Small warps causing vinyl to skip

[daytona600]

If you should damage or wear your Rega cartridge, simply return it to you Rega dealer and they will supply you somebody elses shagged out cartridge with a new cantilever, stylus and pivot pad.

Ortofon Exchange Service
Our Exchange Service is designed for those unexpected moments when your high-quality phono cartridges suffer damage. With this service, you can trade in your broken MC cartridge and seamlessly transition to a fully functional New replacement, ensuring your audio experience remains uninterrupted. We understand the importance of your music, and our Exchange Service guarantees a hassle-free solution, so you can continue enjoying your favorite tunes without missing a beat


Due to the technical nature and highly skilled construction Audio-Technica does not recommend having a cartridge re-tipped or repaired
The original performance and optimal specifications can only be obtained when the complete cartridge is serviced and thoroughly tested by our skilled engineers at Audio-Technica’s production facility in Japan.
Therefore, Audio-Technica offers a comprehensive trade-in program for its customers with a brand new cartridge

Grado We have an exchange program that allows you to trade in your old cartridge and buy a new, current version cartridge at a substantial discount. We even allow you to move up to a different cartridge at discounted prices if you would like to

Clearaudio has a number of options for replacing or upgrading a phono cartridge including:
*up to 20% off MM cartridge purchase with trade-in of a Clearaudio MM cartridge
*up to 25% off MC cartridge purchase with trade-in of a Clearaudio MC cartridge

 

[Oxfordian]

If you should damage or wear your Rega cartridge, simply return it to you Rega dealer and they will supply you somebody elses shagged out cartridge with a new cantilever, stylus and pivot pad.

Clearly you're not a Rega fan, but this is a bit OTT.

 

[daytona600]

Own a Planar 10 but not fitted with a Rega cart

 

[Revolutions]

£ 149 will buy you a complete AT-VM95ML cartridge which in my mind is a bargain.

I had a VM95ML on my Planar 2. It’s a great cartridge, but for me the Exact beats it in a lot of ways.

The 95ML sounded more upfront and aggressive, which was cool. The downside was accentuating noise on older records. The Exact is more refined to my ears, almost more precise. When I first connected the new deck it gave me a sound that felt right at home.

Won’t be able to get to my local Rega dealer until the new year now, so having to inspect every record before playing. A barely visible bump on a brand new record is skipping on side b right up to halfway through the 2nd track 😢

 

[camcroft]

I had a VM95ML on my Planar 2. It’s a great cartridge, but for me the Exact beats it in a lot of ways.

The 95ML sounded more upfront and aggressive, which was cool. The downside was accentuating noise on older records. The Exact is more refined to my ears, almost more precise. When I first connected the new deck it gave me a sound that felt right at home.

Won’t be able to get to my local Rega dealer until the new year now, so having to inspect every record before playing. A barely visible bump on a brand new record is skipping on side b right up to halfway through the 2nd track 😢

Possibly a bit unfair comparing the two cartridges especially that they were on different decks both having different sound signatures .

 

[Revolutions]

Possibly a bit unfair comparing the two cartridges especially that they were on different decks both having different sound signatures .

Yes, the P6 probably has a lower noise floor so maybe the VM95ML might play a little better. Other than that, I’d be skeptical that the turntables differ massively in sound. Stability, speed etc, yes. Warbling wasn’t an issue with the P2 though.

 

[Oxfordian]

I had a VM95ML on my Planar 2. It’s a great cartridge, but for me the Exact beats it in a lot of ways.

The 95ML sounded more upfront and aggressive, which was cool. The downside was accentuating noise on older records. The Exact is more refined to my ears, almost more precise. When I first connected the new deck it gave me a sound that felt right at home.

Won’t be able to get to my local Rega dealer until the new year now, so having to inspect every record before playing. A barely visible bump on a brand new record is skipping on side b right up to halfway through the 2nd track 😢

Are you going to stick with the Exact or look at alternatives next year?

 

[Revolutions]

Are you going to stick with the Exact or look at alternatives next year?

I'm really happy with the sound, so I might go for more of the same tbh.

