Turntable Pitch Problems Seem To Go Away When Using Heaphones

S

Soundnlight

New Member
Hi all - looking for some feedback. I've had an Orbit Turntable for quite some time now. All in all I've enjoyed it, but have had some experience with pitch instability/fluctuation. I was originally able to fix this by brushing some talc powder on my belt, and this seemed to work fine for some time. However, lately nothing I do seems to improve it.

Until tonight, I've never used headphones with my current setup. When listening through headphones, the pitch seems to be dead on even with records that have previously given me trouble... I'm wondering how this is even remotely possible.

U turn is sending me a new belt as I understand their new ones offer some good improvements over the originals... but now I'm thinking the problem could be somewhere else in my setup.

Has anyone ever experienced this? Seems really strange to me...

FYI my current setup is the Orbit Plus table, Polk Audio 5-Jr monitor speakers, and Denon AVR 3200 receiver (but using the ART DJ Pre II phono preamp).
 
jasonsong86 said:
vibration?
Click to expand...

That's probably the only conceivable reason. Is everything sitting on the same shelf? The only way that there could be any difference is that the speakers are causing some feedback or resonance, but even this is a long shot. Weird.
 
Montycat said:
That's probably the only conceivable reason. Is everything sitting on the same shelf? The only way that there could be any difference is that the speakers are causing some feedback or resonance, but even this is a long shot. Weird.
Click to expand...

No, I've got my speakers on stands - the turntable and receiver are the only parts of the setup on the same shelf.

I'll print out the strobe disc later today and see if the speed is truly off. Thanks for all the responses.
 
Do you have any sources of air currents between you and your speakers? My furnace does this to me all the time.
 
Son-of-Vere said:
Do you have any sources of air currents between you and your speakers? My furnace does this to me all the time.
Click to expand...

I do, actually. There is a vent above my right speaker and then another at the opposite end of the room where I'm usually listening from.

The room is also pretty big (my apt. has really tall vaulted ceilings).

I hadn't considered the acoustics of the room in terms of pitch...
 
Montycat said:
That's probably the only conceivable reason. Is everything sitting on the same shelf? The only way that there could be any difference is that the speakers are causing some feedback or resonance, but even this is a long shot. Weird.
Click to expand...

If possible, try listening through the headphones with the speakers playing. (Maye you can get in another room or a closet.)
 
If you have a Smart-phone, there is an app called "RPM Calculator" that I use and is fairly accurate, too my ears.
 
soundandligh said:
I do, actually. There is a vent above my right speaker and then another at the opposite end of the room where I'm usually listening from.

The room is also pretty big (my apt. has really tall vaulted ceilings).

I hadn't considered the acoustics of the room in terms of pitch...
Click to expand...

I didn't consider this a possibility either. While I was remodeling my listing area I had my ceiling mount air vents out for fixing the drywall. I just had a raw duct opening and when the furnace ran it would drive me nuts.

Try another source and listen when air is moving from the vents, if you hear the pitch change that's it.
 
Aw jeez.

Pitch is platter speed, period.
It's not air vents, barometric pressure, south facing windows or your zodiac sign.

Get a strobe disc. Check the speed.
Either it's on, or it's off, or you have wow & flutter, or you don't.

If the speed is correct, the pitch is correct, and your problem is something other than pitch (although you interpret it as such).

Why do we have such a tendency to refuse to shoot the biggest elephant first?
 
Naptown Rob said:
Aw jeez.

Pitch is platter speed, period.
It's not air vents, barometric pressure, south facing windows or your zodiac sign.

Get a strobe disc. Check the speed.
Either it's on, or it's off, or you have wow & flutter, or you don't.

If the speed is correct, the pitch is correct, and your problem is something other than pitch (although you interpret it as such).

Why do we have such a tendency to refuse to shoot the biggest elephant first?
Click to expand...

Since I don't have a printer and will have to wait until work on monday to print the strobe disc, i downloaded the Turntabulator platter speed app for the iphone. I ran a few tests and each time it came up with 33.11 RPM... so it runs a bit slow. Not sure how accurate that app is, but it has received good reviews and makes sense based on what I'm hearing.
 
soundandligh said:
Since I don't have a printer and will have to wait until work on monday to print the strobe disc, i downloaded the Turntabulator platter speed app for the iphone. I ran a few tests and each time it came up with 33.11 RPM... so it runs a bit slow. Not sure how accurate that app is, but it has received good reviews and makes sense based on what I'm hearing.
Click to expand...

Yes but consistently 33.11 is different than "pitch instability/fluctuation" or a change when using speakers vs headphones.
 
soundandligh said:
Until tonight, I've never used headphones with my current setup. When listening through headphones, the pitch seems to be dead on even with records that have previously given me trouble... I'm wondering how this is even remotely possible.
Click to expand...

Sounds crazy to me, but is the turntable plugged to the wall outlet or amp ? Maybe something to do with when the amp is driving speaker load ???
 
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