What's that distortion on the last cut of the album side?

I have been listening to some older LP's tonight
I just listened to a side from Marc Benno's "Ambush" album (which I loved BTW). I bet you I haven't heard this thing in at least twenty five years. Still it sounded great.
Except for the last cut on the side I played (side A, if it matters). There was all this distortion on the high end. Lower registers sounded fine but when the voice got up there it crackled with distortion.
Now I didn't clean the album but I don't think that was the problem.
Seems like I have heard about this before. Is there a name for what I heard and a cure for it?

Thanks-
Spin that black circle!

Cheers-
Norm

 

The cure is a Shure V15VxMR. (My main reason for buying it--to play inner grooves and 45s without the distortion...in essence, protecting the vinyl.) That's due to the geometry of the record groove being tighter on the inner grooves, and cartridges with lesser stylii can't track this. If it was played years ago, then it was probably damaged by a cheaper cartridge.

 

It's usually called... "inner groove distortion".

 

You know your stylus is bad when little strands of vinyl start curling up behind the cartridge.

 

Wow. I know my Rega P3/Exact Cart combo is not any great shakes but it doesn't have many miles on it and I drive it gently. So it's time eh? Damn. My wife will never understand.
"But you already have a record player!"



I feel another heart attack coming...
Cheers-
Norm

 

Just did some net searching. Is the term "vocal sibilance " what I have described?

Thanks guys!
Norm

 

I'm not familiar with your cartridge, but there are a few reasons why some cartridges track better than others. The V15-V has an extremely light cantilever, which has less moving mass than most other cartridges. (Also very brittle as a result...I've "lunched" a few in my day. ) The V15 also has a Micro Ridge stylus, which has a cross-section a lot narrower than an elliptical stylus. Because it's narrower, it can more easily track the tight higher frequencies of those inner grooves.

I remember way back when I bought my V15, I spent a good couple of weeks getting reacquainted with a lot of vinyl I'd given up on. I noticed that much of a difference!

 

I just remembered I need to go empty the flash jar on my turntable. Thanks!

 

Does one need to use a spacer under the arm mount to get correct VTA when using the Sure on a Rega P2 with 250 arm?

On a related subject, I notice that my P2 w/Basis cart generates some hum when the tone arm gets toward the center of an LP. I have read that this is due to poor shielding of the cart (and probably a questionable design that puts the motor rght under the carty as well?).

In any event, how is the Sure in this regard?

BGL

 

None of the Rega arms have adjustable VTA. Gotta have the spacer for that. Forget shimming the arm mount...way too tedious and difficult to readjust. The Shure V15VxMR is sensitive to VTA, but I'm not sure about the other Shure models as I've never used them. I kinda doubt they are, though. I'm sure it's the microridge stylus of the V15VxMR that makes it sensitive to VTA, and none of the other Shure cartridges use that stylus.

As for the humming cartridge, yeah, it's a shielding issue...just like Grados. I'm not sure exactly where the motor is mounted in a Rega, but I doubt it's directly under the cartridge at any point in the cart's arc of travel. It's probably on the side of the table opposite the arm. What you're likely hearing is the cartridge picking up hum as it moves closer to the motor. Shure cartridges won't do that.

 

Norm,

Since you say it's an older LP, I assume that 1) you (or someone else) has played this on an older 'table/cartridge than you have now, and 2) other, newer albums don't exhibit the same problem. If so then what you have is inner groove DAMAGE, caused by repeated playings with earlier, inferior or misaligned equipment. No amount of cleaning or applications of a Shure V15 will cure this; the vinyl is permanently damaged. If it does it on all LPs, then as Steve says, it is inner groove DISTORTION, which may be cured by more careful attention to cartridge alignment.

BTW, one of my favorite old LPs is Asylum Choir II, with Marc Benno and Leon Russell. I have my original copy, bought when first released, and it does indeed have some groove damage.

John K.

 

Interestingly I am finding that the more records I play the better my set up sounds. This particular LP may have indeed been mistreated in it's earlier life. I frankly can't recall how it found it's way into my collection. But for arguments sake let's say that the inner grooves have indeed been damaged. Will this harm my cart? And am I taking chances by spinning these $1.00 vinyl bargains that me and the boys have been picking up at record shows? Some of them sound amazing. I have taken to leaving my amp on all weekend and just switching my phono stage over to mute when I am not listening for a while and then when I kick it back on it warms up quickly and sounds great. On Sunday nights I switch everything off, pop a Valium and wait until the next weekend

Cheers-
Norm

 

Might wanna avoid the beat-up ones, Norm. Worn grooves will really speed up stylus wear. Bear in mind also that a worn stylus will in turn wear your good records in no time.

IMO, it's best to just dump worn records. If it's something kinda rare you'd like to hang on to and play on occasion, using a separate cartridge or stylus for just those records is the way to go. Of course, if you don't have a user-replacable stylus or a removable armwand, that would be a bit of a pain. Still better than having to replace a bunch of records, though. Sorry if all this seems a bit doom-laden.

 

Actually, the V15VMR (cart model that preceded the V15VxMR) also uses the MicroRidge stylus. And my V15VxMR does pick up some of the TT motor hum--I can't really hear it, but I see the levels on the VU meters go up. Negligible, then, but there.

 

Thanks for that info. Seems kind of odd to me, given the fact that Rega have been in the TT game for so long, that they have yet to sort this out? It does tend to be in-audible when music is playing, but I can't imagine that its all the hard to solve.

Heck, I once used some thin copper sheeting to line the control cavity of a Ric 4003 bass, and it helped a lot. Perhaps there is a tweak in my future?

BGL

 

Seems like Rega arms themselves might be a bit prone to hum under certain circumstances. I think they might have a less than ideal grounding scheme judging from some owner comments I've seen. I guess there's quite a bit of room for improvement with Rega arms, good as they already are, otherwise Origin Live probably wouldn't have so many mods for them. Still, if your cartridge isn't shielded, I'm sure that's the weak link regarding hum.

Maybe you could try using some of that copper sheeting around the motor? Might work OK as long as it doesn't vibrate or resonate too much.