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Where is the problem? Tracking error?

Let say I am listening to a piece of classical music. Full Orchestral. When the strings and everything sounds mushed together especially during loud demanding peaks, what is the likely culprit? cartridge, tonearm, or isolation? During certain passages, is it a tracking problem that some cartridges cannot handle all of the vibrations occurring in the groove and is that being magnified by not enough tracking force, isolation, platter not having enough mommentum? Just curious... I do not notice this when listening to CD's so I know it is not anywhere else. Everything is clear. It has to be occurring on the turntable. Where should I start looking for answers?
tzh21y
fefer77
37 posts
 
It sounds like you're getting distortion during high volume passages. I've seen this with damaged used records that were overplayed on a low quality setup. If not that it could be improper setup of your cartridge/arm or overloading of your phono stage.
daverz
487 posts
 
You may just need to work on your cartridge alignment, VTA, azimuth, and tracking force. Start with VTA as neutral as possible and then adjust up or down. Tracking force should start at the high end of the manufacturer's recommended range.

I've heard good things about the Mint protractor, and I can recommend the tracking force scale that Mapleshade sells. (They just add the shelf to an inexpensive scale, so you could just buy the same scale and make your own shelf.)

On the other hand, while I have no experience with that arm, I haven't found Benz carts to be particularly stellar trackers. The Audio Technica carts I've used seem to do better with highly modulated records.
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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
Your problem is likely 90%+ set up inaccuracy. I had the same problem when I got back into vinyl about three years ago. I was quite ignorant at the time about set up, and so was discouraged and wondered what all the fuss was about re vinyl. After immersing myself in set up techniques, and having acquired some excellent set up equipment, (the MintLP arc protractor is in dispensible), I can now listen to lp's that before I considered unplayable. Groove noise and imperfections become much less a factor when the arm and cartridge are optimally set up. Do some homework on set up, you will be well rewarded for your efforts.

Regards,
Dan
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