I'm not sure if I have a problem....warped records, sensitive cart/needle?

yukbon

yukbon

Well-Known Member
So, a while back I upgraded from my old MM Ortofon 10e that came w/ my u-turn to the Ortofon quintet bronze MC (thanks @AnthonyI !) -- which is definitely an upgrade, a lot more responsive and I'm picking up a lot more than I was previously -- but I have noticed that it is a lot more sensitive to minor warps. The merest hint of a warp and the needle will skip a groove. I don't know if this is because of the cart itself or because I haven't adjusted the TT (Pioneer PLX 1000) properly or what. I've got the antiskate set to around 5ish (it's between 4 and 6, just a tiiiiny bit more towards 6) and the counterweight at 2.5. I tried adjusting the counterweight (on the theory that maybe it's too much and thus floating too easily and skipping thus. I found a pioneer FAQ that's aimed at DJs saying no counterweight necessary if the cart is less than 9.5 grams (here) and the bronze quintet itself weighs 9 grams but I assume that the arm and headshell have to be adjusted for, right? Of course it could just be the records are too warped and I'm just used to the greater margin for error provided by a less sensitive cart.

Any thoughts or guidance here would be appreciated.
 
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yukbon said:
So, a while back I upgraded from my old MM Ortofon 10e that came w/ my u-turn to the Ortofon quintet bronze MC (thanks @AnthonyI !) -- which is definitely an upgrade, a lot more responsive and I'm picking up a lot more than I was previously -- but I have noticed that it is a lot more sensitive to minor warps. The merest hint of a warp and the needle will skip a groove. I don't know if this is because of the cart itself or because I haven't adjusted the TT (Pioneer PLX 1000) properly or what. I've got the antiskate set to around 5ish (it's between 4 and 6, just a tiiiiny bit more towards 6) and the counterweight at 2.5. I tried adjusting the counterweight (on the theory that maybe it's too much and thus floating too easily and skipping thus. I found a pioneer FAQ that's aimed at DJs saying no counterweight necessary if the cart is less than 9.5 grams (here) and the bronze quintet itself weighs 9 grams but I assume that the arm and headshell have to be adjusted for, right? Of course it could just be the records are too warped and I'm just used to the greater margin for error provided by a less sensitive cart.

Any thoughts or guidance here would be appreciated.
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As @Yer Ol' Uncle D said, I would start from scratch. Start with leveling the table and then go from there, I did run the Quint with the additional weight on the PLX arm, I wouldn't go by what the counter weight dial says, measure your VTF with a scale if you can and I had it set to 2.3g. If the warp is severe, you're going to run into issues because the Quintet has such a low clearance.
 
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AnthonyI said:
If the warp is severe, you're going to run into issues because the Quintet has such a low clearance.
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I did notice that, so far that hasn't been an issue. I'm seriously considering a flattener just for this type of thing. I had a bunch of the prime day deals show up looking like sine waves but i figured ok, those are discount discs, you get what you pay for, what can you do etc etc, but I just had nick cave's "seven psalms" show up with the merest hint of a bump and the first track is essentially unlistenable (they're offering a 25% discount for my trouble, not sure it's worth it TBH).
 
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