Talk Me off the Ledge - A cry for help

Well, Ive started to notice it on some used Doors, and Grateful Dead records but wasnt sure it was because of the condition of the record (good BTW, not great) or the recording. My reggae records (used, but in very good condition) sound very good but they dont have much vocals or they are old recordings. I guess I need to experiment with other new vinyl.

The manual states the TT is set up in the factory for optimum performance. The way it was setup the tracking weight was a bit off, the cartridge headshell wasnt prallel to the little gauge that came with it, and the arm wasnt parallel. Ive corrected the first 2 but the last adjustment is driving me nuts. I wonder if the arm base being up so high was the way it was meant to be? The cartridge was set up at about a 10 degree angle to the arm base.Any other suggestions to help fix the sound?

Obviously something moved in shipment. There should never be a 10 degree slope on the arm. About 1-2 degrees up or down, from parallel is about it. If it was supposed to be way up there, it would sound boomy as hell down where you are playing it now.

If you want another reference point, use the SRA(stylus rake angle). Put the stylus in the groove of a non-moving record. Look at the stylus from the side, and if your eyes are real good, you can see the little diamond sticking down into the groove under the tip of the cantilever. This tiny diamond stylus shaft should be sticking straight up from the record. If it is tilted noticeably either forward or backward, then you should adjust your VTA so that the SRA is vertical. Then use that as your starting position for listening testing.

Apart from all the tweaks: ever considered the thought that the vocals on the Pink Floyd record do sound sibilant? If the reggea-records sound good, your set-up shouldn't be to bad. I only own a original copy of DSOTM (not the remastered version), and that souds ok, although a bit processed.

Bundee:

Take one of your thinnest LP's and place it on the bare platter. If you use a mat, place it on top of this LP and then try playing one of the problem LP's. This is a quick/dirty way to change VTA.

Lowering the rear/tail end of the cartridge decreases HF info while increasing bass response and reversing this does the opposite (the trick is find the right balance).

It the arm height adjustable on the 2.1? If not, VTA can be adjusted by either shimming the cartridge or the LP (as mentioned above).

I set the VTA on my TT for thick album stock and use a DIY wool felt mat to adjust for thinner stock (doing so is as easy as placing an LP on the platter). If felt is not a good choice for the MMF, then there are other materials to choose from, like cork, vinyl sheeting, et cetera.

If your cartridge is the same as the one supplied on the MMF-5, then it's on the bright side to start with though it will mellow some with use.

I auditioned the MMF-5 three times (same shop) and when the deck was new it was very bright sounding (like a cheap CD player). The second and third tries were better, after the unit had some playing time on it. I also auditioned a well broken in MMF-5 @ another shop (the crew was playing it quite a bit:-) and it sounded better yet.

Could also be that the LP's which are problematic are not up to snuff in the first place.

It's also imortant to level the platter of the TT. A cheap way to select a round bubble level ($2-$3) @ most hardware stores is to borrow one or two good levels and a plate of sheet glass from stock. Level the glass by shimming it with credit/business cards and use this to test the cheap bubble levels for accuracy. The employee's @ my local store, just laughed and allowed me to do this (out of the sampling that I did more than half were off).

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

TWL- thanks SRA is ok checked it out with magnifying glass

Satch- I just listened to a couple of Police LPs and they sound pretty good. Could be the Pink Floyd.

Dekay- My table is level, as I checked it with a bubble level and shimmed it up with some cardboard slices. The VTA is adjustable, as I finally managed to unscrew the crappy screws in the tonearm base.

A couple of other questions guys:

1)Is it worth it to buy another copy of DSOTM just to make sure the one I have isnt defective?

2)Every time I screw in the tonearm base screws after adjusting VTA the arm seems to slightly pitch forward from the screws pushing the base in. Should it do this?

Many thanks for all your quick responses. The Police helped pull me away from the ledge temporarily but Im still on the roof.