 

[Rui]

i only have old turntables, the last i bought was an high-end model from thorens in the 90´s ,most of the ones i have are from the 70´s ,normally i set the an ti-skating as it should be but at the endn of the record normally when it as more time of listenng the groves are more close to the center giving a bit more anti-skating when the last tracks in one side are not perfect as the other tracks in the record, it get´s more acurate to any record, i have a pioneer without anti-skating from 74 and using it´s original cartridge allthough today substitution stylus are very bad built ,in the past some were even better than the original ,it´s a ES-2000 system turntable the PL-ES but it´s bigger and better finished than that year catalog(74) turntables as an example the PL-12 or PL-15D but not having anti-skating and most of the albuns at the time had almost 40 minuts per side so it plays perfect all those Lp´s i have but when time per side increased i notice some recdords had not correct anti-skating making it sound worse, so it´s limited to early 70´s or 70´s to 60´s records who i have thousamnds of Lp´s from that period having bought some but recentelly my fahher died and his colection of records were added to mine some i have them duplicated but most of them are titles that i had recorded to reels and now the Lp records are all mine,having around 15.000 titles and 17 turntables most of them are expensive models maybe two i have from pioneer are belt driven as some older garrard and thorens,professional models,my father started a radio station in 1970, i also worked there and many records were sent to us for free and we, my father and i always took care of the records making them sound perfect today, no gloves but never touched the grooves and always kept with a plastic protection and dry places, moist it´s their worst enemy and dust added, i showed a friend the first Peter gabriel Lp and maybe 50 more when changing houses i kept them in a place that i didn´t notice but behind the furniture where i kept my most listened records at the time had a lot of humidity ,when playing them i notice lot´s of noise i kept them appart so they could be cleaned and a younger friend that ciolects vinyl and plays in a band to which i recorded their first Demo asked me tro play it, the Peter Gabriel album and it sounds very good but with lot´s of noise caused by the dried mould ,for my surprise he tells me that the records sounds very good, well the record itself is in very good condition so it sounds perfect as the sound of the instruments and voice but with noise ,so his records some do not sound good and filled with noises ,it´s a new trend but today being very expensive to buy a good cartridge and needle i have to play there records in very good condition to not cause problems to the stylus, sorry for drifting away from the original matter here discussed, english is not my first language ,some errors might appear

 

[Al ears]

Cannot recall whether you got your P6 from a dealer or not but if you did it would be a good idea to let them have a look at the cartridge and indeed tonearm setup.
Which way to cartridge goes when it skips is a bit irrelevant, most modern cartridges should track slight warps with no issues.
What is important is to find out why it leaves the vinyl surface in the first place......
It cannot be the actual state of the vinyl pressing itself as you said the P2 had no issues playing the same LP. My money would be on the cartridge suspension or the tonearm bearings.
Try tracking with a 2 gram downforce and see what happens then.

 

[plastic penguin]

Never knew Rega turntables are so tricky to set the AS. Based on that and their styluses can't be replaced, I'm pleased to own a Pro-ject.

 

[Oxfordian]

Never knew Rega turntables are so tricky to set the AS. Based on that and their styluses can't be replaced, I'm pleased to own a Pro-ject.

I don't think that a Rega is hard to set up, I'm a hifi humpty and can manage okay, my P3 isn't as clear as it could be regards tracking weight and AS markings but you get there in the end.

My issue with my P3 is the need to add this 'spacer' for non Rega carts that don't share Rega's slimline look, I am really pleased that Ortofon now have the 2MR range available as an alternative choice.

 

[Revolutions]

Big update: the left channel died completely after I pushed the cartridge wires slightly to make sure they weren’t touching the vinyl.

Took it to the shop yesterday. Report came back a few hours later:

“The cartridge was faulty and worn the belt was also worn. I have cleaned the deck, the hub and your pulley as it all had belt residue on them ( black stuff from the belt ) and fitted a new drive belt.

The rear of your exact had a detached back panel and was worn so I removed it and checked the arm cabling for any issues the arm wiring is fine.”

Excited to get it back after this little adventure. Annoying that the cartridge was literally falling apart. I’ve gone for an Exact again because that sound just suits my setup & I like the laidback feel.

 

[Oxfordian]

Big update: the left channel died completely after I pushed the cartridge wires slightly to make sure they weren’t touching the vinyl.

Took it to the shop yesterday. Report came back a few hours later:

“The cartridge was faulty and worn the belt was also worn. I have cleaned the deck, the hub and your pulley as it all had belt residue on them ( black stuff from the belt ) and fitted a new drive belt.

The rear of your exact had a detached back panel and was worn so I removed it and checked the arm cabling for any issues the arm wiring is fine.”

Excited to get it back after this little adventure. Annoying that the cartridge was literally falling apart. I’ve gone for an Exact again because that sound just suits my setup & I like the laidback feel.

