I just bought a slightly used Benz Ruby 2 cartridge from a reliable source and installed it in my linear-tracking Eminent Technology ET-2 tonearm and SOTA Star Sapphire turntable. A classic analog front end. I set up the arm/cartridge very carefully, and this is my second go round with doing so with this 'table.
After leveling the turntable so the cartridge remains stationery in the blank area between tracks, in the middle of the HFNRR Test Record, I played Band 6, which contains a mono 300 Hz tone. The instructions say to listen for any difference between the channels to show whether the anti-skating is correctly set. Of course, with a linear-tracking turntable the only anti-skating adjustment consists of having the turntable perfectly level, which I also check with a bubble level.
On this band of the test LP, both channels sounded the same, but there was similar distortion on each side. The instructions for this band go on to say "If there is any hint of instability (distorted or buzzing sound) on one channel or the other then adjust the bias compensation accordingly." (Apparently "bias" is the British term for
"anti-skating."). So if there is distortion in both channels, what does that mean? I'm confident the anti-skating/turntable level is correctly set. On my old Shure Era III test record, the cartridge didn't do great on the trackability tests, but the only cartridge of mine that ever did was the Shure V-15 Type III (imagine that). The Ruby 2 could only pass the first two test levels before there would be some slight mistracking.
On conventional records the cartridge generally sounds fine, very similar to the Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 1000 that preceded it. Both cartridges seemed to mistrack one crescendo in "Meditation 2" from the Larajii Day of Radiance Ambient 3 LP, which sounds OK on an old Nakamichi cassette recording I made from this Japanese-pressed LP. Having made the cassette dub, I rarely played the LP. (FWIW, a different pressing of this unusual recording is on the TAS Super Disc list.)
I explained the HFNRR record results with the seller, who collects cartridges, and he suggested increasing the tracking force. I have it on 2 gm now; 2.2 gm is the upper limit for "recommended tracking force."
Would you agree to increase the VTF, or should I just ignore the test record result? I am inclined to try it, at least to see if the Ambient 3 track will play better. But it is laborious to adjust the VTF with the ET-2 arm.
