one use to dampen a turntable platter.


In regards to my stylus I clean it before play with a Magic Eraser.The Hendrix vinyl was brand new sealed on needledrop.

As far as I can tell my anti-skating force is correct and stylus set up with a Technics overhang gauge

 

Is your TT perfectly level? That can cause all kinds of havoc.

 

In terms of damping, I'm not sure. Not familiar enough with the unit to know what would work. Some various things that work in other context but which do add mass are things like lead tape, which you can get at a golf shop, various self adhesive constrained layer damping material of the sort they use to quiet auto interiors (each of which can also be very useful for damping plinths), for the tone arm wand -- which is likely a source of ringing -- it can be tricky to damp things without adding too much mass. Some kind of damping adhesive putty of the sort used to hold glasses in place in a china cabinet can be useful applied sparingly in little rings every 1/3rd of the way along the tone arm, but if you add that kind of mass to the arm wand you may also need to add mass via lead tape to the counterweight in order to get the effective mass at the stylus back to what it should be if you've added mass to the arm tube. And easier solution in many ways, and one that will look less kludgy, is of course a table and arm that ring less and that dampen record resonances more by design. I'm not too sure about the Magic Eraser thing. I never loved an abrasive stylus cleaner, I prefer something like the Zerodust. Do you always have that kind of little scraping kind of sound on run out that's on the right channel of that groove after the fade? And is it always on the same channel? It this just an elliptical stylus or more of a fine line shape? I'd play around with the anti skating a little. Right channel I think is outer groove wall. Try increasing anti skating and decreasing it to see if you can eliminate that. Might not do the trick, and the problem could be the pressing, dust or It also might be interesting to experiment with things that reduce stylus-groove friction, which do reduce noise. I think the easiest thing to experiment with is Stylast, though I haven't used that in years so I can't remember how effective it is, but it does claim to reduce such friction.

Reduction of the mechanical noises inherent in vinyl playback -- with the resulting increase in low level detail resolution and greater dynamic range in addition to the reduction in obvious noise -- in my experience is the biggest difference between better arms and tables, and lesser ones.