Sorry to hear that the combo has had a few issues but thankful that none are major. I am looking forward to finding out how the new Exact sounds once it has settled into the system.

 

[Revolutions]

Sorry to hear that the combo has had a few issues but thankful that none are major. I am looking forward to finding out how the new Exact sounds once it has settled into the system.

Thanks, but it’s part of the game & the risk I took buying 2nd hand. The dealer threw in fitting for free so was only refurbed cartridge + £15 for the belt. And I know it’s good for another 5 years now.

I’m sure once it’s settled in I’ll decide that the grass is greener with a different cartridge 😂

 

[Revolutions]

Picked up the turntable yesterday & it’s sounding great. The left channel sounds so loud & punchy after getting used to it being maybe 0.5 - 1db quieter😂

Spoke to the lovely gents in the shop about the Focal Vestia N2’s that were playing. I was surprised how good it sounded both times I was there. Mentioned that I’ve been toying with the idea of different speakers. They’re massive proponents of input quality. As 80% of my listening is vinyl, they suggested speakers might not be the difference I’m looking for, & explained how I might find an MC cartridge more effective for a ‘wow’ improvement.

long story short, think I’m going to visit next year with a budget in mind to do a mammoth demo recreating my amp & turntable setup. First to hear some different speakers (although they don’t stock MA speakers so I’m not sure how much I trust myself to really be able to compare). Then look at P6 with MC cart, then against a P8/P10/Linn Magik with a better cart etc. Hopefully I’ll be able to pinpoint where the biggest impact will be, and then get a good idea of where my cost/value ratio sits for improvements.

 

[Oxfordian]

Picked up the turntable yesterday & it’s sounding great. The left channel sounds so loud & punchy after getting used to it being maybe 0.5 - 1db quieter😂

Spoke to the lovely gents in the shop about the Focal Vestia N2’s that were playing. I was surprised how good it sounded both times I was there. Mentioned that I’ve been toying with the idea of different speakers. They’re massive proponents of input quality. As 80% of my listening is vinyl, they suggested speakers might not be the difference I’m looking for, & explained how I might find an MC cartridge more effective for a ‘wow’ improvement.

long story short, think I’m going to visit next year with a budget in mind to do a mammoth demo recreating my amp & turntable setup. First to hear some different speakers (although they don’t stock MA speakers so I’m not sure how much I trust myself to really be able to compare). Then look at P6 with MC cart, then against a P8/P10/Linn Magik with a better cart etc. Hopefully I’ll be able to pinpoint where the biggest impact will be, and then get a good idea of where my cost/value ratio sits for improvements.

Would you consider changing your P6 for one of those TT's mentioned or just to assess where you could end up at some point down the road?

I have similar aims for 2024 in upgrading my P3, my aim is to end up with my TT for life, I am not sure that the P3 is a TT that could be used with a good MC cartridge which is something I would like to explore. The P3 in my mind that it is an excellent partner for MM carts but others may disagree on my MC comment.

Locally I can access turntables from Rega, Project, Clearaudio, Michell, Vertere, T&A and Linn so have a good choice of source equipment just need to decide on budget. I am unlikely to change speakers but would consider a new Amp if it was necessary to get the most out of the new source and make those SCM 7's really sing.

I am looking forward to seeing how your adventures pan out during 2024.

 

[Al ears]

Would you consider changing your P6 for one of those TT's mentioned or just to assess where you could end up at some point down the road?

I have similar aims for 2024 in upgrading my P3, my aim is to end up with my TT for life, I am not sure that the P3 is a TT that could be used with a good MC cartridge which is something I would like to explore. The P3 in my mind that it is an excellent partner for MM carts but others may disagree on my MC comment.

Locally I can access turntables from Rega, Project, Clearaudio, Michell, Vertere, T&A and Linn so have a good choice of source equipment just need to decide on budget. I am unlikely to change speakers but would consider a new Amp if it was necessary to get the most out of the new source and make those SCM 7's really sing.

I am looking forward to seeing how your adventures pan out during 2024.

Don't know if any dealers in your area but I would certainly add anything by Origin Live to your list of turntables. Have a good one!

 

[Revolutions]

Would you consider changing your P6 for one of those TT's mentioned or just to assess where you could end up at some point down the road?

