High frequency distortion?


Hello all, I'm newish to vinyl, having gotten my first turntable, a Denon DP 300F within the past 12 months. It's been great so far, but lately I've been noticing distortion in both channels, mostly with high frequency sounds, like cymbals, high guitar notes, high vocal ranges, etc. Pretty much anything that comes out of the tweeters. All of my records were purchased new, so they've only been played within 5 times each. Anyone have any idea what could be the cause of the distortion?

Troubleshooting I've done:

  • Hooked up different speakers to the receiver.
  • Unplugged turntable from phono, and into cd, then used the turntable's built-in pre-amp.
  • Plugged headphones into the receiver while playing a record.

    In each case, the distortion persists, in both channels, at the high frequencies. Thank you so much to anyone who can offer any insight.


128x128bizzy

Showing 5 responses by bizzy

Thanks to everyone who took the time to offer suggestions, it means a lot and I appreciate it. I'll try them out this weekend when I have some time, and I'll make a post with results in case anyone is curious
Will do, and thanks. Yeah, I know, I haven't used it a ton, but I should've thought about cleaning it earlier.
No, the stylus was new as well. I just ordered some cleaning solution, I haven't cleaned it yet, and although it doesn't look dirty, there's a good chance there's stuff there that I don't see.

As for HOW the distortion sounds...like I said, mostly highs. It kindof sounds like a blown sweeter trying to play sound. A little bit of fuzzy cackling, especially during loud highs. No other input distorts, but using the turntable on the other inputs does bring with the same distortion. 
Alright, I reset the tone arm and adjustments per manual instruction. The problem has diminished slightly. I will clean the stylus, then retest.
So, my stylus cleaner and record cleaner both came in yesterday, and today I cleaned the stylus, and a record. The problem is virtually non existent. Thank you all for your help for a newbie like me, cheers!

Highway To Hell is sounding epic :)