Distortion from Turntable

I have a Stanton turntable with a Stanton cartridge. This is the kind of turntable that requires balancing etc. After getting it properly balanced, I was quite pleased with the sound. Lately, however, I have noticed some distortion, as I get to the end of the record side.

At first, I thought it might be because the cartridge or stylus was worn out and replaced the cartridge (which I needed to do anyway). Unfortunately, I am still getting this problem. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this? It is possible that the new cartridge is defective, but I am wondering if the are are any other things that could cause this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated?

 

I would have said you answered your own question except you say you've replaced the cartridge. Did you replace it with the same model? If not, does the new model require a different tracking force? Does it have a differnt type of stylus?

It is an inherent feature of vinyl that the treble goes down a bit and the distortion rises towards the end of the record side. Particularly if the music is loud. The degree to which this is a problem depends very largely on the stylus

The "standard" stylus dimension for playing a stereo groove is a .0007 mil spherical (conical). However no one actually uses this any more. Way too much distortion. A smaller spherical will improve things a little, and eliptical will reduce the distortion significantly, and a fine line stylus, properly aligned, will reduce it dramatically.

If the stylus is not the problem, does the arm lift automatically at the end of the record side? If so it probably uses a mechanical linkage that comes into play towards the end of the disk. If this gets gummed up it will make the arm unable to move freely at the end of the side and can cause distortion. Does the arm feel like it moves freely over the entire record surface? If not, assuming it has the most common mechanical arm return mechanism, remove the platter, look for a large gearwheel with a few missing teeth. There'll be a couple of metal plates that slide over one another in the area where the teeth are missing. These are probably sticking. Carefully remove the gear and the teeth and clean them out and the problem should be gone.

 

How did you align the cartridge? What sort of alignment tool did you use?

Regards,
Geoff

 

I replaced the cartridge with the same model. The arm does not lift automatically.

I wasn't aware that distortion normally rises, towards the end of a record side. That could be part of the problem, but I don't think it should rise that much. At least I never noticed that much distortion.

It is possible that I made some kind of mistake in installing the new cartridge. I'm used to the cheap kind of turntables, where you just screw in the cartridge and play. I guess I should take the headshell and cartridge down to the stereo shop and have them look at it.

Thanks for the information, Steve.

 

On GOOD carts, distortion towards the end of the record barely occurs. Some carts are better at "low velocity tracking" than others..

Vinyl and analog can't be without peril. Make sure you get that cart aligned correctly too. If you have no way of doing it yourself, bring it to someone who can, and in that, the whole turntable would have to go there, not just the arm.

There is a lot of tweaking sometimes. Don't let it discourage you.

 

The only tool I used was a screwdriver to screw it into the headshell. I'm afraid I'm pretty green about these things. When I bought the turntable, I had so much difficulty setting it up that I ended up taking it to the store where I bought it and had them set it up for me. The instructions were very poorly written and assumed that the purchaser knew what he was doing.

After they set it up, it worked fine, that is until recently. Since, I purchased the same cartridge, I have to assume that the settings are the same.

 

Thanks. That's probably what I'll end up doing.

 

Thnaks for some of these tips... good to learn!

 

Oh, I also don't want to discourage people from doing the alignments themselves. There's a link on the enjoythemusic site. Just make sure you have Adobe's Acrobat reader installed (free on the adobe.com site) then see:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/protractor.pdf

Make sure the turntable is below you, enough to get a nice low view from above, so you can easily center the cart in the arm...

This kinda protractor is usually found with most bought carts these days...

 

Elliptical cartridges are the best and Stanton 680 EL II is made for hi-fi and is elliptical. The spherical cartridges now are made for "scratching."

 

Just to get the terminology corect, cartridges aren't "elliptical" - that term is referring to the shape of the stylus.

There are quite a few other shapes that are used in the top cartridges - I would not claim that the elliptical stylus is the "best".

Regards,
Geoff

 

Silly question: Is the stylus clean?

I would ammend that to say: With good, fine-line styli *and* clean records that have not been overmodulated, distortion towards the end of the record barely occurs. Worn records will always have inner groove distortion, and it is always possible to cut a record with more treble, particularly towards the end of a side, than *any* cartridge can cope with.

 

Found The Problem

I took my turntable to the store I bought it from and found out that everything was set up right, but that the stylus canilever had been bent. I probably did that myself. I think my eyes are too weak and my fingers too big for installing cartridges. Anyway, the distortion problem has been corrected.

I would like to thank everyone, who offered advise to me. It feels good to know there is a place, where I can get help when I need it.

 

Retracted - Realized I was thread carping.