SME 3009 S2 Improved Tonearm problem...possibly

@jebcamaro 

Its more likely the pillar bearings that are an issue rather than the knife edge bearing.

They often get worn and sticky, inhibiting horizontal motion - there are 2 of them inside the arm pillar.

@jebcamaro 

The Soundsmith is very smooth compared to the Shure.

Have you checked the input impedance on the phono stage - the Soundsmith MI cartridges can be very sensitive to input impedance - small changes can impact the sound quite a lot.

If the Soundsmith is new I would run it at the upper end of the recommended tracking force for a week or two until it is run in.

Also you could try removing the damping - it can slug the sound.

Another suggestion would be to try a slightly heavier headshell and see if increasing the effective mass helps. If you don't have another headshell add some blutack to the headshell to add mass and adjust the counterweight for testing.

while I was adjusting the tonearm height that with the table on and attaching the allen wrench to adjust height that I was getting a buzzing sound through the speaker. 

Possibly the earth wire in the arm is broken or the arm is not earthed through the phono cable.. Check the armtube and base that they are earthed.

If you don't have a meter simply get a bare wire, attach one end to the phono earth and use the other to touch the arm - if the noise/hum decreases the earth is dodgy.

Piano distortion could be anything - you need to go through the set up and check everything - alignment, VTA, antiskate and tracking force.

When the music gets lively, the distortion really starts to come through. 

This does sound like distortion.

Firstly the Zephyr MIMC is a low output ( 0.4mv ) low compliance cartridge.

So just double checking your Goldnote should be set to MC input, gain 0db, load 470-1000.

Arm - the SME is a low mass arm, not ideal for the low compliance zephyr. The Shure is very high compliance so they would behave differently.

I have rebuilt a few SME's - usually the bearings are pretty knackered due to age - but you would think that would affect the Shure as well.

I would suggest add mass to the headshell  - add the 2 bars provided and reset the tracking weight - this should help somewhat unless there is some other issue with the arm.

@jebcamaro 

When the bass kicks in I get a hum that seems to come from the lower frequencies and builds and gets louder and louder till all frequencies distort majorly. 

Thats feedback coming through the turntable/arm either airborne or through the floor. The fix is to move your turntable - is it near the bass speakers ? is it on a table thats passing vibration ? wobbly floor ?

Because there appears to be issue with arm/cartridge this probably doesn't help, making the TT more sensitive to feedback. do you have a lid ??

@jebcamaro 

You can do a test - balance the arm to 0 so that it floats.

Make sure it doesn't tend to drift to one side. 

Try blowing it horizontally to see if it moves freely in both directions.

You cant tell by just lifting the arm - we are talking milligrams when it comes to bearings.

@jebcamaro 

Good news.