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SME IV Tonearm and Warped Records

I love my SME turntable and tonearm, but one frustration I have is that warped records will bump the base of the tonearm as it tracks toward the end of a record side.  The taper in this tonearm design does not allow for much clearance from the record edge.  I can raise the tonearm in the mount, increasing the VTA, but the sound is not as good, so I do not consider this a good option.  I guess I am left to only play flat records, or buy one of the devices to flatten warped records.  Or, I can replace my tonearm, but I'd rather not do that.  

Anyone else experience this issue and solve it in ways I have not considered?
128x128snackeyp
cjaronica
113 posts
 
I use a heavy outer ring and a center record weight. They flatten all my moderately warped records very well.
invictus005
597 posts
 
@cjaronica Why not just throw the warped records away and get flat ones?
slaw's avatar
slaw
21,774 posts
 
@invictus005,

"why not throw the warped records away and get flat ones?"

Have you no heart? Have you no soul?
snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp OP
455 posts
 
Thanks for all the feedback on this issue.
I had this issue since I first got the TT.  I have already added a spacer between the cartridge and arm, which helped a lot.  After doing that I hadn't had any problems in a long time.  The other night I was playing a brand new record from Deutsch Grammaphone and the first side played fine, but when I flipped it over I discovered it had a dish warp.  Side one was the outside of the dish and side two was the inside.  The outer edge of the record was at least 2mm higher than the center on side 2.  
To be honest, a lot of brand new vinyl has issues with warpage.  Even when the tonearm doesn't bump the record, I am still certain that they are not providing the best sound.  Dead flat vinyl tends to sound the best.
Also, I have a Kiseki Purple Heart cartridge.  I should have mentioned this in my first post.  I had the same issue with the previous cartridge (Lyra Delos) but it got worse when I switched to the Purple Heart.  

invictus005
597 posts
 
@snackeyp Your tonearm is set up incorrectly. 
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