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A pitch too High!

Recently, I damaged the V2 MM cartridge of Clearaudio Concept Wood turntable, so had it changed with a Grado Prestige Blue. The VTF for V2 is 2.2g while Grado blue stands at 1.5g. I took someone’s help to fix this. He even made azimuth adjustments and it sounded fine. But I soon realised that the sound had become thinner, voice being the primary indicator and just before the stylus landed on the record, it skipped back a bit then hit the record. Sometimes the tonearm would skip all the way out of the record, backwards. I called the guy back, and he felt the VTF should be fixed to around 2g to avoid the backward skip. He did so and that problem was licked and it seemed the voice thinning issue had also vanished. But last night, I put on the first pressing of Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace, and all along I found her pitch way higher, it was all too high pitched and uncomfortable. Seemed the bass had gone missing a little. On my Boulder 866, I could immediately hear the difference when the track was played through Roon. It was not as high pitched, thin as it sounded on analogue. I intend to call the guy again but wanted to know from experts here as to what the issue could be.
128x128terrible
dalims4
232 posts
 
https://www.vandenhul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Phono_FAQ.pdf
Very helpful info. Dr. VdH recommends having the counterweight end 7 - 9mm higher and there’s a setup order. I followed his instructions and my turntable is set up perfectly. 
terrible's avatar
terrible OP
44 posts
 
The image below has the anti-skating explanation for Clearaudion Concept. Does turning towards the green arrow mean lesser anti-skate?

https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME4REUFhttp://

How many turns approximately to reach adequate anti-skate for 1.5g? If someone has done this before on this machine, please do let me know. Because clearly, 2g VTF is not working soundwise.

@mijostyn I’ll probably send the RPM readings to Clearaudio. And see what they have to say. I am going to try the anti-skate tomorrow, if I get some direction on this. Would Sumiko MP 200 work? It has a prescribed VTF between 1.5 to 2g.

My table has adjustable speed.
What do you mean by that? You mean options of 33, 45 and 78? My turntable has that too. How do I correct the RPM?
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@terrible I think you have no idea what you are doing. You have to learn the basics, find tutorial how to adjust and use a turntable and a cartridge, there are plenty if them on youtube. Learn and adjust by yourself! 

Make sure your stylus is not defective, swap styli (not cartridges). If you can’t adjust one cartridge why do you think you need another cartridge?



sandstone
358 posts
 
"What do you mean by that? You mean options of 33, 45 and 78? My turntable has that too. How do I correct the RPM?"

@terrible,  On the rear of your Concept turntable you will find three rpm adjustment screws, one for each speed setting.  Select the one for 33 and set it as close to 33.33 as you can achieve.  It will take some patience but by using the RPM app for feedback you should be able to get quite close.  This will very likely improve the "pitch" issue you mentioned.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I put on the first pressing of Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace, and all along I found her pitch way higher, it was all too high pitched and uncomfortable. Seemed the bass had gone missing a little. On my Boulder 866, I could immediately hear the difference when the track was played through Roon. It was not as high pitched, thin as it sounded on analogue.

Do you understand that talking about pitch of the notes you’re referring to the rotation speed of the platter ? The higher the speed the higher the pitch note. The pitch is correct at 33 1/3 and 45 rpm 

Some people don’t understand why there is a pitch control on High-End turntables.

FOR EXAMPLE
JVC/Victor engineers explained very well why there is a special pitch control on TT-101:

"The pitch, "A" is standardized at 440Hz according to international standards, and is the standard for all western musical instruments. In other words, the tuning of all instruments of the orchestra is based on this pitch. But in reality, the basic tuning pitch of each orchestra differs due to the instrumentation and individual characteristics of each orchestra, as well as the personality of the conductor. The diagram shows such differences by orchestra. Most of the pitches range within +/- 6Hz of 400Hz. To reproduce these subtly different pitches, a quality turntable with highly accurate rotation is required. Another important requirement is the possibility of minute speed adjustment. If the speed of a turntable could be adjusted to the individual pitch used by an orchestra while at the same time remaining controlled by a quartz-locked servo system, the benefits of flexibility and precision would be significant from a musicological viewpoint. For this reason the TT-101 is equipped with built-in speed-control facilities which can adjust the pitch in 1Hz steps within a range of +/- 6Hz or 440Hz. The difference of pitches between master tape recorders and disc record cutting machines has been intentionally ignored before but now the speed of a record can be adjusted to match the original pitch of the orchestra, even if the master was recorded differently from the original performance. For example, a performance of the NHK Symphony Orchestra on the record can be adjusted to match the pitch of the same performance on a record by the London Symphony Orchestra, for the enjoyment of critical comparison."

The "A" key of a piano in your home is usually tuned to 440Hz. When you practice the piano while playing back a record, you can adjust the pitch of the record, to be in perfect tune with your piano.


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