newb question sorry...

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Not sure if this is the right board for this post, soz if it isn't...

I see loads of threads here about music but i could do with some advice about turntable setup. Is it appropriate to go into it here or should i take it elsewhere?

[Shooms]

Shove it up yer crunt newbie

Happy to help

Music chat is likely to illicit a better response...

[sy69]

Try music chat
Music Chat - Old Skool Anthemz
If you do a search on osa you might find threads about that subject.
Welcome to the board btw.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

OK got a bit sidetracked there... the issue is this...

I just changed headshells/carts/styli on my 1210's. The old ones had been on there for ages and were undoubtedly knackered.

Went for the standard Technics shells with Stanton 500-3 carts & styli
Previously it had the same shells with 500-2 carts & D5100AL2 styli (the blue ones).

I'm no expert at setting these things up. I didn't change tonearm height or anything like that, but I balanced & zeroed the arms and I've got one of those Technics gauges that you stick the headshell into for setting the overhang. As well as the overhang, it's got a centre mark to line the stylus up with by adjusting the angle of the cart in the shell.

Anyway... set them all up as best as I could by eye and... first off, holy f**k they're a lot louder than the old setup.
Records sound OK, but frankly nothing fantastic (I was expecting a big improvement) and on vocal tracks the treble just is not crisp. It only seems to be vocals though. Every S sounds like a SH... It's really annoying, definitely not right, and I'm scared that if I just run with it it'll bollocks up my vinyls.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has experienced the same thing and can give me a pointer as to what needs adjusting... do the carts need to be toed-in (or out) further in the headshells? Is it the tracking weight that's wrong (it's at 2g, that's as far as the weights will wind on). Is it the overhang that's wrong? Are there any tools I could get to allow easy and pretty much correct alignment? Do I need one of those protractor jobbies?

I don't necessarily want to go mental on the detail of setup, I just want clear crisp nice sound and to know I'm not killing my records by playing them.

So... help! Any good advice or links or whatever much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[Northern Star]

you might have a bit more sucess in here hun

[Shooms]

Originally Posted by Sheikh Yerbouti

OK got a bit sidetracked there... the issue is this...

I just changed headshells/carts/styli on my 1210's. The old ones had been on there for ages and were undoubtedly knackered.

Went for the standard Technics shells with Stanton 500-3 carts & styli
Previously it had the same shells with 500-2 carts & D5100AL2 styli (the blue ones).

I'm no expert at setting these things up. I didn't change tonearm height or anything like that, but I balanced & zeroed the arms and I've got one of those Technics gauges that you stick the headshell into for setting the overhang. As well as the overhang, it's got a centre mark to line the stylus up with by adjusting the angle of the cart in the shell.

Anyway... set them all up as best as I could by eye and... first off, holy f**k they're a lot louder than the old setup.
Records sound OK, but frankly nothing fantastic (I was expecting a big improvement) and on vocal tracks the treble just is not crisp. It only seems to be vocals though. Every S sounds like a SH... It's really annoying, definitely not right, and I'm scared that if I just run with it it'll bollocks up my vinyls.

I'm just wondering if anyone here has experienced the same thing and can give me a pointer as to what needs adjusting... do the carts need to be toed-in (or out) further in the headshells? Is it the tracking weight that's wrong (it's at 2g, that's as far as the weights will wind on). Is it the overhang that's wrong? Are there any tools I could get to allow easy and pretty much correct alignment? Do I need one of those protractor jobbies?

I don't necessarily want to go mental on the detail of setup, I just want clear crisp nice sound and to know I'm not killing my records by playing them.

So... help! Any good advice or links or whatever much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Hmmm where to start...

Could be an overload coming thru your amp / speakers... have you tried playing with the gains ?

Or it might be duff needles / too harsh an angle...

Or it could be mucky vinyl ?

Too many variables lol

For my money when it comes to shells n needles you can't fuck with concordes... they track better & there's no arsing about with them.. fool proof in fact.

Not much help buddy soz.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

yeah i hear ya definitely too many variables...

I don't think it's amp (or input gain) distortion cos the same effect is noticeable at really low levels. Also hi-hats and other treble effects sound fine even with gains/amps cranked to normal (proper bizznizz) levels
That's the really weird thing. It only seems noticeable on vocals. The S SH thing is just the best way i can describe it. It is bad though, stands out a mile and is noticeable straight away. Makes you wince.

