Inner Groove Distortion

Hi All!  Has anyone else here ever experienced significant inner groove distortion while using a radial arm Beogram?  Or is it just my RX?

If so, has anyone experienced a large reduction by going to a line contact stylus or shibata re-tip, (as has been suggested on some general audio hardware forums).

Are you sure that your records are in fine condition?

Often, LPs played on badly adjusted decks or played with a worn stylus would do this.

That said, inner groove distortion is a well-known phenomenon. Well made discs will have ballads or quiet tracks on the last grooves for that reason.

Hi,

It's one of the inherent problems of vinyl due to the reduction in groove velocity so you'll never be able to get rid of it completely.... but....

Inner grove distortion is definitely improved by the more exotic stylus profiles, the inner groves are much harder to track correctly and a stylus with a finer contact point helps.

A linear tracker is also better at tracking the inner grooves due to having practically zero tracking angle error.

How is the problem showing itself in your system?

Lee

 

Thanks Lee and Jacques.  Unfortunately, I've listened to some of my 'trouble' albums on other tables, and it is not nearly as bad.  I notice the problem mostly as distorted vocals.

I've seen reviews of non B&O line contact and shibata cartridges that speak IGD reduction.  I've never seen much discussion of IGD on this forum.

I've eliminated the albums as the problem.  It has to be the MMC5 or the RX.

So, nobody else gets noticeable inner groove distortion with their radial arm and MMC5?

I'm honestly not surprised that you get IGD with a mmc5.

It was the bottom of the range and its got a spherical stylus which are terrible at tracking "difficult" grooves.

Don't forget that all these carts are now decades old and its almost guaranteed to have a suspension that has become dried out and stiff with age. You could try upping the tracking force to 1.8g as a temp fix... But it really is time for a rebuild. Axel at schallplattennadeln can upgrade it with a new suspension and elliptical stylus for about £100.

Lee

I started off back in the day with an MMC5 on my tangential Beogram 3000, and it was indeed an underwhelming cartridge. My MMC4 sounds far better, but what I use day to day is an MMC2 which I truly am impressed by. I'd try a better cartridge, also verify that the tracking force is accurate. Inner groove distortion was and remains a major bane of LP. My favorite Chick Corea/Return To Forever LP had wide open, loud fusion jazz passages at the end of both sides, the only time I ever heard it without distortion no matter what table, including some expensive audiophile ones, was on CD.