My Gyro is so sensitive to change!

[I love my records]

Firstly, thanks to any previous posters for their help with setting up my Gyro and working the cause of the loss of bass after a cleaning frenzy last year.

Well...!!!

Today, I started playing with a Stevenson alignment gauge and after getting the setting 'bang on', tried to listen to music.

Now, for the last year it has sung like a bird...Only now, it sounds very clean, dare I say TOO CLEAN..??

For the goldring cartridge, I have previously set the weight at 2.4g, which I have been told is very high..but this gave deep, tight bass with a silky smooth and NON-DOMINANT treble..

Now, with the cartridge in perfect alignment, I've lost the 'sound' I once had.

I tried starting again from 1.7g and working up, finding 1.95g gave tuneful, tight bass but compared with the old sound, the higher frequencies were just a bit too much..Maybe the 'old' setting was not perfect, but it allowed hours of fatigue free listening..

Has anyone out there had a similar experience..

I just want tight, deep, tuneful bass, and the rest to be super-smooth and not too obvious.

Or am I just crazy?

Regards,

Dave.

[Richard]

Hi Dave

Using a cart outside of its recommended downforce range will cause the magnetic assembly to be out of alignment and may produce a different frequency response.

Perhaps the previously high tracking force was causing a loss of HF which balanced the rest of your system and restoring the HF from the cart has now shown the rest to be a little "toppy"? Or perhaps you are sensitive to treble and the new-found frequency range might be correct but may be a bit of a shock? I'd give yourself a few weeks to adjust and maybe try to get to hear some other systems for comparison.

Rich

[Bizzie]

Perhaps with the higher tracking force applied the cartridge is running very low on the suspension which would change the VTA giving the the same effect as lowering the back of the arm, that affects the relationship of bass to the higher frequencies.

You could try running at the recommended tracking force and altering the VTA up and down until it sounds OK.

Also how are you setting the tracking force do you use a gauge built into the arm, I found that when I used the gauge built into the arm of a Linn Basic LVV that it was set 1/2 gram too low compared to a shure balance gauge and sounded awfull and even that was low compared to the digital gauge I use now.

It is better to use too much VTF than not enough as more damage will be done to your vinyl by miss tracking caused by too low VTF than the excess wear of too high VTF.

[MMike]

Given all the changes you made could you have changed the VTA?
Running the cartridge at too high a VTA (nose-down when viewed from the side) will give a bass light bright sound. AS the VTA reduces the bass will firm and the cartridge come into balance, go too far and the bass will start to thicken and the treble dulls down. Just changing the tracking weight also has the effect of changing the VTA as well.

If you can set a good weight for secure tracking and then raise and lower the arm to get a feel for the change in sound.

If you dont have a a suitable arm that allows for easy setting of the arm height, try making a long thin wedge to fit under any rigid part of your arm, a pencil mark on the wedge should allow you to return to a setting and give a bit more control.

[I love my records]

Thanks to everybody for the helpful responses.

Richard, you were right...!!!

Listening to a similar setup confirmed that, as I also suspected, my previous setup with it's high tracking force was giving a bass heavy response that I had got used to...

I'm now back on 1.9g ish and I'm getting used to it, although I could swear it sounds marginally smoother every record??!! as if it is running the new angled stylus in???

I had to replace the 12mm armboard spacers with washers so as to adjust the VTA, the cartridge now runs very, very slightly tail down..

I'll give it a week before I report back...I now feel that my cheap speakers have a lot to answer for..I'm off to the Northern show, to hear the WD speakers...Just hope it's got super smooth treble..!!

Thanks once again for all your help,

Dave..

[Greg.]

Yes, slight tail down VTA is in my view right.

Best wishes,

Greg

[soulminer]

Originally Posted by I love my records

I had to replace the 12mm armboard spacers with washers so as to adjust the VTA, the cartridge now runs very, very slightly tail down..

Just out of curiosity, what tonearm are you using, that you have had to lower the armboard ??

Also, won't replacing the nylon spacers with washers effect the decoupling of the armboard from the sub-chassis (unless the washers are also nylon or another compliant material). I'm sure someone on the WAD BB complained about a magazine review in which a Gyro that had been tested against some other decks (using a hadcock I think), and these spacers had been removed. Maybe this is having an effect too.

[Greg.]

Hi Lee et al,

It was me that raised the issue about HFW using the Gyro with the armboard bolted down without decoupling spacers between the chassis and board to accommodate the Hadcock.

As standard, the spacers provided with the Gyro are too tall for some arms and in particular the Rega variety. A call to Michell on this and they'll rapidly dispatch a set of spacers that are cut down by 3mm and allow for accurate VTA adjustment. This is something they've not addressed at the time of order/purchase and as the issue is known to them, I think they should deal with it....infact, I'll be surprised if they now haven't. Anyway, that is the solution. Request a set of replacement spacers that are cut down by 3mm from standard.

Best wishes,

Greg

[I love my records]

Just took another washer out of the spacing. It was at 10mm, now 9mm, compared with the 12mm supplied..

Looks a little bit more tail down now, but the brightness has thankfully disappeared!!!! I'll play a few familiar LP's to check it out..

Thanks for all your help,

I'm sure I'll be back soon with other queries.!!
Regards,

Dave...

[I love my records]

Messing about now, because it is Sunday..

Down to 7mm and it rocks!!!

View from side is obviously tail down now..

I'm just about to get to the inner grooves of a 'difficult' album.

keep you informed,

thanks

Dave...