Soundsmith Aida: Strange thing happens
I just bought a Soundsmith Aida cartridge to use with a Thorens TD-124 and SME 3009 IMP arm. After carefully setting the alignment with Wally tractor universial, VTF at 1g, anti-skating according to Wally Skater , loading at 47K and 480pF (recommended by Peter at Soundsmith), I let it run in for about 20 - 30 hrs and just started to listen tonight.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the sound but then a strange thing happens: I noticed on a few discs (which i know very well), especially at the first track, the cartridge seemed to "create" some noise on the Right channel only. This noise is very much like "tube rush" on some discs and "emphasized surface noise" on some other! But then it plays other discs fine!!!
First, I didnt know exactly what kind of noise that was so the first thing I did was swapping in a different pair of tone arm cable but the issue remained. Then I swapped the L-R at the tone arm base and the noise followed, so I knew the problem was at the source. I re-checked the ground cable, alignment, Azimuth, VTF, VTA, Anti-skating but nothing worked. I also varied VTF between 1g-1.1g without success. Cleaning the stylus didnt help either. I played those same discs on my other tables (SME 20/2 with Graham Phantom and Lyra Helikon, and a mod-Lenco 75 with mod Rega 250 and Cardas Heart II) and those discs were fine!!!
I KNOW this noise is NOT a result of mistracking because the music is nice and clear, and this noise happens independently to the music. As i said above, some discs sounded as if their Right channel are more dirty than the Left channel, hence the "enhanced surface noise)..they just have more pops and ticks somehow. On some other discs, the Right channel sounds as if there's tube rush! And all of this happens mostly at the first track!
Those discs played totally fine on other tables with minimal surface noise and NO "tube rush" sound.
I'm stunt and puzzled! What could be the cause of this? Could this mean my new cartridge has an imperfect stylus profile and it somehow just dig more into the right wall of the groove??
Please help!!!
Overall, I'm very pleased with the sound but then a strange thing happens: I noticed on a few discs (which i know very well), especially at the first track, the cartridge seemed to "create" some noise on the Right channel only. This noise is very much like "tube rush" on some discs and "emphasized surface noise" on some other! But then it plays other discs fine!!!
First, I didnt know exactly what kind of noise that was so the first thing I did was swapping in a different pair of tone arm cable but the issue remained. Then I swapped the L-R at the tone arm base and the noise followed, so I knew the problem was at the source. I re-checked the ground cable, alignment, Azimuth, VTF, VTA, Anti-skating but nothing worked. I also varied VTF between 1g-1.1g without success. Cleaning the stylus didnt help either. I played those same discs on my other tables (SME 20/2 with Graham Phantom and Lyra Helikon, and a mod-Lenco 75 with mod Rega 250 and Cardas Heart II) and those discs were fine!!!
I KNOW this noise is NOT a result of mistracking because the music is nice and clear, and this noise happens independently to the music. As i said above, some discs sounded as if their Right channel are more dirty than the Left channel, hence the "enhanced surface noise)..they just have more pops and ticks somehow. On some other discs, the Right channel sounds as if there's tube rush! And all of this happens mostly at the first track!
Those discs played totally fine on other tables with minimal surface noise and NO "tube rush" sound.
I'm stunt and puzzled! What could be the cause of this? Could this mean my new cartridge has an imperfect stylus profile and it somehow just dig more into the right wall of the groove??
Please help!!!
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