Random Skips


I have a Rega RP3 with Exact cartridge. Force and anti-skate set at 1.75. I clean with Spin Clean and Mofo cleaner and brush use #9 styles cleaner. I can play a album and it plays fine next time I play about mid way will skip or hang. Next time I play it it plays fine. Or I can even just stop put thru Spin Clean and it plays fine. My albums are not dirty take very good care of them. This happens to random albums new and albums I’ve had years. I do play very loud SPLnFFT shows 96 to 101 db’s. Have Source Technology 7211’s and two Source Technology sub’s. My room is 30 x15. Have thought it could be vibrations from playing so loud? I check the set up on turntable every 60 days and it’s always dead on. Any thoughts?
128x128lenmc2964
Len, Does it happen when there is heavy bass? Does it happen when you are playing quietly or only at high volume? I can't believe a Rega cartridge would be incompatible with their own turntable but you could have a defective cartridge. If the cartridge is too stiff for the mass of the tonearm (low compliance) the tonearm will pop out of the groove with the right bass note. Other possibilities are, your anti skate mechanism is sticking, your tonearm is running into the cuing device, your tone arm bearings are defective, your turntable just hates you. Also, make sure the table is perfectly level and the cartridge is aligned correctly. 
To check for a defective cartridge you will need a test record with resonance test tracks. Defeat the anti skate device and see if the skipping stops. 

Good luck
Mike    
Anti-skate is notoriously imprecise, varies across a side, and even varies (as Mike alludes to above) depending on how much bass energy there is on a track. When it skips, does it always skip to the outside, playing the same bit over and over again? Or does it skip ahead to the inside? 

If it skips out, decrease anti-skate. Skips in, increase anti-skate. 

If its 50/50 well then we need to look deeper. But this is a good first step.
not to be your nanny here but you may also want to reconsider your listening levels at those levels (100db) your damaging your hearing. There is no coming back from damaged hearing. 

Sorry if I'm treading in a not your business area, but I do come across people who just don't know what the limitations of human hearing are and when damage starts from excessively loud sounds. 
above 85dba we start to get permanent hearing loss. your ears though not mine. 

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/noise-induced-hearing-loss


glenn, the nih article was written for people who do not have a medical background and was done very nicely with pictures of hair cells and all but it is still very simplistic and omits the more complicated aspects of human hearing. Most people can listen to music safely at 95 dB as long as they warm their ears up first and get their stapedius muscles tightened up. Some people are more susceptible to hearing damage not only from noise but also certain drugs. The most dangerous noises are high volume impulse noise like gun shots and repetitive loud short duration noise like you would get from repetitive use of a hand held circular saw. In both instances your ears do not have a chance to accommodate to loud noise mode. In quiet environments your hearing sensitivity automatically increases so that you can hear faint sounds in the environment like that lioness sneaking up on you. It takes your ears a minute or two to get into loud noise mode which is why you always warm up your ears at lower volumes increasing a few dB at at time till you get to your preferred listening volume. Music at 95 dB is safe for most people. The problem is that it is hard to tell who is going to be more susceptible to hearing damage like Beethoven. The best indicator is family history. If both your parents where deaf as a door knob by 80 I would worry. Everybody should always wear hearing protection when shooting or using just about any machine tool. Not doing so is asking for it. For us music lovers there is a great product, the Etymotic  ear buds. They have a 32 dB attenuation rate and they sound better than 90% of the ear buds out there. When in the shop or mowing the lawn I'm in my own little world listening to Rage Against the Machine. You could set off an A bomb behind me and I would not hear it. Perfect.  https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html
I use the ER 2XR plugs for hearing protection.

Mike
mijostyn
... the nih article was written for people who do not have a medical background ... it is still very simplistic and omits the more complicated aspects of human hearing. Most people can listen to music safely at 95 dB as long as they warm their ears up first ...
That’s interesting. So please tell us about your medical background.
Thank you for your response the anti-skate makes sense it skips out. Going to reduce it today and give it a try. Like I said can go weeks and all is well then out of the blue it happens. As far as the volume I’m 63 have been listing to Rock n Roll at maxim volume since 1969. Hearing is probably not as good as it was then but it’s fine for 63. As it says on the label of The Who Live At Leeds “Play Loud”. After all It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll. Once agin thanks for the advice.
cleeds, I am a board certified family physician. I practice in southern New Hampshire. You can check my reviews out on the internet.