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Is it a Stylus problem

Ewen1970

Ewen1970

The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
Bit lazy this I know...

Just hooked up a mates old Project TT to my Nait 2 amp via the rarely used Phono stage.

Now the Wait was serviced in the last year or so, so should be fine.

The TT sounds horribly distorted...

Anyone disagree that the culprit is likely to be the stylus?

My mate buggered off to Canada so difficult to find out if it was an issue for him.

Cartridge is an Ortofon OM3E. tip looks ok to the naked eye, but my eyes aren't what they were..

Thoughts my wise friends?
 
Done that Mark. Tracking force was way to high, so I wonder if that has f@cked the stylus....

Not sure how it ended up that high as I originally set it up for him...

Was up at 2.75 when it needed to be 1.5 to 2.0
 
Try listening to needletalk from close to the playing record, with the amp turned to zero. You should hear a tinny version of the recording but it shouldn’t sound distorted.
 
If it sound distorted very likely you are damaging your records , not sure how much new stylus cost but I'd rather buy new one as it's cost is negligible compared to value of new records .
 
I've just passed a Pro-ject Debut II on to a mate and when checking that saw the antiskate is a thread with a weight on it that passes through a shepherd's crook type thing at one end and sits in one of 3 slots on the back of the arm at the other.

Can't remember which way around it is set up, but for medium tracking weights it's the middle slot the thread sits in, so it's worth giving that a check when the new stylus is fitted.
 
Sorry if this isn’t obvious but is the phone card mm or mc? If it’s mc and you plug an mm in it will sound very distorted. Remove the cards from the amp and if they read NA323 it’s a coil stage, NA322 it’s magnet.
 
Now that’s something I hadn’t considered..... this is a really basic TT think it’s a Project Essential...
 
Darran.H said:
Some Project turntables have a built in phono stage, which model do you have ?
Click to expand...

Clever boy!! Thank you! Seems to have been the problem.

Can’t believe such a crappy cheap turntable would have a built in phono stage. You live and learn!
 
Surprised at a built-in stage at that price level. There may be others, but the Prefix is the only one which comes to mind; these would grace decks way above Project level, I'd've thought. I can imagine that distortion from the double mm amplification would not be dissimilar to plugging it into a m/coil input.
 
That's been an integral part of the Pro-Ject marketing model for a good number of years now, Mike.

Cheap deck with straight output for price x, or same deck with built-in phono stage (line out, both line and USB, line and optical digital, and even Bluetooth) at one or more price points between that of the standard model and the standard version of the next turntable model up. The cheapest line out phono stage inclusive price difference being £40 (Primary E to Primary E Phono).

Frankly, it has become difficult to keep track, headache inducing really...

https://www.henleyaudio.co.uk/shop/product/pricelist?BrandId=2
 
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