loosening the arm rest grub screw.
Another potential cause is headshell wires drooping
down and touching the record.
Allow burn in of wires
The sound of new arms and rewires will improve
significantly over the first 2 weeks as items “bed in” and
arm wires
burn in
.
Now that all the hard work is over you can settle back
and hear the results - we wish you many hours of
enjoyable music and rediscovering your record
collection.
CARTRIDGES EXPLAINED
Optional reading for less experienced users
General Notes
Origin Live offer most makes of hi-fi cartridge so we get
asked questions about various issues regarding set up
and care. To help newcomers to this area we have
published the following notes. These guidelines are of a
general nature - we publish them only to be of help and
although widely accepted they are not formally
authoritative - we cannot accept liability if you choose to
use them and neither do we encourage the time
consuming occupation of answering queries surrounding
the procedures outlined - these are best referred to the
manufacturer of your specific hi-fi cartridge.
For those new or inexperienced to fitting hi-fi cartridges
we would state that this is NOT difficult and much of the
detail and perfectionism outlined below is for those who
like to experiment. We ourselves do not normally check
azimuth, or vary tracking forces from the manufacturers
recommendations - neither would we worry if the arm
was up to 1mm away from the recommended distance
from the spindle - although all these details are audible
they are generally of a relatively low order, however
tracking force and VTA in particular are worth fine
tuning should you feel anything is lacking. If things
seem complicated we would encourage you not to be put
off as it all becomes clear once you get started.
Before fine tuning the set up as described below you
should allow the cartridge to “run in” properly - at least
40 hours for some cartridges.
Importance of set up
Hi-Fi cartridges travel like a bobsleigh through the
grooves of a record only a few thousandths of an inch
wide. You hear groove displacements of the order of a
few millionths of an inch. (That’s like splitting a hair
into one thousand pieces.) Every movement or vibration
at this level can be heard enormously amplified through
your speakers. For this reason it's good to set up the
turntable and arm correctly so that the audio cartridge
can do it’s job properly.
For example a turntable significantly out of level
can produce side forces on the pickup cartridge tip
that will wear it more on one side than the other as
well as have a slightly degrading effect on the wear
of your records.
Levelness
When a turntable goes out of level, the platter
bearing performance and the arm’s dynamics,
specifically anti-skate, are negatively affected. So
be sure your turntable platter and tonearm
mounting board are level - use a spirit level.
If the platter is out of level, first adjust the surface
that the deck stands on. The suspension (in the case
of a suspended sub-chassis design) may also need
levelling if it's subsided over time.
If the arm board is not level (which means the arm
pivot is not vertical), either return it to your dealer
for repair or re-level it yourself by shimming
between the mounting board and it’s support.
Cartridge alignment
Alignment for hi-fi cartridges needs to be
optimised in three different planes. The final
authority should always be your ears and preferably
over an extended period of listening.
Bear in mind that each record is cut slightly
differently so optimise for an overall balance of
good sound over a wide range of records.
The three alignment planes are as follows. (Please
note that it's the stylus, not the cartridge that is
being aligned.)
Lateral tracking angle
Viewed from above, the hi-fi cartridges arcing
movement across the record must maintain the
stylus in the same relation to the groove as that of
the cutting stylus’s straight-line tracking; this is
Lateral Tracking Angle, or Tangency. Apart from
linear tracking arms this is always a matter of the
best compromise.
Azimuth
Viewed from head on, the stylus must be
perpendicular in the groove so as not to favour one
groove wall, and therefore one channel, over the
other wall/channel; this is Azimuth.
Vertical tracking angle (VTA)
Viewed from the side, the stylus must sit correctly
in the groove, at the same angle as the original
cutter; this is Vertical Tracking/Stylus Rake Angle.
This alignment must be set by ear, even more than
is the case with the other adjustments.
Note that because record thickness varies, set the
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