Helikon run-in groove problem.....

RWD: Sorry to sound dense, but what do you mean "runs in on the lead-in groove"? Do you mean when the tonearm sets down that the cartridge skips past the lead-in grooves directly into the recorded material?

If this is what you mean, my immediate first guess is that the tonearm lifter may be lowering too slowly and is still maintaining a light degree of contact with the tonearm when the cartridge first touches the run-in grooves. If so, this slight contact of the lifter with the underside of the tonearm may be reducing the cartridge tracking force in the run-in grooves, which allows it to skip past the run-in grooves.

As you state, the JMW tonearms do not have a typical anti-skating setting. The only anti-skating force that is applied is due to the torsion (twist) in the tonearm wiring that forms a loop between the tonearm's pivot tower and the interconnect termination box. As I recall from the review articles I have read on the JMW arms, the exposted tonearm wiring loop must be given a slight anti-clockwise twist to provide an anti-skate force. If you have already explored this factor as a cause of your problem, then I'm inclined to think that the tonearm lifter may be the culprit. The combination of the tonearm being suspended a moment too long AND the anti-skate force of the tonearm wiring could be sufficient to cause the problem you've described.

I am clearly speculating here, so it would be helpful if you could provide some clarification about exactly what is happening and perhaps one of analog-heads can offer some ideas.

Thanks. SDC

Thanks...SDC....yes you described my problem exactly! I also have a Micro-Benz M-2 cartridge in another arm tube that does NOT have this problem. You may have hit on the problem.....I was wondering if it might have been a problem with the Helikon? Don't think so, cause it sounds quite good when it is "into" the record. I will give it a try!

Rick: For the benefit of others who may respond to your post, let me mention that you and I swapped a private E-mail on this topic. In my E-mail, I mentioned that you must be sure that the turntable platter is level -- use a bubble level to check this. Some cartridges seem to be more prone to mistracking if the platter is not level. (I had this problem with a Grado Reference cartridge last summer -- the platter was not quite level, and it caused some mistracking on sections of LP's with substantial groove modulations.)

It is also possible, though not too likely, that the problem you are having is with the Lyra cartridge itself. For example, if the cantilever suspension is out of whack, it could lead to mistracking when the stylus first makes contact with the LP, causing some oscillation for a moment until everything settles down. Only Lyra could determine that for you, however.

Any other A-gon analog specialists out there have ideas?

Eureka!!!!! Thanks Scott, I think I found the problem. After getting your post and e-mail I checked the level of my Aries and it was right on....completely level. Then I checked the arm rest and arm lift. I carefully viewed the decent of the arm after I released the lift and "low and behold" the arm went down smoothly AND THE STOPPED....for a fraction of a second, THEN continued it's decent. This must be the cause of the run in at the beginning of the record. Now I have to figure why and how I can correct this faulty arm rest.
Thanks again Scott for your help and I hope this may help any other other there with a similar problem.

I had the Lyra Helikon mounted on my VPI Aries/10" JMW. Same issue. When I lowered the arm onto the record it would skip the first few grooves. If I lowerd the arm slowly by controlling the rate at which it fell, it would not do this.

I had problems with the cueing mechanism on my arm. It was replaced once by VPI. Once, the cueing mechanism lost the seal and the hydraulic fluid leaked out. I agree with Sdcampbell's first post about the cueing mechanism. I would call VPI and talk to Mike. He will tell you how to remedy the problem.

Rich