ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I am new to vinyl and was talked into buying a beogram 3404 at my local shop for 300. Everything is supposed to be in ship shape with little play time on the cartridge. I hear a lot of surface noise however, even with brand new vinyls which is frustrating. I have been using a carbon fiber brush which seems to help but there is still a lot of noted crackles and pops.
I have been told that i cant replace the stylus or upgrade the cartridge? From what I understand buying a new cartridge will cost as much as what I spent on the table. Kind of frustrated...
Likely to be the cartridge - where are you? You can have the cartridge retipped and this would fix it. Much cheaper than a new cartridge. Can upgrade it at the same time - which one do you have fitted? I could lend you a decent one to try but I suspect you are in the US which makes it a lot trickier!!
Peter
yeah I am in the US, SLC Utah. The present cat is the MMC20EN. Where, how, and what does it cost to re-tip a cart?
sorry about the multiple repeat post...i thought my computer was frozen
hold up a sec though...did you say you can upgrade the cartridge? what others are avail for this model?
a bad stylus can be identified by a YouTube video as long you don't play so loud that the audio on the video recording distorts and record is new
My re-capped M75 are my precious diamonds.
can you explain this a little more?
Make a recording of the turntable playing a new LP, being careful not to have the volume too loud as to cause distortion. Then upload your recording to youtube in high quality. post a link here and we'll be able to tell you if the problem you have is a worn stylus/ faulty cartridge.
Lee
Also make sure you've got the tracking weight set correctly. The mmc20en should track at 1.2/1.3 grams. As the cart is getting on you'd be better tracking at the higher weight, maybe even 1.4/1.5g
hulkavitch: yeah I am in the US, SLC Utah. The present cat is the MMC20EN. Where, how, and what does it cost to re-tip a cart?
There's Axel in Germany and Soundsmith in the US. I have not used Axel but the folks here sing his praises daily.
I have an MMC3000 that was retipped by Soundsmith with the $150 option. It is currently mounted on a BG3404. (I have a second BG3404 with an original MMC20EN. I also have one of Soundsmith's SMMC20ENs on a BG4002.) The retipped 3000 is a fantastic cartridge.
By the way, you are using a preamplifier in your setup, right?
That is an awesome idea. I will get on that today.
Im not sure what the tracking weight is set to I attached a photo. I have a yamaha aventage RX-A3010 with Mirage MX 2.1 speakers. The receiver has a phono input. .
Looking at that picture your tracking weight is set very wrong. To set it correctly you need to firstly zero balance the tonearm first. To do this turn the weight at the back until the tonearm floats as if weightless. Once you've done that turn the dial with the numbers to zero while ensuring that the weight doesn't turn. Once it's at zero turn the weight until the dial shows 1.3g. That should fix it. Nice Speakers btw. I love the tone of mirage's.
Have a look at the image attached. That should explain how to set the stylus pressure better.
I went through this process and if I set the dial less than 2 the tone arm skates off the record. Did I do something wrong?
The measurements on the counterweight ie 0-9 are in 1/10 of a gram incraments. You have to set it at zero and then turn it one full turn back to zero and then on to 5 to get 1.5g (which is the weight id set it at) if that makes sense.
good God in heaven....i did not know that. makes sense, thanks for your patience with a such a fool!
Sounds much better...still a few pops and clicks, in process of uploading a video now.
new album video.
http://youtu.be/2UxV8AJFL0s
Your always going to get the odd pop and crackle with vinyl... That's just the nature of the beast.
Just watched the video and although it's hard to tell with a mic recording, it sounds right to me. Nice and clear on the vocals and no sibilance.
Is there anyway you could connect the line out on your amp to your computer to get a direct recording?
yeah i was thinking the same thing but havent figured it out yet. It actualy sounds much better. Thanks for all of your help. You guys are awesome.
Glad to be of service. I've listened to the video a couple of times and I'm sure it's as it should be. Enjoy your new B&O turntable.... Happy spinning :-)