Vinyl Tracking Problem

Almost every cartridge mistracks on the cannon shots of the Telarc 1812. And the ones that do track it don't sound all that great. Tracking ain't everything :-)

I've owned an MMF 2.1 with the Goldring Electra (same as Tracker) and have some experience with the Denon DP37F in a friend's system and the BluePoint in a different system, and I have to say the MMF/Tracker is a sidegrade at best, maybe a downgrade from the Denon/Bluepoint. The Telarc 1812 is a very hard LP to track, and you may just be seeing the limitations of the MMF.

That said, I'd check the alignment and VTF of the MMF/Tracker. You can't really rely on it being properly aligned from the factory, and I found the tracking force markings of the counterweight to be wildly inaccurate on my MMF 2.1. If you don't have a tracking force gauge, you'll need to borrow or buy one to make sure it's set correctly.

As for antiskate, start with zero and see what you get, increasing it as needed. the antiskate isn't very adjustable on the MMF; the increments are too big and the weight isn't easily changed.

The other issue is isolation of the turntable itself. The stock feet on the MMF aren't very good, and the plinth doesn't have much mass, so make sure your floor and stand are solid, or those cannon shots will really rattle your table. Good luck!

David

The problem you describe could have various causes (either by themself, or in combination with another factor): insufficient tracking force; BADLY out-of-adjustment anti-skate; turntable platter is not level; there is acoustic feedback to the turntable during low frequency passages that is causing resonance in the tonearm; or there is a mismatch between the tonearm's mass and the cartridge's compliance. The grooves on low frequency passages on LP's have a lot of excursion, and if mistracking is ever likely to happen, it's on deep bass. I am not familiar with the Tracker cartridge, so all I can suggest is that you eliminate each of the causes I've mentioned, one by one, until you determine the problem.