Turntable Setup by Ear?

ok so i went back to using a protractor and spending some time making sure the alignment is within the lines printed on the template were just so. there seems to be a major improvement with using both my ear for fine tuning and the protractor to getting me where i want to be, but the inner grooves on some recordings still give me terrible "S" pronunciation, im not sure how to tone that down. or zero in on eliminating it, what can i do for that issue?

Inner groove distortion is a not uncommon problem, which can have many causes. Two questions:

1)Is tracking force set too low? If you are not already doing so, set it at or near the upper limit of the range recommended by the cartridge manufacturer.

2)I couldn't find a manual for the RB301, but I note that the manual for the RB300, which I presume is somewhat similar, indicates that anti-skating should be set to be numerically equal to the tracking force. That seems to be a common recommendation among various tonearms and turntables, but it is completely ridiculous IMO/IME, and the experience of many others.

While the stylus is in the groove of a ROTATING record take a look at the cartridge from the front. If you have set anti-skating per those instructions in the manual you will probably see that the cantilever is deflected significantly to the left (toward the center of the record), relative to the approximately straight-ahead position it assumes when lifted off of the record. If that is what you see, reduce anti-skating until the cantilever has no perceivable deflection to the left or right, relative to its position when the stylus is lifted off of the record. Based on my experience with other arms, that will probably occur with anti-skating set to be numerically equal about 50% to 60% of the tracking force.

The technique I use to accomplish that as accurately as possible is to adjust anti-skating until deflection just begins to be perceivable in each direction, and to then set it to the mid-point between those two values. I then verify that no perceivable left or right deflection occurs when the stylus is at a number of different points on the rotating record.

Hope that helps. Regards,
-- Al

@Al, thank you very much yes i have played around with the anti skate and i knwo what you mean when the cantilever "sways" towards and away from the center of the record. I will play around with this more this evening and report back :) thank you for the advice..

Kev

I wasn't expecting comments about not using tools. But honestly, I don't even think about it and it doesn't take long and maybe it is because I am doing this a long time but it is no hassle!

Adjustments done by ear are one thing and OK for an individual, but you can't always catch everything. I do a pretty fair number of setups both for people who purchase analog gear from me and for those who simply find out about the service I provide. The tools I use don't come cheap, and there's a learning curve associated with each, yet they deliver repeatable, reliable results for customers each and every time.

I've encountered some defective cartridges and successfully documented their flaws, saving customers a lot of grief and aggravation, not to mention money. The latest such incident involved a cartridge new out of the box with 6 dB of channel imbalance, which despite costing several thousand dollars went unchecked by both manufacturer and dealer. The dealer, distributor, and manufacturer are completely embarrassed, as well they should be, and the customer is livid and on the verge of demanding a refund in lieu of a replacement cartridge which is now going on two months of waiting. I'd love to name the manufacturer and parties involved but I don't want to get sued.

Folks, when you spend your hard earned money on a cartridge, you deserve so much more than being handed a box. Demand better. Spend your money wisely.