2. analog
  3. 182547-128706

Is my stylus miss-tracking?

I’m experiencing a slightly fuzzy or static sound in the right channel at high volumes on some records when the passage is complex and loud. It seems to happen when high frequencies are playing. I swapped the speakers and it stayed on the right side so it’s not a blown tweeter. Could this be an antisate problem? I’d like to say I’ve played with adjusting the antiskate but to be honest I’m afraid of breaking my tonearm again. I have the Clearaudio Magnify tonearm and the antiskate adjustment is a dial that you turn to tighten/loosen a tension cable. Not even sure which direction to turn it to make adjustments anyway. The manual is a bit unclear to me. I broke the tension cable the last time I messed with it. Any ideas on troubleshooting this is appreciated. Thank you!

paulgardner
Post removed 
paulgardner OP
183 posts
 

@viridian thanks for the ideas. I’ll try swapping the cable at the preamp. The stylus is only about a month or two old. (Hana ML)

petg60
1,486 posts
 

When right channel mistracks increase anti skating, when left reduce.

Assuming of course cartridge alignment is correct. Have you tried with increased tracking force? Is your turntable level?

I have to disagree with above post using a blank lp, which is not reliable, unless you have a conical stylus, where a slight drift to the center would be nearly ok, as you would set anti skating too high. Anti skating is adjusted with modulated grooves and is different with more advanced stylus profiles. Another thing to consider is anti skate would vary across the lp side and all lp’s are not the same.

chayro
2,936 posts
 

It is also possible that the your cartridge is just incapable of tracking some grooves cut at very high velocity. If you’re not up to doing the adjustments yourself, consult the dealer you bought it from. Also, make sure your tracking force is set at or very close to maximum. The booklet with the cartridge should have the optimum tracking force.  Too low is not good. 

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