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Ikeda 9 Cartridge Squeaking

This is an odd issue I have never been able to figure out the last few months. I have an Ikeda 9 Kawami cartridge on a Well Tempered Reference table, with the longer WTR arm. There are a few albums by Mark Isham on Windham Hill label that this cartridge has a high pitched squeak or rubbing sound in the groove. I can hear it and it drives me nuts! Yet on other albums such as George Winston on the same label there is none of this nonsense. 

Overhang is set by an arc protractor with spindle to pivot being 233 degrees. I have not found a factory listed number for this arm, but an owner of a Wally Tractor had one done for his table and reported the 233 mm number. I used an original Feikert and measured 230 mm from the first setting that the previous owner had it at when I obtained this table.  I cannot find a factory protractor for this table, and all the info from Stanalog or Transparent seems to be missing. I am tempted to pull the cartridge off this arm and put it on my Audiomods Series Six with a heavy cartridge plate and see what happens there. But I would prefer to keep the cartridge on this table, but for the life of me I am not sure what the issue is. 

There is nothing on the net regarding this phenomenon that I have found. Anyone experience this, or hear about it? Since the cartridge is similar to a London Decca design, perhaps an owner of those cartridges may have heard something?
neonknight

Showing 6 responses by neonknight

neonknight OP
341 posts
 

Since I started this thread I eventually moved the Ikeda over to a Dynavector DV505 arm that is on a Scheu turntable I have. The cartridge performed well, and had no tracking issues at all, with a balanced sound and low noise floor. 

However, since I am not the original owner of the cartridge, I had no idea of the hours on it or the condition of the diamond. I figured it would be a good idea to get it serviced and have a known starting point. 

There are very few places that will service this cartridge. However Expert Stylus has confirmed that they have experience with it. So a week ago I sent it off to Expert along with an Ortofon MC2000. This morning I got confirmation from the company that my package has been received, and to expect the results of the inspection in about a week. 

At least from this juncture things seem to be going well. Good communication, and no issues with shipping from the US to the UK. 

neonknight OP
341 posts
 
Cartridge identification on these is always difficult. Mine is the gold colored body with the kanji character on the right hand side and Ikeda 9 printed across the bottom. I have always had wondered if this is just the standard 9 or if this is the Kawami version. The general conclusion here on Audigon is that it is the Kiwami, so I run it at 1,5 grams. 

@chakster   That is a line of thinking I have considered myself; the reason it is on the WT table is the previous owner had this pairing. The WTR arm may be better suited to the ZYX 4D or Ortofon A90 I have, and I may move one onto that table. I no longer have any high mass arms, the heaviest I have is the Audiomods Series Six with heavy cartridge plate, and that one isnt close to hitting 35 grams. I do know that Jeff Spalls makes a custom cartridge plate for people who want to run Denon DL 103 cartridges, so that should get me into higher mass territory. My only other arm is a SME V, so that one will not fit the bill either. 


neonknight OP
341 posts
 
Can we get a concensous of which version this is?

The one in this image is the cartridge I have. 

Are we talking an original series 9 or the Kawami? 

https://conchan1.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/mi-last.jpeg
neonknight OP
341 posts
 
One thing to do is bump up tracking weight on the WT to 2 grams? See what the result is there.

Weird thing is it only does this on three records so far. All by Micheal Hedges released on Windham Hill.
neonknight OP
341 posts
 
Ordered a heavy cartridge plate to get the Audiomods arm to 30 grams. Will see how things go on that arm and probably put the A90 on the Well Tempered.
neonknight OP
341 posts
 
Ok I got the cart mounted on the Audiomods with the heaviest cartridge plate that comes standard with it. Tracking force at 2 grams and no squeaking, tracks pretty nicely really. So far a positive outcome. 
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