Soundsmith - cartridge maintenance

What are the causes of Sibilance?

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 19:59:47 +0000

Sibilance can be caused by many aspects of analog vinyl replay.

It is important to determine if the problem relates to a small amount of recordings, or many records, and the condition of those records. If it is only a few recordings, then sibilance is often casued by a bad recording, bad pressing, or damaged records. A NEW record, played ONCE with a worn stylus, WILL aquire sibilance. A poor pressing or a damaged record will absolutely result in sibilance, and since the amount of high frequency and the mastering process differs dramatically from one record to the next, it can be difficult to determine if sibilance is the result of the mastering, the recording, record condition, or the playback device.

ONLY If sibilance is detected on a broad range of recordings, then one can point to something other than the records themselves. Troubleshooting is always "divide and conquer" to get to the root problem. Sibilance is one of the more challenging things to solve for the novice. I will list the issues from the most common to the least:

Worn stylus/damaged stylus
Fouled stylus
Low end styli (conical)
Improper antiskating (PLEASE FOLLOW OUR INSTRUCTIONS - DO NOT USE A TEST RECORD)
Improper azimuth (far more critical as styli become more esoteric in shape)
Improper VTF
Bad tone arm bearings
Improper resonance (many causes, including tone arm, failed or badly engineered or damaged cartridge)
Very bad SRA

Item 1 - Requires inspection by someone with proper knowledge and optics. Badly worn styli will damage records with ONE PLAY and cause permanent sibilance on the record.

Item 2 - Mandates careful cleaning with isopropyl alcohol – especially for suspected badly fouled styli, or the Soundsmith OCL* stylus design

Item 3 - ….well, nothing to be done except replace cartridge. (Conical styli will have more at end of record)

Item 4 – Very common problem – please refer to Soundsmith website for proper setting

Item 5 – Very common cause with more esoteric styli - especially the Soundsmith OCL* stylus design. Major problem for arms that don’t have azimuth adjustment. If suspected, make MAJOR changes one direction and the other to rule azimuth in or out as the cause, (see website for how to change azimuth for arms that don’t have azimuth adjustment)

Item 6 – Easily measured, except that certain scales (electronic) can have very bad interaction with stray magnetic fields from certain cartridges. ALWAYS space the cartridge UP from the measuring platform with plastic box or the like (1” high min). Do not “undertrack” by using too low a VTF. MAKE CERTAIN that if you are measuring VTF on a tone arm that uses an underslung counterweight (like VPI) that you measure the VTF at the exact height of the platter PLUS one record thickness or you will get WRONG READINGS.

Item 7 – This happens far more often than one would like to realize – and very hard to test or “feel” play in bearings. Unipivots can have damaged bearings that are hard to see unless a microscope is used.

Item 8 – Hard to pin down, experiment with major mass loading to try to rule out cart/arm interaction

Item 9 – Set incorrectly when cart was installed, bad Stylus Rake Angle from factory, collapsed MC suspension, far too much VTF (sometimes caused by metal platter and MC carts being magnetically pulled down)

The challenging thing is that sibilance can be caused by one or MORE of the above items. Going through each one as best as one can often results in minimizing or elimination of sibilance.

The OCL styli design is used in the following Soundsmith designs: Hyperion, Helios, Sussurro, Mezzo, The Voice, Sotto Voce, Aida, and Norma.
The OCL stylus looks to be raked back by about 20 degrees, but that is the shaft of the stylus ONLY, and NOT the last facet on the bottom tip, which restores the angle to 2 degrees. This stylus has a flat back, and can tend to build up debris easily on its back surface, and should be cleaned via the Blue – Stik method described on our website on every play. Alcohol should be used ONLY when this cleaning process is suspect of not removing the debris. The Azimuth setting of this stylus design is very critical, as incorrect setting can result in sibilance and excessive groove noise.

Topic Tags

cartridge maintenance

Record Care

cartridge installation

Product or Service Category

Cartridges

Modified Cartridges

Tonearms

How do I clean the stylus? Do I use a wet cleaner each time, or often?

Peter — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 17:09:20 +0000

The short answer is NO!!!

