10
into the habit of muting (the preferred method as you should really do that) or you can
experiment with capacitors across the on-off switch. We supply the table with a .001
microfarad cap, you can change it to a .01 microfarad cap and it may eliminate to lower
the problem to a tolerable level. A judicious grounding will many times solve this
problem also.
•
Trembling of tonearm when playing records:
o
You have a Gimbal tonearm, it sits on 4 bearings and is constantly moving with the
record grooves; spiralling in and out as the record centre changes and moving up and
down with minute warps. It is perfectly normal and inaudible.
•
Sibilance and distortion in both channels:
o
Azimuth not set correctly or diamond stylus misaligned on cartridge. This is usually a
setup or cartridge issue, not a tonearm issue. It can also be caused by a tracking force
that is too light even if it reads correctly. Tracking force needed is determined by the
temperature in the room, below 70 degrees (31 Deg Celsius) requires greater tracking
force. We have found almost all cartridges work and sound best at 72 degrees (30 Deg
Celsius).
o
A small light (not cold LED) put above a turntable in a cold room will heat up the cartridge
just enough to make it much more compliant and track better.
o
Before going crazy try a slightly higher tracking force, it usually solves all the problems
and zero in on the azimuth adjustment.
o
Another possibility is probably not as bad as the next photo but will definitely cause
distortion and sibilance even in small amounts.
•
Distortion in left channel:
o
Too much anti-skate.
•
Distortion in right channel:
o
Too little anti-skate.
•
Noise at startup:
o
If you get a screeching sound on startup, simply powder the drive belt with talc powder
and the noise will dissipate.
