VPI Classic and ZYX 4D

Funny - your problems sound EXACTLY like mine with my UNIverse - I'm the guy who posted about the SME and Graham arms. I'm mostly using it in the SME V which of course is not a unipivot arm and my tracking results are exactly the same as yours - with distortion coming in the right channel no matter how high I track and how high I set the antiskating. I also hear occasional mistracking on normal records - more commonly towards the end of the side and most common with either dynamic piano or female vocals. On the other hand - I concur with you on the cartridges incredible ability to extract detail - I just wonder if there's anything I can do to improve tracking and extract even more distortion-free detail!

Please do keep us posted - especially if you find some sort of solution. Goodness knows I've tried EVERYTHING and basically just "given up" and put up with occasional mistracking...

I've had similar issues with my Zyx UNIverse - in fact two of these cartridges. Long story short - I purchased a used UNIverse which sounded great but had tracking issues. Happened with 3 different arms (2 SME V's and a Graham 2.2). Loved the sound so much (other than the occsional mistracking) and was concerned that perhaps I was sold a defective cartridge so I bit the bullet and traded it in towards a new one (Mehran had a great special going on and gave me a reasonable trade-in). The new one does the same thing - at least I know that I have a new perfectly functional one though! I've logged approx 100 hours or so on the new one and same tracking issues - has been tried with the SME V on both an Avid Volvere and an Oracle Delphi V.

In short, the cartridge tracks the first track on the HiFi News test LP but distorts on the second at 2g tracking force. Increasing VTF doesn't seem to improve it. I basically just use this second track to try to adjust the antiskating and leave it at that. I do occasionally hear mistracking towards the end of challenging LPs. Alignment seems to be perfect (as verified by MintLP protractor). I've come to the conclusion that these high end LOMC just aren't great trackers like some of the MMs (particularly Shures, of course) but due to the absolutely spectacular sound the UNIverse gives me I put up with the occasional mistracking. I have never heard a cartridge with the "you are there" factor that this one has.

That's what I keep on telling myself - hopefully my patience will eventually pay off. In the meantime I am on my second UNIverse cartridge and for some reason continue to have the right channel mistracking issue. Again the first one was a used cartridge which was advertised as having 75 hours on it so it should have theoretically been broken in and I traded it in towards a new one thinking that perhaps it was defective. The second one continues to have the same issue despite 75-100 hours or so. I've tried everything - two tonearms, three turntables, all kinds of VTA, VTF and antiskating adjustments, alignment and realignment with both the SME jig and a MintLP protractor, adding mass to the headshell, making sure turntable and tonearm are level, etc, etc...still the same issue. And as I've said the sound is otherwise so good that I'm just prepared to live with it and hope that it settles in for the time being. But all I know is that my other cartridge (a well-used Ortofon Kontrapunkt B which costs 1/3 as much) tracks the first three tracking tests on the HiFi new test LP and I never heard any mistracking on regular records - the UNIverse doesn't appear to pass either of these tests. Of course other than the occasional tracking issue on certain particularly challenging LPs the UNIverse sounds night and day better than the Ortofon.

Out of curiosity, how many hours are required for proper break-in?

I agree with you - it doesn't seem right. As I've said I've checked, rechecked etc everything. I'm currently tracking at 2g with antiskate set to 2g. It does better on the tracking test with heavier VTF and more antiskate - for e.g. 2.5g and 3 of antiskate - but then the overall sound isn't as good. Most user comments I've found seem to suggest somewhere between 1.8 and 2g gives the nicest sound with this line of ZYX cartridges so I've compromised on 2g. I just hope that things do eventually "settle in".

As for azimuth, unfortunately the SME arms don't have any real azimuth adjustment so no real room to play with this. However earlier this week I did have a "consultant" with some fancy kind of measure and my azimuth appears bang on. Besides, I find it hard to believe that improper azimuth would affect tracking to that degree.

Anyways, I still am in the dark about exactly what is going on...

To be clear, I do track the first (12dB) track completely clean but get mistracking on the second (14dB) track. Optimal antiskate to decrease this mostly right channel distortion seems to be between 2.5 and 3 on the SME dial.

I agree with you - something must be amiss - just can't quite figure out what it is!

In the meantime the overall sound is excellent so I put up with the occasional mistracking towards the end of sides of a few LPs.