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Dancing Cartridge.

I've got a problem with my analog system.With some records on not all cuts the cantilever and stylus start vibrating .It seems to be moving up and down and side to side.It does it mostly on the clear paths between cuts on the record and stops as soon it starts on the groves and some times it starts when playing a song.Some times it gets so bad it literally jumps from the grove.I've notice that if the record is a bit weared out it does it more often.On new or good condition records it hardly ever does it.I've got 3 cartridges.The only one it does not do it is with the one that came with the turntable.Bought a Grado Black just to have a diferent sound only to have this problem.Then I bought a Ortofon Tango moving coil cartridge and still have the problem.My turntable is a project expresion 2 fully leveled on a Lovan equipment stand.I've tweeked the azimuth,Vertical tracking angle,antiskating force,tracking force to no avail.Can somebody help me with this issue?Just in case it matters,rest of equipment is an Audible Illusions Modulus 3A,Mccormack DNA125 Magnepan 1.6qr everything connected with JPS superconductor cables.CDP is a Consonace Turandot.All equipments use JPS power cables.
128x128manny55
manny55's avatar
manny55 OP
21 posts
 
Just to let you guys know that I found that my tracking weight for some reason was of by a wide margin.Got a friend of mine to lend me her shure tracking force gauge and found out that my tracking force was way off.Another problem which I found out was that the antiskating weight which hangs on a nylon tread on the back of the tonearm sometimes tends to move because of my magnepan speakers bipolar pattern.Just moved the speaker and problem resolve.I noticed that when the weight was moving the tonearm tended to move with it creating the vibration of my tonearm produce by speaker output tru the back,that together with my tracking force problem made the whole tonearm and cartridge vibrate creating something curiosly like a wow and flutter sound on my system.Everything now sounds great.Thank you guys for your input on this matter.
photon46
1,082 posts
 
Wow, never heard of a Maggie induced cartridge dance. I learned of a new one today. How close was the speaker to the turntable? Any way, glad you've solved your dilemma. A Shure ( or similar) tracking force gauge is cheap insurance against inaccurate tonearm tracking force.
manny55's avatar
manny55 OP
21 posts
 
Half part of the speakers are firing threw the back towards the equipment stand which has the turntable on top.I would say the back of the speaker is about 2 feet from the turntable.The room is quite small but has a opening to one side towards the dining room plus kitchen.Turntable is a project expresion 2 with optional project speed control and a Ortofon Salsa moving Coil cartridge .Preamp is a Audible Illusions Modulus 3a with John Curl moving coil phono board,power amp is a Mccormack DNA125,CDP is a Opera Audio Turandot (great CDP for the price) ,speakers are Magnepan 1.6QR everything conected with JPS Superconductor interconnects, Power cables and speaker wire using a Vanevers line conditioner.I think that my problem with the speaker was created because of the small room dimensions .That together with my almost non existant tracking force created the problem.When I had setted the tracking force gauge for 2.2 grams the shure gauge didn't even begin to move.Why I commited the stupidty of setting the tracking force wrong beats me.In any event everything now sounds great.Just getting back to Analog after going Digital.By the way,Analog sounds fantastic.After hearing only digital for many years getting back to analog was an Eye opening (rather ear opening) experience.
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