A DRY soft brush is somewhere between good and “OK”, but it is far better is to use some DAP Bluestik* – this is the blue clay-like stuff you get in the stationery department. Use it just before or after every play. Either make a “pedestal” of just the right height, and place a small squashed ball of DAP Bluestik* on the pedestal at the right height so that you can use the cueing mechanism to allow the stylus to drop onto the fun tak. The other good option is to squash a small ball FLAT onto a quarter so that it is about half the thickness of the quarter. Then place THAT on the platter.

Then cue DOWN and up on the DAP Bluestik* several times. Be VERY care full not to DRAG the coin or turn the platter when the stylus is down on the fun-tak or you risk damaging the stylus or cartridge.

Do this several times, each time moving the DAP Bluestik* to a new spot when the stylus is raised, so that when it comes down it hits a new spot.

If you need to do this on a B&O table, make the pedestal JUST the right height so the DAP Bluestik* is JUST under the stylus position & push the arm down a tiny bit to have the stylus hit the DAP Bluestik* to allow the stylus to dig into the fun tak.

Using this method every record should eliminate the need to wet clean ever, BUT if this doesn’t cure a distortion problem due to debris build up, THEN either use the supplied brush and some RUBBING alcohol (70%, water 30% NO COLORING OR FRAGRANCE) and gently stroke the stylus back to front only. Only wet clean when the dry clean doesn’t work.

DO NOT WET CLEAN OFTEN - TO DO SO WILL POTENTIALLY CAUSE SEVERE DAMAGE TO THE STYLUS MOUNTING AND CAUSE THE DIAMOND TO COME OFF. USE THE ABOVE DAP Bluestik* METHOD.

If you don’t have a good VERY SOFT brush, purchase a WATERCOLOR brush with non-synthetic fibers, one that has bristles that are about 1/8” in cross section. CUT the bristles straight across with a small scissors, making them about 1/8” long. Break or cut off the wood handle so the brush is VERY SHORT, and has very little wood handle. This will minimize accidents and reduce jitter when handling and using.

*DAP Bluestik aka Fun Tak, Blu Tack, etc CLICK HERE

Also – we are vehemently against ultrasonic stylus cleaners. They will damage cartridges and void our warranty.

They are NOT NEEDED. They are very damaging. HORRIBLE invention for styli.

Pay VERY close attention to our anti-skating instructions, and cleaning methods.

To clean stylus –

Our OCL stylus (SG-6 in our Strain Gauge and OCL in other cartridge models)

To clean, get some BLU-TAK and press a thin layer out on a quarter or similar coin. Place on platter and cue down into it 3-4 times every play.

The OCL/SG-6 has a flat back and will tend to accumulate much more debris which will pile up and cake up on the back (polymerize too). The cleaning method above is good – but also do the wet clean below. (BTW – do NOT use the clear GEL cue down into them type cleaners – too aggressive and will snap cantilevers)

For a wet clean – do NOT buy stylus cleaner liquids. Some are dangerous for elastomers. Find a record you DON’T love, (Montovani is a good choice) and cut a 1” square of paper towel and wet it with ISOPROPYL (rubbing) alcohol. Place the square on the record and cue the stylus down for 2-3 minutes, then cue up and down a few times. You are done. Apologize to Montovani. Do about every 20-30 hours for the SG-6 and SG-5.

This will keep them spotless. I do NOT like wet cleaning often – so depending on condition of records, you will have to observe how often it is needed.

RECORD CLEANING:

DO NOT TALK towards your records. They are neither listening, not do they need a talking to. You need to listen to them. The reason is this: when you talk, you spit. Yes, even you. Fine drops. You cannot see them because the record is textured with grooves. When the stylus hits the dried spit, this GLUE then sticks to all the dirt and dust in the grooves. It only takes a few revolutions for this to happen, and so much debris can build up on the stylus, your will have worse than distortion – The stylus may not even track the record.

What do I suggest?? A record cleaner – It’s a MUST HAVE item for any record enthusiast. How much do you invest in one?? As much as you are able – the return will be many times its cost.

Cleaning your records well is the BEST investment you can make in protecting that great sound of your analog system.

Refers to

Hyperion

Sussurro mk II

Paua mk II

The Voice

Zephyr MK III

Mezzo

Topic Tags

cartridge maintenance

stylus cleaning

Product or Service Category

Cartridges