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Setup Dynavector XV-1s on SME V help

I am having all sorts of issues getting it tuned in. I do have it sounding very good but my settings leave me confused. My tracking force is 2.4 in a dynamic balance. My antiskating is set at 2.5 or abouts & the damping dip stick is all the way down. When I cue in the tonearm it always jumps right into the 1st track, never setting smooth. ON the Hi-Fi News test disk it flys across the blank space & then jumps over the next track almost to the end of the track. Kind of crazy. My VTA is level. I am loading it at 1000 ohms to great effect now & I can track the 4th track of the HiFI News & Record Review bias test track but with a lot of buzzing. I have almost no buzzing on the 3rd track. The arm resonance is about 9 hz or so in horizontal but harder to detect in vertical, but seems about the same.

Now w. my VdH Condor I had no tracking issues & itbehaved perfectly in the SME V. The Dynavector on the Ikeda never had any problems on the lead in groove (no jumping our bouncing) but it just didn't sound good (might have been the break in or the Ebony headshell I was using. I am waiting for a Dynavector headshell to use as the stock Ikeda headshell won't accomodate the Dynavector.

Anyone with any experience please chime in as I am totally lost.
dgad
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Well, I'm stumped! You said the Condor worked fine, so I can't imagine it's the arm or the antiskate mechanism. The only time I experienced that kind of jumping (when everything else was OK) was twice: Once when the back of the SME armtube was hitting the record, and another time when there was a huge glob of something on the stylus that shouldn't have been there (because all the records were cleaned first, and there must have just been a speck of junk stuck to the record that I didn't see, and it came off on the stylus.)

Let us know when/if you figure it out. Thanks.
ebarker2
64 posts
 
You can also check antiskate by getting a grooveless record, turning the turntable on and checking which way the arm moves when lowered onto the record. Then compensate. The HFN test record has a grooveless test band, which will work, though with less margin than a whole record. You can also check which channel buzzes first on the HFN record. I find few carts will actually track the 4th band without buzzing, but that's a torture test, not likely to be replicated in real life.
best
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
The grooveless test will not tell you anything because there is almost no friction developed between the stylus and the record. It is the friction produced by the stylus tracking a real groove that produces the need for anti skate in the first place.
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Dear Darren: The antiskate figure that I use in my XV-1 ( and other cartridges ) is around 1.0, no more that that.
I never had the problems that you explain in any tonearm/XV-1 combination.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
dgad OP
782 posts
 
Raul,

What I am finding is that the cartridge tracks differently at different parts of the record. The Antiskate setting that is correct toward the inside of the record is very different from the center or the outside. It is such a huge deviation that there is no way to get the best sound throughout the record.

Now the Dynavector does not track near as well as the VdH. Also it jumps very quickly, maybe a higher compliance, but I really don't understand it. The VdH should be about 35 while the XV1 should be about 10.

I did all the tests on the Hifi News & found the Horizontal Resonance to be 9 HZ but the vertical I couldn't detect, which is also leaving me confused (damping stick up for all tests). That might be where the problem is. I haven't had any tracking problems with any music. I am not 100% sure but at 25 HZ I am having a lot of resonance. Am I hearing the bass or a resonance is the question. I will see if I have a test CD to double check as it might be a room interaction.

I am listening right now & it does sound very full & live. I raised the damping stick as advised & honestly I don't find any difference.
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