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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
 
Dgad, that's how I get my SME level also (the wobble.) I'm thinking about a Triplanar these days.
dgad OP
782 posts
 
I was thinking about a Triplanar or a Phantom byself. Now I am thinking about designing a VTA riser for my table. It probably will cost less. Something inside the arm base that would elevate it maintaining the tonearm as level.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Dgad, you would have thought SME would have addressed this by now, ya know!? Either with some kind of retrofit or even a new model. It's a head-scratcher!
dgad OP
782 posts
 
I agree with you. Considering the prices of tonearms, it is ridiculous what we pay for what we get. SME could do a redesign. Imagine all the SME Vs that would appear on the market afterwards.
jtimothya
612 posts
 
Thank you Nsgarch, Raul, and Dgad - what a great thread! I had been taking the default antiskate-dial = VTF-dial; the look-and-see technique w/ the first record band actually seems more accurate. I just tried it and mine was pulling slightly to the right. I was surprised that I had to move three tics of the dial higher than VTF, but now have no deflection.

I've pretty much decided that the XV-1s will be the cartridge to replace a Shelter 901 on my SME-V, so I've been following with interest.

Kindly indulge a few questions:
i) The Shelter is not particularly VTA sensitive - from level, I adjust by ear. How VTA sensitve is the XV-1s?

ii) I've been looking at my arm and don't quite get what it is to check and what is the bit about 'stick your finger in there' (heh).

Could someone offer a few more words on leveling the tonearm - how to check and how to level?

(Fwiw, I have the SME-Vd which is the detachable headshell model supporting azimuth adjustment.)

Thanks again,
Tim
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