Could be duff/mucky vinyl, yep, not dismissing that, but have tried several records in varying states of clean and looking-in-good-nick-ness.

Could also be duff needles, but they were bought brand new, as were the carts/headshells. And it'd be 2 duff needles... could understand if it was just one of them...

Which pretty much leaves the setup issues, and thats where I'm a bit stumped.

I'll have a look into the concorde stuff, cheers for that, but I could really do without junking this brand new gear (having just shelled out for it) and having to replace it.

Thanks for the reply though. I appreciate it.

[DAMO 72]

mmm.... i would say adjust the weight on the tone arm and see if this makes a difference, and after that if still no improvement, lend a mates carts n check the same vinyls with them to see if they are indeed in need of further replacement.
D.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

...just a bump in case anyone else suffers the same problem.
More weight on the tonearm was needed.
Had to reverse the weights (gauges now at the back) to achieve this though which I'm sure isn't ideal. Still, choons sound chooney again which is a result
Thanks for all the responses.

[siman91]

You obviously HATE your records....how about a realy hardcore approach...tape a penny to the head shell!!

How old are your decks, try carefully disconnecting the conntections to the cart and spray a little wd40 on each connection. Remove the headshell and make shure the connections are good, rub them back a little to expose new surface. Finally the aux connectors and cables can fall to peices after about 5years, jog them about, may even need renewing. I have had to do this to 2 of my technics at about 8 years old...prety cool though as give a chance to get new hq connectors instead of the standard crap.

si

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Originally Posted by siman91

You obviously HATE your records....

Whoa... steady on there fella... bit uncalled-for I think... have you even read the original post? My whole issue is wanting to avoid damaging records!

Originally Posted by siman91

Try carefully disconnecting the conntections to the cart and spray a little wd40 on each connection. Remove the headshell and make sure the connections are good, rub them back a little to expose new surface.

Did you read the original post? These are brand new carts and headshells. I doubt WD-40 or sanding would make any difference. Especially as I said (in the original post) the new setup is much louder than the old. I would think this implies the cart/headshell connections are good.
Oh and a minor point, I would NEVER suggest to ANYONE to use WD-40 on electrical contacts. I think you mean contact cleaner, don't you?

Originally Posted by siman91

Finally the aux connectors and cables can fall to peices after about 5years, jog them about, may even need renewing.

Did you read the original post? If the problem was with the Aux connectors, why would changing cart/stylus/headshell cause it?

Don't get me wrong here, I appreciate all constructive help and advice but I do think your tone is a bit strong. To say nothing of accusatory.

So that's the sort of help a sincere question gets is it?

*EDIT I was gonna use this edit to correct your terrible spelling, but bollocks to it.

[butty]

Originally Posted by Sheikh Yerbouti

Whoa... steady on there fella... bit uncalled-for I think... have you even read the original post? My whole issue is wanting to avoid damaging records!


Did you read the original post? These are brand new carts and headshells. I doubt WD-40 or sanding would make any difference. Especially as I said (in the original post) the new setup is much louder than the old. I would think this implies the cart/headshell connections are good.
Oh and a minor point, I would NEVER suggest to ANYONE to use WD-40 on electrical contacts. I think you mean contact cleaner, don't you?


Did you read the original post? If the problem was with the Aux connectors, why would changing cart/stylus/headshell cause it?

Don't get me wrong here, I appreciate all constructive help and advice but I do think your tone is a bit strong. To say nothing of accusatory.

So that's the sort of help a sincere question gets is it?

*EDIT I was gonna use this edit to correct your terrible spelling, but bollocks to it.

to be fair my sheikh i think youve took simans post the wrong way a bit n overreacted slightly

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

really? or is it 'newbie syndrome'?

how is one supposed to take "you obviously HATE your records"

I find that offensive in the extreme.
Especially when it's part of a post containing advice which could do more harm than good (WD-40 on electrics).
I could have responded in kind and said "You obviously hate your tonearms", but I would not stoop to the same level of disrespect to others.

[sy69]

I think what siman91 was getting at connections between amp,mixer,decks,speakers,cables etc can get dirty and do from time to time need cleaning.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Originally Posted by sy69

I think what siman91 was getting at connections between amp,mixer,decks,speakers,cables etc can get dirty and do from time to time need cleaning.

Completely understood. But the original post does state that cart/headshell/stylus are all brand new, and that it was changing these which caused the problem.