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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

It is a lucky thing for the leaders that the masses do not think--A Hitler

Send it back and ask your dealer to suggest a brand with better quality control. I'm like you in that I've never experienced this issue before, and wouldn't want to get used to it.

I've only been around regular carts, owning a string of shures, Audio Tech, and a couple of others, and have sold a bunch of carts to help out at Christmas, in my younger days. All passed basic cosmetic tests, and the ones I owned were inspected carefully for assembly correctness. Optical comparators are the best for this, but microscopes also do the job. A simple high powered glass will get you pretty far.
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Given that these are represented as high precision items, with costs to match, I would reject any that were not satisfactory upon inspection. Perhaps discussing your expectations with your dealer before selecting a product would be a productive way to go. Perhaps your dealer would offer a more suitable selection knowing that you actually care and check to see what you get for your hard earned money. Or perhaps he might invest in your happiness by checking the product he sends you. A dealer in expensive carts should probably have a microscope or suitable inspection equipment.

The fact that some companies build shoddy stuff and charge 12 prices for it, does not make it an acceptable practice, unless you want it to be. I have heard that Ortofon is affordable, to it's credit.

Find a brand that cares about build quality, or go along with the Hi Fi mumbo jumbo that passes for clear thought in some circles.

Obviously these carts are not designed with twisted or crooked parts, or to mount up off center. The fact that they are presented to you, the consumer, with deviations from the build plan can be expected at lower price points.

But the parts are not really what you are buying, it is the assembly of the parts. The amount spent on parts is probably not very great compared to the cost of the final product.

If the stuff you can see is sub par, what about the tiny stuff that makes the music? How good is that going to be? Would you buy a car with crooked bumpers? You would think that the lack of effort on that simple item might indicate a consistant lack of care in the building of the car. Yet a lot of people by carts with visable flaws because the dealer tels them they are all like that and it is ok. While truely, they might all be like that , it is not ok for my money, following the simple logic used above.



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