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Using Test LP - curious observations

I've been tremendously enjoying my Lyra Delos with the Classic for about 1.5 yrs now, and just recently remembered I had the Hi-Fi News Analogue Test LP and got the urge to test my setup.
Here are some of my observations that came as a surprise to me:
1) Anti-skate (Bands 6,7,8,9 on side one) - the cartridge "passed" the test on Band 6 without any anti-skate, but there was audible buzzing coming from the right channel at higher amplitudes. Applying anti-skate made NO difference whatsoever to the results, whether on setting 1, 2 or 3 (most anti-skate). I prefer the sound without anti-skate so this only seemed to confirm that applying anti-skate arguably does nothing to improve the sound and likely makes it worse. It also seems to shed some light on why Harry doesn't like anti-skate.
2) Azimuth (Band 5 on side two) - My preamp has a mono switch so this seemed pretty straightforward. According to the instructions, there should be minimal (if any) mono output if the cartridge was aligned perfectly. Well, there was certainly some output, which immediately worried me, but what really left me scratching my head was the fact that no adjustment appeared to correct it, or make a significant difference. I use the Soundsmith's Counter Intuitive to fine-adjust VTF and azimuth, and after about 2 hours of a wide range of adjustments in azimuth through the CI, it was virtually impossible to determine the optimal azimuth setting, i.e., the output seemed consistently the same regardless of adjustments.

Please free to comment, share your experiences or explain my curious results. Or are they not curious?
actusreus

Showing 4 responses by nandric

nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
I use the same HIFI News 'torture test' but with the assumption that they (may) provide some indication about the stylus condition (?). To my knowledge 50 micron should be adequate for any 'normal'LP. My Phase Tech P-3G 'refuses' to
pass the 60 micron test but will pass any 'normal' LP test. The most
of my MM carts pass 80 micron test with 1,5 g VTF but there is a correlation with the anti-skate. With more anti-skate force the 'buzz' from the R.channel disappear. The logic suggest that the 'buzz' means more pressure on the 'outside' (R.channel) groove but above, say, 60 micron the question may be only academic(?).

Regards,
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Tonywins, 'Risky business' to desagree with an engeneer but
deed you not overlook the velocity by point 2? You mentioned only the groove modulation as a cause for the anti-skate variation. In my experience only Sony made specific provision for the anti-skate variation depending
on the record radius. I assume that the engeneers by Sony
were aware of the forces involved.

Regards,
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Tonywinsc, This is not my field so I will put my question in laymans vocabulary. The record grooves get 'smaller' towards the spindle while the platter has the same speed
(33 or 45). So the stylus travels shorter distance towards
the end of the record and the longer distance at the outside radius of the record. This imply different speed for the stylus and contradicts çonstant anti-skate force assumption. Or so I thought.

Regards,

nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
I owned the Sony PUA 237 some 30 years (?) ago but still
remember this peculiar 'bias compensator'. To refresh
my memory better I checked by the Vinylengine. Just one
quote from the user manual reg. 'bias compensator': 'In
conventional method ,M' is applied as a constant force. Therefore ,the side thrust is canceled out at ONLY few positions on the record.'

Regards,
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