2. analog
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Help me not let this happen again

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab101/philb7777/photo.jpg

The above link shows photos show a slanted cantilever on my Dyna XV-1s. VFT was 1.950-19.75g, SRA was 91.5 degrees, azimuth was spot on and AS was set as minimal (probably 25% of total AS possible on TW 10.5 arm). Associated equipment was a TW Acustic AC table and TW 10.5 arm. The table is perfectly level by multiple spirit measurements. Tonearm bearings seem to check out with a 'float' test of the tonearm.

Absolutely no damage occurred to the cantilever. System is in a dedicated room with kids in college and a wife that HATES my room and stays out. No mishap by myself occurred either.

I have had the cart for around 4 years and probably have between 1500-2000 hours on it. Over the last month I noticed image smearing and 'wandering' within the soundstage, lack of air, and increased sibilance. I started trouble shooting the issue and started at the cart. I was shocked when I noticed the cantilever slanted slightly to the right (toward the outer edge of the platter/LP). It was fixed there and didn't change while playing an LP.

My only thought was that I dialed in anti skate by ear and loved the sound compared to the increased anti skate demanded by a test disc. Could this be from insufficient anti skate? I was told by others that skate or anti skate forces wouldn't be strong enough to cause a cantilever to do this.

My fear is this: I was lucky enough that my cart dealer let me trade in my XV-1s for an XV-1t and gave me a solid deal. Now that I have my XV-1t I love it! I thought the XV-1s was great, but the XV-1t is phenomenal. But.......I don't want this to happen again!

Any ideas on the cause or other things to consider, please let me know. I appreciate any input. I just don't want this to happen over time to my new cart!
philb7777
pbnaudio's avatar
pbnaudio
1,614 posts
 
Could it be that you just wore it out ? Suspension bushing just gave out ? at 2K hours it surely had mileage.

One option you could have considered was to have the suspension replaced, I'd recommend Andy Kim at Needle clinic in WA, he has consistently done a great job on my own carts as well as that of clients. I had a Ortofon MC 70 redone by him a while back for $200, replaced the suspension cleaned the stylus and it was almost as good as new.

Just recently I had him replace the stylus on a ZYX R100 which had lost its tip, sounds great.

A client of mine had a child accident with a ZYX Diamond Gold which he repaired too.

How do you like the 1T compared to the 1S - I'm considering that move myself. Other than "love it" what does it do better ?

Good Listening

Peter
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,319 posts
 
Phil - How do you clean your stylus? Over 4 years I'm guessing you must have had at least a couple of occasions to clean it. Wondering if a recent attempt to clean (combined with normal wear to the suspension as mentioned by Pbnaudio) might have pushed it over the edge, as it were.
philb7777 OP
401 posts
 
Thanks for the responses Peter and Ghosthouse.

I have around 1500-2000 hours on it I'm guessing over a 4 year period. I clean it with a Onzow regularly and have never had a mishap (luckily) with the cart. I use a digital microscope or a 10x magnifier to assess stylus cleanliness and wear.

I suppose it could be normal wear and tear on the suspension, but I just found it odd to be the horizontal suspension and not the vertical. The stylus is fixed slanted to the right whether playing or static on its armrest.

As far as the XV-1t is concerned comparing it to the XV-1s, the XV-1t right out of the box and without any break-in was clearly superior in detail retrieval and sound staging. I have a post on Audioshark. Here's the link:

http://audioshark.org/all-things-analog-21/dynavector-xv-1t-vs-xv-1s-5648.html#.VAm4Zksl6_0
mmakshak
589 posts
 
If your arm was not a unipivot(of which, I know nothing), I would suspect anti-skate(as a possible cause). I know it's not the popular answer, but I would look into what the cartridge and, possibly the arm's, recommendations are on anti-skate.
storyboy
80 posts
 
I've seen this before with improper anti-skate, especially with high mileage carts. You have to set it for a neutral position; not easy, and may be too late for this cart.
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