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what's causing a SME 3 to stick after a few spins?

I just bought a Rega Planar 3 with an SME series III tonearm. When I drop the stylus at any place on the LP it starts to skip after about five seconds. It's as if there is some resistance to the arm moving horizontally. I've tried to adjust the anti-skating and it seemed to work for a while and then the problem returned? Is there maybe some damping silicone in the leaking into the bearing?
128x128leisual
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
It sounds like the arm lift isn't retracting quite far enough.
sutherk
18 posts
 
Check that the arm is not touching the arm lifter bar during playback. If the arm is not horizontal but sloping up from the cartridge to the pivot point, this can happen during playback
leisual's avatar
leisual OP
5 posts
 
That sounds right but when I lower the arm in the space between the arm rest and the platter it drops a few mm below the lp surface. Thanks anyway
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