Looking for some help with my TT journey.. Records are looping..


Hi all,

A while back i had posted about my experience with starting a record collection and enjoying my mofi turntable.  As of late my records have started to skip, well not actual skipping but looping on a groove.

I initially though it could be a dirty record, just tried with a new one and same issue. I though the tracking force could be off and just adjusted it as it did seem a bit heavy (+0.005) but i would not imagine this much.  

What other things should I look at, could it be my cartridge, my vta, my anti-skate?  I know a newb question but most posts i search said it is a dirty record, and i am sure it is not that.

Thanks K
kro77
I have a MoFi turntable and a Soundsmith B&O SMMC1 and adapter.  Probably not what would be called for for the MoFi table, but it’s a great cartridge and both my B&O tables died.  The only “difficulty” I had with set up was the anti-skate.  I could have added weight to the cartridge to get within the MoFi specs, but Mr. Ledermann said the lighter the better if it could be done.  If your cartridge looks like 95% of the rest of the world’s cartridges, don’t bother reading any further.

if, however, you are using a B&O compatible “Voice”, even with the Soundsmith 1/2 inch adapter, you’re only about 2 grams, so even on the first notch of the MoFi table you will have way to much anti-skate.  I pulled the black cover off the weight and taped it to the base of the arm where the thread goes.  The thread goes through the cover and the much smaller weight that was inside the cover hangs where it should, just without the weight of the black cover because it is taped to the base of the arm.  Luckily, the anti-skate came out perfectly.
One thing that's caused this for me is the height adjustment of the cue-bar.  If it were set too close in height to where the arm tube is while it tracks, on some records of a certain thickness it could see a repetitive skip if / when the arm makes contact with the cue bar.
Solution, of course was to re-adjust the cue bar height.
-Steve

check vta, azimuth and read soundsmith how to set antiskate for a start. 

assuming that the tonearm bearing is healthy..

if still similar issue the suspension is not healthy. try another newer cart 
Clean your stylus tip with dry brush (or Onzow), use magnifying glass to check the diamond. 

Lower the tracking force (within recommended range) and try again. 

Try different records
Check the routing of the tonearm wires coming from the horizontal arm wand into the pivot area where they have to make a 90° turn and go down through the vertical shaft of the tonearm. Often, those wires can get hung up in the pivot area and cause a drag on the pivot at a certain point in the arc. Once the cartridge has advanced beyond that critical point, very often the drag caused by the wires is ameliorated and you can play the rest of the LP with no problem. So the phenomenon can be very puzzling to figure out.