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I have a couple of Ortofon cartridges (Concorde & Super OM) sharing the same tired stylus 20. I'm debating whether a straight replacement with another elliptical or an upgrade to the fine line stylus 30 is in order. Many of the reviews on the vendor sites praise the fine-line shape as having reduced surface noise i.e. clicks and pops.
(Not to be rude, but please don't post 14 responses warning how important VTA adjustment is with fine line shapes, I'm already aware of this requirement. Just interested in the noise factor please.)
Thanks
ljb
Follow Ups:
Were you ever disatisfied with your Sty20 for surface noise when it was fresh? It depends very much on the condition of the records and the pressing quality as to how much surface noise you pick up. The STy30 is not very long as far as contact lines go (40um bearing radius) so it is conceivable that you might not experience a signficant difference in background swoosh and it will also depend on your geometric alignment accuracy. The main reason why people say that you DO get reduced surface noise is because you are likely contacting a fresh undamaged portion of the groove. Other than that, the surface noise will be dictated by the vinyl purity and pressing quality. Coloured vinyl and picture discs will be noisier anyway.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
I can speak from big time experience on this one. I have always had issue with surface noise being played back with extra gusto in my system versus the same LP on other systems, some with my cartridge. I have kind of a perfect storm effect as a combo btwn. my preamp-spkrs-room. I couldn't get much of an improvement no matter what I did and the 3 things mentioned were the only things that hadn't changed. My biggest improvement came when I went from using a older Benz FG stylus to the newer Benz MR stylus. It made a big difference, so if the ticks and pops are getting you down go for a finer profile.
Keep in mind that the line contact type stylus may ride lower but thats not always a fix. It depends on where the groove damage or dirt resides. An elliptical or conical stylus may make some records sound better than a line contact depending on where the problems lies in the groove.
Sometimes riding lower in the groove helps and sometimes riding higher fixes the issue. There is no single solution for everything.
Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
The alignment etc can help or hurt, but I've never had a situation where I played a record with an exotic stylus cut (eg., Shure v15xMR), then switched the headshell and played it with a simple conical (e.g., Denon 103 or Shure M35c), and thought to myself, "holy cow, what a night and day difference!" Same thing with styli in a line - I have am OM Super, and the 10 and 30 styluses don't make much of a difference at all in noise/clicks & pops. I don't spend huge $$$ on carts, so maybe one of the $1k-plus crowd has done that and can report such differences.
The differences I *have* found between stylus shapes are more subtle, and definitely worth pursuing, but (again), in my experience, that kind of shocking difference is something that has eluded me.
The biggest difference I've found is alignment, grounding of the arm and table, and of course, cleaning the disc and avoiding static-y handling practices.
I'm sure the configuration of the stylus itself has a great deal to do with reduction in surface noise. The turntable/tonearm combination seems to have an influence as well.
My previous turntable was a restored Technics SL-1600 with an Ortofon 2M Blue cart. I replaced the Technics with a Project Debut Carbon and kept the 2M Blue. The reduction in surface noise was noticeable. And of course, clean records are essential.
As for ticks and pops on the record, I would examine the record surface with a magnifying glass to see what's causing the noise. In my experience, most of the lone ticks and pops are caused by debris on the record. They usually can be removed by careful cleaning with a wet solution and a small, relatively stiff brush. Sometimes it's an actual flaw in the record. Obviously and that, along with scratches, cannot be removed.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
effectively "under" areas damaged by other styli, resulting in less surface noise. On the other side, these styli are more sensitive to VTA/SRA and require more care in alignment.
Opus 33 1/3
this is why "people" say that the at44MLs were bright. a simple change in vtf proved that to be wrong at a friend's house (i changed it).
...regards...tr
settings. But beyond that, the cartridge was rather sterile and uninvolving, despite doing all of the audiophile tricks quite well. I thought the lowly AT-95E was/is a far more enjoyable cartridge.
Opus 33 1/3
let's chalk that up to unit to unit variability.
...regards...tr
Opus 33 1/3
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