2. analog
  3. 170417-161828

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
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@terrible , https://www.sound-smith.com/accessories/ez-mount-cartridge-screws

terrible's avatar
terrible OP
44 posts
 

@mijostyn I figured yesterday and ordered these too. Thank you much for all your help. I am going to give the Anti-Skate that little further nudge too. Though the sound right now is much better that it has been in all my attempts. 

However, one more noob question is, when do I realise that I need these screws? Is there something that will not sit well?

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@terrible , Yes, the tonearm's primary resonance frequency. You want it between 8 and 12 Hz. I shoot for between 8 and 10 Hz. Now, I have to spend more of your money. Get the Hi Fi News Analog Test LP. It has special resonance tracks for both lateral and vertical resonance. When you hit the resonance frequency the carrier tone will warble and if you look closely you will see your tonearm shaking. The Tracks are self explanatory. Lateral is more important. If it starts shaking above 12 Hz you need to add weight. If it shakes below 8 Hz you have to remove weight.

terrible's avatar
terrible OP
44 posts
 

@mijostyn That deed has already been done by @chakster . I bought the HiFi News Test LP. I even put up the test here. My Clearaudio was quite the failure on that. So we moved to 'allowing the cart to float towards the spindle' test.

So yeah I have that. I'll test for when I get The Voice and put it on the SME 12A.

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@terrible , Great. Let us know how it works out.

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