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damager

Member
Ok all... check it out I just got me a SL-23 Technics phonograph, and I'm in the setup process.

First off, i wanna say for the money, this machine is very well built and super easy to setup... so far. But here's my difficulty so far.... I'm getting some inherent distortion on the left side, but not the right. Now when I say distortion, I mean it sounds like the sound is overloading a bit. I have it hooked up to a computer interface and on the meters it definitely shows one side is significantly hotter than the other. I brought it to my home stereo system and same deal, one side louder and peaking.

Do you experts out there think this is a setup issue? I'm no stranger to setting up the counterweight or the anti-skating factor, but admittedly I've never messed with azimuth and whatever the hell else. My first thought it perhaps the needle is leaning to one side a bit stronger than the other? That could be a total misdiagnosis though.

On there now is an Audio Technica AT2000XE, of unknown age. Should I start with replacing this? And if so, and recommendations (please keep it under the $50 if possible :D)
 
While a record is playing, squat down so that you can see the headshell straight on from the front. Check to see if the headshell appears to be tilted to one side or the other. Even if it's a little bit of tilt, that's enough to cause a problem....that would be an azimuth problem. It is fixable but you have to be very careful. There are two tiny screws on the underside of the arm just past the headshell. They need to be carefully loosened so that you can gently turn the headshell left or right until it's right. Once you have that right, carefully tighten the screws (don't over-tighten!). Play the record again and take another look just to make sure. If it's still not right, repeat the process.

What tracking force are you using? Whatever tracking force you're using, set the antiskating to the same value. Example: if you are using a tracking force of 1.5, set the antiskating to 1.5. That antiskate setting is a STARTING POINT, and you can micro-adjust in either direction until the sound is balanced.

The cartridge. If you don't know how old the cartridge is or what kind of use it had before, you should replace the stylus. It's not necessary to replace the entire cartridge. Replacing the stylus with a new one is enough.

LPTunes has a replacement stylus for your cartridge. See below...

http://www.lptunes.com/Stylus-for-Audio-Technica-AT-2000XE-cartridge-p/atsat2000xe.htm
 
Do this, turn AS to 0 and then float the arm.
Make sure the table is perfect level. Does the arm move horizontally?
If not then its not the turntable.
 
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Ok!

so I've replaced the stylus with a AT replacement stylus from LP Tunes... no difference whatsoever. oh well at least I have a spare now :)

I've also gotten down level w the table, I SWEAR I can't see any tilt of any kind on the cartidge / stylus assbly. man it looks perfectly level. but I spose I could grab a wicked small level on toss on the flat top surface of it and that would tell for sure.

Counterweight set to 1.5 to 1.6... antiskate set accordingly to this number. I've even played w the antiskate while it was playing, and it yielded no noticeable sonic result, still got the hotter left side.

Any suggestions for the next course of action? I will now try the suggestion by Jasonsong and test the arm while it floats... and check for level ness of the surface. although it's a desk im not sure how not level it could be :)
 
One side sounds overdriven. Does that mean that it is putting out too strong of a signal in one channel compared to the other channel? For me, I might think the opposite and that one side is actually too low. First thing I would check is that all contacts are clean and all connections are tight, especially cartridge contacts and tone arm clips. If that was the problem, then you might find that both sides are overdriven, so now reduce your gain.

Hmmm... Sensible diagnosis there. Yes, I suppose what tipped me on "overdriven" is that there's audible distortion. Unpleasant distortion too, i don't mean the warm kind of drive that vinyl inherently has. Like, you can't NOT notice it, it sounds horrid. hahah

I will add these to my list of trials... So, if I am understanding you correctly, you are referring to the four colored connections at the back of the cartridge, correct? As far as tone arm clips, i don't know what you are referring to with that?
 
Update:

Ok... so I busted out a level, a smaller one so I could attack all angles of the table so i might rule that portion of the setup process out. check! The table wasn't exactly level but it was close. So then I tried it out, unfortunately no improvement. Although, now that i've had the chance to try out several different LPs, I'm starting to find that it seems like that left side may not be LOUDER as much as MORE HIGH END. and I'm not sure exactly what the remedy to that would be.

So at this point, I have checked
~ tilt of the cartridge (which I also checked with the level... it's fine!)
~ wire connections of cart to tonearm - these seem like they're just fine! I've applied gentle pressure to each connection, and there's no give whatsoever.
~ tried to apply more VTF, turned it up to about 2.5... all this seemed to do was saturate the sound a little bit. Still off balance to the left side though. I set it back to 1.5-1.6 and compensated with the antiskate accordingly.
~ replaced stylus - this made no difference at all.
~ leveled the table to absolutely level.


I suppose the next thing is opening the thing up and seeing if there's any bad components anywhere, testing them one by one. Again, any thoughts out there are welcome! :D
 
Found the problem

Holy molee... i found the stinkin' problem!!

The one thing I didn't even consider - the damn preamp I was listening through. I was listening on a Mackie BigKnob, which is a monitoring system for studio so you can quickly change between sources. I wiggled the "phono" switch a bit, and heard a little crackling. I wiggled more, and then started to toggle the switch and boy oh boy there was all kinds of noise. That's when I started thinking, hmmm could there be a dirty toggle switch here? So then I went and got my afore-mentioned Music Hall MMF 2.2... plugged it in and tried it - sure enough, left side more "distorted" than the right, and louder. Couldn't believe it. Actually, upon thinking about it, it was far more likely that it wasn't things like VTF and azimuth that caused such a blatant problem. In the past I've found those factors affect the sound relatively minimally, unless there's a BIG problem.

So, I brought both tables to one of my stereo system rigs, and sure enough, the "new" Technics sounds like a million bucks.

WOW. I feel stupid. :(
 
Holy molee... i found the stinkin' problem!!

The one thing I didn't even consider - the damn preamp I was listening through. I was listening on a Mackie BigKnob, which is a monitoring system for studio so you can quickly change between sources. I wiggled the "phono" switch a bit, and heard a little crackling. I wiggled more, and then started to toggle the switch and boy oh boy there was all kinds of noise. That's when I started thinking, hmmm could there be a dirty toggle switch here? So then I went and got my afore-mentioned Music Hall MMF 2.2... plugged it in and tried it - sure enough, left side more "distorted" than the right, and louder. Couldn't believe it. Actually, upon thinking about it, it was far more likely that it wasn't things like VTF and azimuth that caused such a blatant problem. In the past I've found those factors affect the sound relatively minimally, unless there's a BIG problem.

So, I brought both tables to one of my stereo system rigs, and sure enough, the "new" Technics sounds like a million bucks.

WOW. I feel stupid. :(




Don't do that to yourself. Trust me....we have ALL gone through something like this. I'm so so so glad you found the problem and are now enjoying your music!!!

Well done!!!
 
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