Tracking Trouble

[Corky]

I've, sorry we've, recently moved house to another rented place that has my hi fi in less that perfect circumstances. One outcome is that I am having trouble getting my Karat 17D3 in an RB300 to track properly.

I now have the down force up to max 2.2 grammes (using a Shure balance and moving the weight, not the knob/adjuster). Anti-skate is almost at the top. It's level - as far as I can tell and I'm getting some mistracking. Using a test disc seems to show it was initially on right channel. Some fiddling about later, it's now on both channels!

What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?

 

[YNMOAN]

Is the deck level? Are the cartridge wires definitely not making occasional slight contact with the record surface? Is the stylus definitely clean?

 

[A.N.]

your cart wasnt damaged in the move? have you checked alignment in the headshell?

 

[RobHolt]

Is the room temperature substantially different (cooler) in the new place?

 

[Corky]

Is the deck level? Are the cartridge wires definitely not making occasional slight contact with the record surface? Is the stylus definitely clean?

Thanks for your input.
Well, I think it's level but I'm using a standard (but small) spirit level so it's possible that it's not absolutely level in every direction.

I went right back to basics and checked everything from overhang and fixing to weight. I'll maybe have to look harder at the levelling just in case

 

[Corky]

Is the room temperature substantially different (cooler) in the new place?

Seems about the same - both central heating. It's a thought though as it's now sometimes getting sunlight whereas it wasn't before.

 

[Corky]

your cart wasnt damaged in the move? have you checked alignment in the headshell?

Well, I don't think so, I left the hi fi in situ for a week and moved it on my own just in case. I was v careful and packed the turntable properly in its original box but I guess it's a possibility that I can't rule out. I hope tat's not the reason though - it's less than a year old that cartridge

 

[YNMOAN]

As you know, the 17D3 has a very short cantilever (very stiff and delicate too) and a particularly fine stylus. My experience is that they are surprisingly adept at collecting muck from the record surface. Sometimes a little pad of fluff collects around the base of the stylus which may not be visible from a casual glance (particularly if the viewing angle is awkward). I would set the bias more like 1.5g.

The good news is that you can't bend the gemstone cantilever like you can on many cartridges - it will just break instead. As it isn't actually broken it's unlikely to be damaged (assuming the styli rides at the same angle to the record as it used to).

The stylus is definately still there isn't it?

The RB300 isn't sensitive to very fine level - if it's pretty close that won't be the issue (should be reasonably close though).

 

[Corky]

As you know, the 17D3 has a very short cantilever (very stiff and delicate too) and a particularly fine stylus. My experience is that they are surprisingly adept at collecting muck from the record surface. Sometimes a little pad of fluff collects around the base of the stylus which may not be visible from a casual glance (particularly if the viewing angle is awkward). I would set the bias more like 1.5g.

The good news is that you can't bend the gemstone cantilever like you can on many cartridges - it will just break instead. As it isn't actually broken it's unlikely to be damaged (assuming the styli rides at the same angle to the record as it used to).

The stylus is definately still there isn't it?

The RB300 isn't sensitive to very fine level - if it's pretty close that won't be the issue (should be reasonably close though).

Thanks for that YNMOAN, of all the basics I've re-looked at since this problem began, cleaning the cartridge a bit more thoroughly seems like the one I most likely could miss! I cleaned it but as it 'looked' pretty clean, I dismissed it as the cause and didn't get too enthusiastic. I have a slight horror of cleaning them anyway, so any excuse!

I'll give it a more thorough clean and see what happens.