Serious distortion from Rega RP1


Hi all,

My Rega RP1 has all of a sudden developed some major distortion. It comes and goes quite suddenly. Presumably, this could be anything from the cartridge to the phono stage, but I thought I'd ask to see if you all think one component is more likely than another to be the culprit. I'm using the included ortofon cartridge, the built-in phono cables, and a Red Wine Audio Ginevra phono stage. Unfortunately I don't have other equipment to swap in in order to isolate the problem area, so I'd appreciate any thoughts. Thank you!
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Have you inspected that the arm has free movement?  not binding from time to time?
@stringreen I'm sorry, could you elaborate?
@raymonda I clean it with the stylus brush every time I am about to play a different record etc.
What I meant to suggest is that you take the arm in your hand and slowly move it across an imagined record to feel if there is an area where it doesn’t feel "smooth" ....or a bit stuck, etc.,,,an arm bearing flat spot, etc.
Silly me, there was a slight bump on the rubber that's on the arm rest. It was uneven enough to let the tonearm slide one way. All good now! :D
Now that I look at the cartridge & stylus more closely, I think the stylus is bent out of shape, and on the side it doesn't say OM 5E like the ones in the Ortofon website's pictures do. Mine only says OM.
Mine: https://imgur.com/gallery/XZUKw
Ortofon: https://www.ortofon.com/ortofon-om-5e-p-551