Cartridge Tacking Problems - Help please


I have major tonearm/cartridge tracking problems that seems to have gotten worse, leading me to believe there's a problem with the arm. Can anyone suggest what I can/should try to further diagnose the problem?

Here's what it's doing:
On some (becoming many) discs, the cartridge will just skip out of the track, as though there's a scratch, or someone bumped the stand. Changing the anti-skate setting (ie over driving the anti-skate to 2.5) helps a little, but doesn't cure it.

Here's the set-up:
Pink Triangle original table
Audioquest PT6 arm
Signet TK7SU cartridge with new stylus
(the the problem exists also with the old one)
I have no damping fluid in the trough at present

Here's what I've done:
Table is leveled and set up properly
Arm/Cartridge is set up and aligned (and quadruple-checked)
Tracking force is set at 1.75 g, which is the max recommended by Signet. I've always tracked this cartridge at 1.25 g on my old table and it worked beautifully.

thanks in advance!
bdgregory

Showing 2 responses by fatparrot

Your cartridge is 25+ years old. Sounds like it might be time for a new cartridge! The suspension elements of a phono cartridge will not last forever, as the rubber suspension parts will decay. This can occur even if the cartridge has not been used very heavily.

Also, do you have a sturdy table stand, and have you changed the TT stand recently?
Now, crank that puppy up! Glad you fixed the problem...it seems that my advice was worth exactly what you paid for it...NOTHING :-)