Turntable Pre-Echo Sound....?


When I turn my system up fairly high, I can make out a faint "pre-sound" of what is about to play, with the beginning of the songs starting very, very quietly about 3/10 of a second before it actually starts.

At I thought it could be my stabilizer brush fibers accidentally acting as little styli ahead of the needle, but it does this even with the brush locked up.

Equipment:
Linn Basik TT
Linn Basik Plus tonearm
Shure M97xE cart
Pro-Ject Phonobox preamp
Harmon Kardon AV240 receiver
NHT 2.5 speakers
Cheap interconnects

Thanks in advance,
Dusty
128x128heyitsmedusty
if it's only on your turntable it's probably a kind of bleed-over you get from the adjacent groove on the lp - it's a flaw in the pressing, not a problem with your system
Actually, it's a good sign for your system. Most pre-echoes are at pretty low levels. The more resolving the system, the easier and more frequently you'll hear them.
Wow, I can't believe I actually nailed what the sound is called in my post title. It's literally a pre-echo!

I have never heard of this phenomenon. Do more expensive cartridges make this better, or does their better tracking make it worse?
I saw a cartoon in Stereo Review years ago wherein a customer asked his dealer about hearing the first few notes softly before hearing them at full volume. The dealer replied,

"yes, that's a common phenomenon... YES, THAT'S A COMMMON PHENOMENON..."

Cheers,

Duke
04-16-07: Heyitsmedusty
"Wow, I can't believe I actually nailed what the sound is called in my post title. It's literally a pre-echo!

I have never heard of this phenomenon. Do more expensive cartridges make this better, or does their better tracking make it worse?"

Yes, it's "pre-echo". It comes from two sources:

1) Tape print-through. In thin tape, the strong magnetism from a loud passage can affect the adjacent layers of the tape. This is called "print-through". Good studios avoid this by keeping tapes from winding too tight and frequently rewinding them, so they don't sit in the same position for too long. Also, using thicker base helps, because the tape surfaces are farther apart.

2) Adjacent groove modulation. If grooves are too close together, they can be affected by adjacent ones.

There is no remedy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Records

"In 1961, Mercury enhanced the three-microphone stereo technique by using 35mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording. The greater thickness and width of 35mm magnetic film prevented tape layer print-through and pre-echo and gained in addition extended frequency range and transient response. The Mercury 'Living Presence' stereo records were mastered directly from the 3-track tapes or films, with a 3-2 mix occurring in the mastering room."