Hi all,
this is for me more out of curiosity than anything else, as I don’t really see it as a “problem”.
You might be familiar with the first song on Billie Eilish last album and its extreme bass. It sounds great to me from the vinyl but it really feels that it is driving the cartridge to its limit. The thing is that in my system, while sounding good, it generates some clicks, like if the record had a scratch, but it isn’t that because they are not regular and not always at the same time if you play the track twice.
I am really curious to know what is causing that. Is the stylus generating too much signal or something like that? Has anyone observed something similar in this or any other song with lots of bass?
I use a Pro-Ject X1 with a Pick it S2 MM cartridge (which I believe is an Ortofon red) with a Trigon Vanguard II/Volcano III phono stage
this is for me more out of curiosity than anything else, as I don’t really see it as a “problem”.
You might be familiar with the first song on Billie Eilish last album and its extreme bass. It sounds great to me from the vinyl but it really feels that it is driving the cartridge to its limit. The thing is that in my system, while sounding good, it generates some clicks, like if the record had a scratch, but it isn’t that because they are not regular and not always at the same time if you play the track twice.
I am really curious to know what is causing that. Is the stylus generating too much signal or something like that? Has anyone observed something similar in this or any other song with lots of bass?
I use a Pro-Ject X1 with a Pick it S2 MM cartridge (which I believe is an Ortofon red) with a Trigon Vanguard II/Volcano III phono stage
I did use a Project Debut Carbon DC with an Ortofon red in the past, and played a lot of dub and dubstep with a very heavy bass but never had the issue. Now i use a old Technics SL1500 with an AT-VM95EN cart and no issue neighter (but that technics is a much better turntable than the project). it could be static electricty on the record, it could be something in your chain, but it's not normal in any case. The biggest chance is static electricity on the record, and there are brushes and towels that can remove it that don't cost much (and they're also handy for dust). A cork turntable math can also resolve this.
Waxx made a good point , a carbon fibre brush is available for that but you have discounted that.
"Heavy bass passages"- you have a choice slight insipid instability in the amplification or worn needle or mistracking due to incorrect weight / cartridge positioning / arm tracking for lowest distortion /sideways adjustment of arm wrong to compensate for pull of record groove/ uneven arm smoothness over whole LP .
You see it can be many things on a mechanically operated music system /
Just tick off the ones that are okay to leave the possible fault .
By the way CM noise injection from the mains can cause problems .
If its none of those well somebody can add more .
"Heavy bass passages"- you have a choice slight insipid instability in the amplification or worn needle or mistracking due to incorrect weight / cartridge positioning / arm tracking for lowest distortion /sideways adjustment of arm wrong to compensate for pull of record groove/ uneven arm smoothness over whole LP .
You see it can be many things on a mechanically operated music system /
Just tick off the ones that are okay to leave the possible fault .
By the way CM noise injection from the mains can cause problems .
If its none of those well somebody can add more .
I use a carbon fiber brush every time before playing a side. I have ca. 2000 vinyl records (not specially bass intense music, just a bit of everything) and never observed such a fenomenon. I dont even consider it a problem, just seemed curious to me and wondered if someone experienced anything similar, that's all 
What duncan2 said, plus dirt in the groove. If it's not fixed in place it can be kicked up and fly into a different part of the groove. It can be picked up, temporarily attached to the stylus and then dropped elsewhere a few seconds later.
Most (all?) brushes won't get as deep into the grooves as a stylus does, and certainly won't apply as much force as a stylus. Generally, they're a surface clean, and the clicks we hear are from particles in the grooves.
There are plenty of high magnification photos showing 'clean' LPs grooves...
Most (all?) brushes won't get as deep into the grooves as a stylus does, and certainly won't apply as much force as a stylus. Generally, they're a surface clean, and the clicks we hear are from particles in the grooves.
There are plenty of high magnification photos showing 'clean' LPs grooves...