Gremlins

[Oldpinkman]

Does anyone else suffer from Gremlins - you know the cute furry things that turn evil and mess with your HiFi

I've not been listening much lately - its the grumpy tax return season. And a thread about mains fuses on another forum which exceeded the Monty Python "Stop it this is silly!" threshold turned me off completely

But - I decided to listen to my christmas present - The Endless River. And it was poor. Really poor. And the Babs Striesand "Partners" I bought Sue for Christmas had been dull and lifeless too. Cursing modern recordings and vinyl pressings I resolved to give up HiFi and join a buddhist mission in the Himalayas, or just go FLAC file based. But first I'd play an oldie and remind myself what HiFi used to be

And that was poor too. By now I was smelling a rat. And the rat in question was a Dynavector tracking at nearly 4 grams. Putting it back to 2.1 grams has restored that wonderful magic. But how??? My son would think it funny, but have no idea how to do it. My friends son (yes Tim Smale, I'm talking about you) would have broken something. Nope - impossible to explain, but facts as stated

Thank 'Evans we are back to normal. Bloody gremlins :steam:

[Marco]

Glad you’ve resolved the problem, Richard! However, how on earth did your DV end up tracking at 4g? :eek:

Marco.

[Oldpinkman]

Buggered if I know Marco. The counterweight is uncalibrated and "slides" but even so - can't even blame the missus dusting. Complete mystery

[Marco]

Lol - just shows you how crucial getting VTF right is! However, there’s obviously nothing wrong with yer lugs ;)

Marco.

[struth]

Friday pixies again;)

[Beobloke]

Buggered if I know Marco. The counterweight is uncalibrated and "slides" but even so - can't even blame the missus dusting. Complete mystery

You want to get yourself a decent arm with proper calibration!

Or at least one with a locking weight... ;)

[Macca]

Someone messed about with it when you were not there. Only explanation. Happened to me when I was using a Systemdek: lodgers brother came to stay and decided to spins some records. But my deck had been modded to 33rpm only so the speed selector was actually an on-off switch. The lad had messed with everything possible, the tracking weight, the anti-skate, trying to get the deck to start up. It never occurred to him to try switching the speed. Eventually he gave up and said nothing to me or his brother, presumably worried that he had broken the thing. I was quite pissed off when I realised as it had taken me ages to get it all spot on.

[walpurgis]

Someone messed about with it when you were not there. Only explanation. Happened to me when I was using a Systemdek: lodgers brother came to stay and decided to spins some records. But my deck had been modded to 33rpm only so the speed selector was actually an on-off switch. The lad had messed with everything possible, the tracking weight, the anti-skate, trying to get the deck to start up. It never occurred to him to try switching the speed. Eventually he gave up and said nothing to me or his brother, presumably worried that he had broken the thing. I was quite pissed off when I realised as it had taken me ages to get it all spot on.

That would result in bloodshed here! :punch:

[Oldpinkman]

Ah glasshopper (Macca) I think you have great wisdom. I guess I should be thankful no damage resulted. The last incident with a house-sitter resulted in the loss of an EPC205 cantilever.

Does nobody make lockable guncabinets for turntables? :(

[CageyH]

No such problems on my FX-1200. With freshly cleaned records, it sounds superb!

[Macca]

. The last incident with a house-sitter resulted in the loss of an EPC205 cantilever.

Does nobody make lockable guncabinets for turntables? :(

What puzzles me about these incidents is why people who are obviously not familiar at all with hi-fi equipment, when left alone in the house of a virtual stranger, seem so confident in their ability to use said equipment? Without seemingly worrying at all that they might break it or spoil it somehow. They obviously don't have a proper hi-fi at home (because if they did they would know how to use yours without busting it) so they can't be that bothered but leave them alone for ten minutes and instead of watching telly or surfing the net or whatever they usually do to pass the time they make a bee-line for the most expensive, complicated and easiest to break thing in the house. Strange.

[awkwardbydesign]

What puzzles me about these incidents is why people who are obviously not familiar at all with hi-fi equipment, when left alone in the house of a virtual stranger, seem so confident in their ability to use said equipment? Without seemingly worrying at all that they might break it or spoil it somehow. They obviously don't have a proper hi-fi at home (because if they did they would know how to use yours without busting it) so they can't be that bothered but leave them alone for ten minutes and instead of watching telly or surfing the net or whatever they usually do to pass the time they make a bee-line for the most expensive, complicated and easiest to break thing in the house. Strange.
But they don't think it's complicated, probably. Used to stuff that operates with a remote control. Now they ARE complicated!
And have no idea that a "needle" might cost several hundreds of your English pounds.

[Macca]

It must be the turntable that draws them in. Like moths to a flame. Expect things to get worse with the vinyl revival, even DJs haven't used vinyl decks for a decade or more, for everyone else it is like trying to operate a steam traction engine when you have only ever seen one on the television. Accidents waiting to happen...

[walpurgis]

What puzzles me about these incidents is why people who are obviously not familiar at all with hi-fi equipment, when left alone in the house of a virtual stranger, seem so confident in their ability to use said equipment? Without seemingly worrying at all that they might break it or spoil it somehow. They obviously don't have a proper hi-fi at home (because if they did they would know how to use yours without busting it) so they can't be that bothered but leave them alone for ten minutes and instead of watching telly or surfing the net or whatever they usually do to pass the time they make a bee-line for the most expensive, complicated and easiest to break thing in the house. Strange.

That is why my system is in my 'den'. Which stays locked whilst I'm not in the house.

[Mr Kipling]

What happens if you lose the key?

[walpurgis]

What happens if you lose the key?

I don't. I never lose anything.

[Mr Kipling]

Not even your temper? Will have to start and call you St. Geoff.

[walpurgis]

Not even your temper? Will have to start and call you St. Geoff.

No. If something annoys me, I lay it on the line and see what happens.