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It happened again last night. I'm playing my audiophile record of Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms." As you know this is a 45 rpm audiophile recording. I have played it many times with no problems of any sort. Suddenly last night it skips in two places on the second track. It has never skipped before. I do not abuse my records. I have never let the stylus skip across the surface. I have not dropped anything on it. When I play it, it is underneath my dust cover. Yet somehow something must have fallen into the groove and cemented itself in place.
I say "cemented" because I did everything I could do to clear out the obstruction:
1. I use the carbon fiber record brush-very hard.
2. I rewashed it in my Spin Clean with many turns (I had already washed it when it first arrived a couple years ago)
3. Finally, I pushed a toothpick into the fault groove as the record spun hoping to clear the groove. (This had worked on another record with the same problem)
None of this helped. I still have the skip in the same two places. My question for you is how on earth can a pristine, clean, unabused record spontaneously develop a skip?
Is it possible that there might have been a tiny bubble in the vinyl when it was made and that that bubble was finally breached thus putting divot in the groove? That's all I can think of.
Follow Ups:
look closely at the arm when it skips.....does the arm/cartridge vibrate seemingly without control??
OK. I looked very closely at the cartridge when it skips. There is no vibration at all. The stylus does not appear to be deflected either. Everything that I can see looks entirely stable.
What does this tell us?
observe the troubled spot in order to see if there really is an obstruction?
OK. I happen to own a real nice stereo microscope. Tomorrow I'm going to look very carefully at the suspicious grooves. Will let you know what I learn.
nt
Nothing. I saw nothing that looked like a flaw in a groove. I was looking right at the section that caused the skips and turned the record a full 360 degrees. I saw a couple of white threads in a groove but these moved very easily when I touched them with a toothpick. They would have been kicked out of the way by the stylus. I expected to see either a damaged groove or some sort of blockage to the groove. Nothing I saw looked like either.
I used 16X magnification which made the grooves quite large and easy to see. So the mystery continues.
nt
Actually this has happened on a couple of other records which played without a hitch until that one day when the skip suddenly appeared. Mark Baker of Origin Live tonearms suggested that maybe the record sleeve picked up some sort of contamination and carried it to the record. But I'm as careful with record sleeves as I am with records. I'm not laying them down on the kitchen table where there might be blobs of jam. I keep them with the record jacket right next to my equipment rack while a record is playing. Furthermore, how could contamination get on the inside of the record sleeve?
had a good suggestion for observing the tonearm at the skip location. Sure sounds like the tonearm hangs up for some reason and won't go further. Is the counterweight hitting anything at the skip point?
Page 12 of the instructions provides two items to check if the tonearm skips. Have you had a chance to read that yet?
Thanks for your suggestion. I took a look at the owner's manual. It advises that the curved armrest may be rubbing against the tonearm. However, it is well clear of the tonearm. The other suggestion is that the headshell wires might be touching the record surface; however, these too are well clear.
Furthermore I have recently been playing a lot of vinyl, including old and new records and have not experienced any skipping on any of them. This would indicate that the tonearm is functioning properly and that there really is a glitch on the record surface of "Brothers in Arms". Which brings me back to my original question of how on earth could a good record that I have played many times and never abused spontaneously pick up a groove flaw that cannot be cleaned out and which causes skipping? By the way, I'm the only one who ever touches my records so there's no one else to blame.
happened on a couple other records as well. That's why I thought it must be the tonearm.
I would have done the same as you with the microscope, so I am out of ideas.
Indeed I did mention skipping on a couple of other records that I thought were in fine condition. Well, they weren't as the skipping would occur at the same spot hence indicating a problem with the record itself rather than the tone arm. In short, the spontaneous appearance of skips has affected a few other records besides Brothers in Arms. Hence my bafflement at how a good record, well protected could pick up some sort of damage to the groove or crud in the groove sufficient to cause skipping. You're baffled, too. We're all baffled.
nt
when lowered.
Opus 33 1/3
This is a very good reminder because I have neglected to lower the tonearm lift many time in the past and experienced skipping. But I have learned my lesson and the tonearm lift was not involved in my recent skipping incidents. There's about two millimeters of clearance between the bottom of the tonearm and the top of the lift (Little Fwend).
VTF, VTA, Asmith, Alignment, Anti-Skate, etc...
Have there been any changes to the turntable setup? Is it level?
Did anyone bump into the turntable/rack that may have thrown alignment off?
It may help to know what you are using, turntable, tonearm, and cartridge. Not listed on your profile.
VTF, VTA, Asmith, Alignment, Anti-Skate, etc... All these were very carefully adjusted by my turntable expert who used a Feikert scale and also a computer
Have there been any changes to the turntable setup? Is it level?
Just checked with a bubble level. Absolutely level in all directions. No change to the turntable since my expert set it up.
Did anyone bump into the turntable/rack that may have thrown alignment off?
No. The rack is out of the way. No bumping.
It may help to know what you are using, turntable, tonearm, and cartridge. Not listed on your profile.
SOTA Sapphire, 37 years old but with new sapphire bearing, new springs, new motor, dampened platte—basically all moving parts no more than a year old. Brand new cartridge—Soundsmith "The Voice". Brand new tonearm: Origin Live Illustrious.
I did wonder if the tonearm was defective and not tracking properly but at three grand I'd hope it would not be flawed. Also, the mistracking is not random but occurs at specific points in the record with great consistency, suggesting the issue is the record itself.
Good reminders all.
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