Vent: A guy at a record swap told me my turntable stylus was too heavy on old vinyl

He said I was damaging the grooves, so I dropped the tracking force from 3.5 grams to 2.0 and now those old 70s records actually sound clear instead of crunchy. Has anyone else had to adjust their setup after getting called out like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

susanh465d ago

Funny you mention that - had almost the exact same wake-up call last year. Bought a bunch of old Neil Young records and they were all sibilant and harsh. Turns out I was running 3.5 grams too and the store guy at the shop showed me his digital scale and how my VTF was crushing some of the more delicate passages. Dropped to 1.8 grams and balanced the tonearm properly - those 70s albums are like night and day now. The midrange opened up and the vocals stopped spitting on sibilants. Definitely worth the embarrassment for the improvement.

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mason3615d ago

So did you check azimuth too @susanh46? I messed around with mine and it made a bigger difference than I expected on those older pressings. Crazy how something that simple can wreck an expensive record if you don't catch it early.