My wife touched my turntable - help please


Last night with friends over and me exhausted a minor accident occured. The record had finished while I was checking on the kids and my wife lifted up the arm on my turntable by hand(Audiomeca romance tonearm and table, benz ruby 2 cartridge) ie without using the lifting mechanism. I have examined the cartridge and the stylus seems centered but perhaps a little less angled than before (when the stylus is on the record the body seems lower down though not touching the record - though I have not tried it on a more warped record). I suspect she may have put a bit of downward pressure on it. I hope this explains what I think happened. Short of retipping, my temptation is to just leave it be but comments from vinyl pros would really be welcome. Does one always go through the manufacturer to retip if this should ever need to be done. Please no harrassing regarding my wife, she meant well. Thanks in advance.

Gary
gajgmusic

Showing 1 response by twl

Well, unless she shoved it sideways pretty hard or mashed it downwards onto the record, which you definitely would have heard, there should be nothing whatever wrong with it. I rarely use the cueing lever, and I haven't damaged a record or cartridge in 30 years of playing. Once you get used to cueing by hand, you'll never use the cueing lever again, unless you are fumble-fingered. The technique is to rest your pinky finger on the plinth for steadiness and use the finger-lift to raise and lower the arm. No problem.

The bottom line is, if the cartridge still plays, the cantilever doesn't look bent, and there is no channel-balance problem, you are ok.