Cart align

[gary f]

Hello

What are the consequences of a bad cartridge alignment on sound or on record wear.

By the way, I finally changed my old Philips 401 cartridge on my 312 turntable and installed (with much difficulty) a new Grado black, and the change is really good. The sound is more detailled and Real.

F

[audiobomber]

Originally posted by gary f
What are the consequences of a bad cartridge alignment on sound or on record wear.

The most noticeable problem will be end-of-side distortion, which will lead to permanent groove damage.

[AndrewT]

Hi,
there is distortion due to mistracking and distortion due to cutting angles not matching replay angles.
Mistracking damages the groove surface and can never be repaired.
Misalignment should not damage the groove but can be corrected by re-aligning.
End of side distortion is a form of misalignment.

[audiobomber]

Originally posted by AndrewT
Misalignment should not damage the groove but can be corrected by re-aligning.
End of side distortion is a form of misalignment.

IME misalignment will damage the groove after repeated plays. You run into this eventually if you buy second-hand records. On some used records the inner groove distortion is permanent and audible, even with a correctly aligned system.

A friend of mine had a very expensive Ortofon cartridge with a bent cantilever. Pretty soon the replacement cantilever was also bent, I checked his setup. He was setting the overhang by ear (i.e. without a gauge). I'm convinced that misalignment is what bent the cantilevers.

[AndrewT]

Hi,
any one else want to comment on groove damage due to misalignment?