Possible Problems:
Noise in the system, a hum or buzz:
o
The answer is to ground the motor and system properly. A line filter that floats the
grounds will not allow proper grounding of the phono system, the phono system must
be grounded!!!!!! Phono is not like CD and if this is your first table or your return to
vinyl after a decade or so you must remember that phono amplification can be 1000
times higher than CD or streaming so any noise that gets into the system will be
amplified much, much more. Kill the noise with proper grounding and your system
will sound much better.
A pop on motor turn on or turn off:
o
In some systems the phono section is not well shielded and will pick up the EMF
created by the switch opening to turn off the turntable. If you system is like that you
can get 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. BTW, judicious grounding will
many times solve this problem also.
Trembling of tonearm when playing records:
o
You have a uni-pivot tonearm, it sits on one point and is constantly moving with the
record grooves; spiraling in and out as the record center 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 requires greater tracking force.
We have found almost all cartridges work and sound best at 72 degrees.
o
A 60 watt light 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.