I have similar aims for 2024 in upgrading my P3, my aim is to end up with my TT for life, I am not sure that the P3 is a TT that could be used with a good MC cartridge which is something I would like to explore. The P3 in my mind that it is an excellent partner for MM carts but others may disagree on my MC comment.

Locally I can access turntables from Rega, Project, Clearaudio, Michell, Vertere, T&A and Linn so have a good choice of source equipment just need to decide on budget. I am unlikely to change speakers but would consider a new Amp if it was necessary to get the most out of the new source and make those SCM 7's really sing.

I am looking forward to seeing how your adventures pan out during 2024.

One of guys in the shop said that the factory fitted cartridge options are a good guide as to what they work well with. So P6 is the first turntable they recommend with MC.

I’m in a similar place - after finally stepping out of budget hifi in the last 2 years and seeing how quickly I get sucked into the upgrade vortex, I’d love to my a few changes & find my forever setup. (Well, if some big work projects come in next year.)

I was thinking if I’m looking at the £2k-£4k range for floorstanders, a P8 & Ania pro plus phono preamp. So if I fall in love with a turntable double that price, maybe a smart test could be MC cart & preamp to see if that gave me a noticeable benefit.

The risk of going for a demo is feeling guilty & splurging money for the sake of it 😶‍🌫️

Look forward to hearing about your adventures too!

 

[Revolutions]

Don't know if any dealers in your area but I would certainly add anything by Origin Live to your list of turntables. Have a good one!

Will do, thanks for the recommendation 😊

 

[Oxfordian]

Don't know if any dealers in your area but I would certainly add anything by Origin Live to your list of turntables. Have a good one!

I am interested in Origin Live, they seem to get a lot of positive feedback, there is a OL dealer listed for my area but when I mentioned getting a OL TT to them their eyes glazed over, they had no idea whether they dealt with OL or not. The alternative with OL is to order one, pay for it then I have a 30 day trial period with a full refund if unhappy.

On my list of possible TT is the Swift/Silver/Hana EH (or EL need to research which) combination, but yes definitely in consideration.

 

[Al ears]

I am interested in Origin Live, they seem to get a lot of positive feedback, there is a OL dealer listed for my area but when I mentioned getting a OL TT to them their eyes glazed over, they had no idea whether they dealt with OL or not. The alternative with OL is to order one, pay for it then I have a 30 day trial period with a full refund if unhappy.

On my list of possible TT is the Swift/Silver/Hana EH (or EL need to research which) combination, but yes definitely in consideration.

I would agree. Note that I personally have no time for high output moving coil cartridges, just don't see that they offer any benefit over a similarly priced moving magnet. The only benefit is they can be used into a standard MM phono input so don't require purchasing an external phono preamp. That said many inbuilt MM phono stages will not do the MC cartridge justice.
However, that's just me. Don't let me put you off auditioning whatever you can.

 

[Oxfordian]

One of guys in the shop said that the factory fitted cartridge options are a good guide as to what they work well with. So P6 is the first turntable they recommend with MC.

I’m in a similar place - after finally stepping out of budget hifi in the last 2 years and seeing how quickly I get sucked into the upgrade vortex, I’d love to my a few changes & find my forever setup. (Well, if some big work projects come in next year.)

I was thinking if I’m looking at the £2k-£4k range for floorstanders, a P8 & Ania pro plus phono preamp. So if I fall in love with a turntable double that price, maybe a smart test could be MC cart & preamp to see if that gave me a noticeable benefit.

The risk of going for a demo is feeling guilty & splurging money for the sake of it 😶‍🌫️

Look forward to hearing about your adventures too!

I think for me it's knowing that I can retrieve more detail out of the grooves that is driving me to improve my set-up, I don't have a big listening room so the small ATC's will be just fine for the immediate future, my other concern is the phono stage and system amplification and whether I need to re-visit those pieces of kit.

I'll post my adventures and outcomes.

 

[Oxfordian]

I would agree. Note that I personally have no time for high output moving coil cartridges, just don't see that they offer any benefit over a similarly priced moving magnet. The only benefit is they can be used into a standard MM phono input so don't require purchasing an external phono preamp. That said many inbuilt MM phono stages will not do the MC cartridge justice.
However, that's just me. Don't let me put you off auditioning whatever you can.

I've heard that a high output MC may not be the best way to spend my money so will probably go with a low output and source a good phono stage to make the most of my investment.

 

[Al ears]

I've heard that a high output MC may not be the best way to spend my money so will probably go with a low output and source a good phono stage to make the most of my investment.

Excellent decision!