2. analog
  3. 1187589026

What could be wrong?

I was playing an LP on my turntable, changed LP's, cleaned the stylus with my trusty Zerodust and proceeded to play the next LP only to discover that the volume on the left channel was reduced noticeably. At first I thought that maybe one of the tubes in my preamp was dying, so I played a cd on my digital player and everything seemed fine. I checked the DIN and RCA connectors on my tonearm cable, and everything seems ok. I turned the phono preamp on and off and still the left channel volume was reduced.

Do you think that my zerodust gel cleaner somehow damaged my stylus? Or could it be that my phono preamp suddenly malfunctioned? I'm a bit baffled as to what is wrong...

Any suggestions?

calgarian
calgarian5355

Showing 1 response by mlsstl

mlsstl
1,468 posts
 
Another issue could be the cantilever on your cartridge is out of position. This could be caused either by mishandling or defect in the cartridge.

Get a pair of magnifying lenses and look at the cartridge straight on from the front. The cantilever should be evenly positioned from left to right in the cartridge body with no tilt on the stylus. If it appears off, this could be generating the volume difference since the far end of the cantilever will be out of position inside the body of the cartridge.

If this is the case, sometimes removing the stylus assembly and reinserting (if removable) will correct the problem. Otherwise you might need a new stylus assembly.

Also check the weight and anti-skate settings on your tonearm, and double check the overall alignment.
More to discover