Jimbos Audio ramblings

[Barry]

I suggest you follow the Linn school of arm/cartridge installation: tighten everything until the threads strip, then slacken off a quarter turn.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Jim have you tried a Panzerholz spacer bewteen the 2M and the tonearm? Probably a worthwhile mod for stopping most vibration getting into the cartridge from the tonearm?

[Barry]

Linn's argument is that excess energy that has not been used to generate an electrical output by the cartridge, should be given an unimpeded mechanical path so it can be absorbed by the mass of the armboard/turntable.
On the other hand, such an unimpeded path might allow vibration from the turntable passing back into the arm and cartridge.
I think it depends on the cartridge and on the turntable.

[Jimbo]

Vibration control is absolutely everything when it concerns turntables as by their nature they work on the principles of vibration ie stylus in the groove, however all other vibrations either physical or airborne should be controlled so as not to influence in a detrimental way the information produced by the stylus. To this end I am always assessing vibration in and around my turntable and the only way I do this is by trial and error tweaking anything that can be tweaked or looking at the environment and materials the TT sits on or is supported by.

Actual evaluation of the turntable components and their interaction is an area I have now only really started to think about in detail and experiment with so all suggestions are welcome. I know you have looked at this area yourself Andy so any recommendations will be great. I will continue with just tweaking the original components first to see what happens.

Just on the subject of grub screws holding the tonearm pillar secure I do know some folk have experimented with rubber nosed screws so this maybe my next trial. As with everything you just have to try, listen and determine whether something works in a positive way or not but when I think of all the possible areas that can affect vibrations from the stylus in a turntable there are many.

I know that manufacturers do take a lot of this into account when they are developing and building turntables but that maybe just to their ears. After all I have found some serious faults which I would not have done many times with turntables which affect SQ.

[Jimbo]

Just an interesting read on turntable set up and possible areas that could be a problem.

https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/...system-set-up/

[AJSki2fly]

Just an interesting read on turntable set up and possible areas that could be a problem.

https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/...system-set-up/

I had a read, and the cartridge set up was interesting. My Benz-Micr0 LP-S can run at 1.8-2.2gm tracking force, several site recommend 1.8gm, I have run it at just over 1.8gm, but the article prompted me to increase the force to 2.0gm, I checked VTA and alignment at the same time and these are still spot on. My initial thoughts, just listening to 2 tracks, on the increased tracking weight is that there is an improvement, what I can only described as tonally better balanced, and a little more warmth in the presentation.

I will have a longer listen and see if I can give a better description.

[Jimbo]

I would like to mess around with the VTA again after reading the possible improvements I could achieve but I feel I may run round in circles as different record thickness affects VTA and the 2M black is a nightmare to get spot on anyway. I will have a listen at different tracking weights however as I have stuck at just under 1.6g VTF for sometime and it would be interesting to know if it sounds better at slightly higher or lower VTF. Ortofon recommend 1.5g?

[karma1967]

have a good look at this video mate,
its a game changer for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ApPo7htUg

you really need a microsope to check sra/vta but after watching the vid a few times id focus on azimuth and zenith angles,thats where the big gains are.

[Jimbo]

have a good look at this video mate,
its a game changer for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ApPo7htUg

you really need a microsope to check sra/vta but after watching the vid a few times id focus on azimuth and zenith angles,thats where the big gains are.

I will check it out. Thanks

[Barry]

I had a read, and the cartridge set up was interesting. My Benz-Micr0 LP-S can run at 1.8-2.2gm tracking force, several site recommend 1.8gm, I have run it at just over 1.8gm, but the article prompted me to increase the force to 2.0gm, I checked VTA and alignment at the same time and these are still spot on. My initial thoughts, just listening to 2 tracks, on the increased tracking weight is that there is an improvement, what I can only described as tonally better balanced, and a little more warmth in the presentation.

I will have a longer listen and see if I can give a better description.

I was told by a reputable music and audio shop that one should start with a VTF 0.25g below the maximum recommended value, and then experiment with with smaller values (in say 0.25g steps).
Contrary to expectation, more wear will occur to both record and stylus if the cartridge undertracks.