Should I keep my Well tempered tonearm?

Okay, first you are correct that I have suspended tables. Just for fun, I have mounted this arm on a non-suspended table to see if results changes. Pretty much same scenario. You may be right about the arm not liking suspension though. Lets take that out of the equasion for now. Keep in mind, the tonearm is suspended as well on the same plane as the platter so they all move together.

Ill try to respond in numerical order as far as what you have told me. BTW, david, you have helped me with this arm in the past as well. I have a feeling I didn't understand it well enough at the time to really make it work. Maybe the case now too.

1) Noted, I am currently trying a Shure M97xe loaner from a buddy. Very low hours. Still breaking in honestly. Same sibalence as I had with my Grado Sonata.

2) Before work today, I raised the paddle totally out of the goo. I figure it should have all dripped off before I get home so I can get a more accurate starting point. I had the paddle submerged 100%, which could have been the entire problem.

3)You gave me the alternative mounting method at least a year and a half ago, which I did do! Seemed to at least seem more stable.

4)Anti skate is set to 0, mine IS adjustable but it seems like there is still too much. I actually looped the wires over the bars so they physically touch in the center without binding etc..

I think this may be the crux of the problem. I am wondering what the story is with anti-skate as it never seemed to be quite right. I could never truely have NO anti skate.

I would prefer to keep this thread rolling just for the info of the next poor guy who is having trouble.

Now, I have a couple questions for you about the arm.

As you are looking at the arm from the top, how are the screws on the paddle in the goo oriented to the arm tube? Are they on either side forming a perfect T, or are they turned to one side or another? I am talking about the screws that hold the monofilament.

Next, which side of the monofilament goes through which hole in the towers? is it right side of the mono goes through the bar furthers to the rear?

I am trying to start at square 1 here. I know this arm has potential but god knows who has messed with it in the past.

Thanks everyone - Evan

240z4u said

I would prefer to keep this thread rolling just for the info of the next poor guy who is having trouble.

Good thought, thanks for that! (From a reader who is considering a WT setup.)

240x4u,

I always had the screws exactly perpendicular to the arm tube. That was the way it was pictured in the instructions I had. I considered turning it a bit to alter the anti-skating, but decided that the extra half twist in the lines made more sense. Also, you're limited by the vertical holes in the paddle; if you got the square piece of the arm that the paddle screws to over those holes, it would probably make the paddle unstable.

Making the twist go in the correct direction is critical, as getting it backwards will apply anti-skating force in the wrong direction. When I first started messing with the arm I got it backwards, and it was immediately apparent. Just remember that the lines need to untwisting toward the outside of the record, and everything becomes pretty clear. This means with the normal setup, if you're facing the front of the turntable, the outside line goes to the top hole of the arm hangar (the hole farthest away from you) and the inside line goes to the bottom hole. In this situation the lines never touch. If you add the extra half twist to reduce the anti-skating, then the outside line will be in the bottom hole. The lines will be touching, and this is where it gets more critical, due to the friction of the lines, and the difficulty of seeing which way the twist goes when the lines are touching. That's how I got fooled when I got it wrong.

If you're still getting sibilance with the Shure M97, you might want to check the rest of your system. I've used an M97, and found it to have a very smooth and not very extended high end, so it wouldn't be very subject to causing sibilance. It could be your phono preamp getting overloaded (the Shure has pretty high output) or even farther downstream. Do your other sources produce sibilance?

David

Tobias, your welcome.

David. Thank you for your thoughts. Ill check to make sure the screws are perpendicular to the arm tube first. Then ill do the rest of that good stuff. I am also going to remeasure my mounting point from the spindle to the arm mounting stud to make sure that is dead on.

Glad you tried the 97, so I know thats not the issue. I have no idea if i am overloading inputs. Worst case, I can plug everything into my marantz 2226b to make sure thats not it. I have about 50db of gain.

The rest of my system sounds great, so thats not the issue.

Just for the record, here is what the rest of the food chain looks like.

PSE studio SL preamp
Welborne compleat phono stage
Tweaked/rebuilt dynaco MKIIIs.
Mordaunt short performance 860s.
Audioquest quartz interconnects on the TT stuff.
Arm rewired with cardas cryoed wire.
Monster biwire speaker cables.

I am sure this won't really help diagnosis but I am also sure someone will be curious enough to ask!

Thanks, ill be in touch after I play a bit tonight. I really need to get overhang just right too, which I cannot do without the dang protractor that I ordered last night.

Thanks guys! - Evan

Sorry forgot to mention I have had about 5 different carts on this arm as well, so I am somewhat sure thats not the problemo.

Evan