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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
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I use professional Grado DJ200i cartridges for about 15 years with standard 47k Ohms loading (or with optional 100k Ohms loading). Tracking force is about 2g. The DJ200i model is equal to the Grado Black series as far as I know, but with different styli made for professional use (with higher tracking force). In the main system my reference Grado is rare XTZ model. Those cartridges are definitely not bright.

Maybe your stylus is damaged? You can try another stylus, professional styli are compatible with your Grado too. If you want to use higher tracking force you can always buy DJ100i or DJ200i styli.
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clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Assuming your arm or cart isn't defective, I reckon your 'guy' hasn't a clue what he's doing.  Every time he touches it, it gets worse.
Get in someone sensible to check everything over and re-set.

By the way, I auditioned the Boulder in my room for three weeks.  I found its sound rather thin and clinical.  Digital shall we say.  I didn't buy it.
terrible's avatar
terrible OP
44 posts
 
You may well be hearing that resonance as brightness- when I've used similar Grados, I've always had to load them to get the brightness gone.
@atmasphere what do you mean by 'load' them? The link you gave me is way beyond what I can comprehend.

@mijostyn I did some of the things you asked me to do. I decreased the tonearm height because I felt it was sloping down towards the cartridge end when it was placed on the LP. I got the VTF to 1.5g and the arm would ride back, similar on 1.8 and 2g. Then I tried it with the tonearm at various different positions, till I lost track of whether I was increasing or decreasing from the original mark.  I finally reached a height with the tonearm where the tonearm would not retrace out of the LP. I then checked to see if the tonearm was parallel to the record when the stylus was touching the record. It was parallel and I played with VTF till I locked it at 2g where the cartridge would not retrace out of the LP. Also once the last track got over, the tonearm moved towards the spindle and stayed at the run-out area. However, the sound did not change much, Leonard Cohen - Live in London was way more bass-ier on Roon through the digital output of Boulder 866.

On the anti-skate, my sense is that Clearaudio Concept is set for 2g VTF as the original cartridge MM V2 needed a VTF of 2 -2.2g. I am thinking maybe either the Grado needs more running in or maybe I don't like the sound. Would a Sumiko MP200 work better?

I am enclosing some pics of stuff I did, trying to rectify the turntable sound. The RPM seems to be higher.

http://www.imagebam.com/view/ME4RE9N
https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME4RE9S
https://www.imagebam.com/view/ME4RE9T
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Terrible, you need to track that cartridge at 1.5 grams. 2 grams is way too heavy for it. If you can not learn to adjust the antiskating then you will need to buy a cartridge that tracks at two grams.

Those are disappointing numbers for a modern turntable if they are correct. Using the same app I get 33.33 rpm at 0.03 % wow and flutter.
My table has adjustable speed.  
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