Helikon run-in groove problem.....

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

I have both Benz M2 and Lyra Helikon. For some reason I do not set up an andtiscating(with cheap RB300!) since on some records with even small flows it will skip. I've got a great practice within the time of using records(since I was 5) to place a needle by using just fingers without tonearm lifter trying to place the stylus right onto the record bypassing the "lead-in-groove". The same thing can be done with the arm-lifter. It just take a little-longer to place the cartridge on the presice record-groove position.
Some vinyls have better designed pressing quality with almost flat "lead-in-groove" that don't require any antiscating applied and some vinyls look like a pizza where any cartridge will surf through the "lead-in-groove".

One more thing:
Most of the used records even if visually in excellent condition have a surface noise at the beginning(lead-in-groove problem) so practice on some cheap vinyls to place a needle right onto the record:)