slippery slidey compatability

[richardcooper2k]

i had been thinking about one of vics evolution (ladegaard) arms for a while and when the 'last orders' offer at £300 was made i bought one.

at home i have been using a origin live ultra kit tt with an origin live silver arm (pickering cart). i also had a garrard 401 in an mdf plinth on top of a bicycle inner tube under the bed upstairs. i asked vic to make the evo arm so i could use it on both

the arm arrived and i tryed to get it set up on the ol turntable but had problems. it has a suspended sub chassis which the arm also bolts on to. the evo arms centre of gravity is way off to the side of the mounting point which caused the sub chassis to tilt. i could have probably compensated for this by adjusting the suspension springs but when arm cradle moves in the slider on the evo arm the whole arms centre of gravity moves. so as the arm tracks accross the record the force on the sub chassis changes, it tilts and this changes the tracking force ( the arm is pulled accross by the needle in the record's groove but if the arm base isn't level then the arm will want to go downhill. i think i could have got it to track but the tracking force would always have varied unless i locked the suspended chassis in place ( which may have worked fine with the evo arm which doesn't transmit vibration as it is floating on air (i think this is more significant than it being a parallel tracker) so there would always be some compromise ( and we don't like that do we )

so what is a man to do ? he goes upstairs and dusts off the garrard. setup goes much more straightforward ( don't even need to lift up the turntable to attach the arm and no pesky suspension ) and sounds were heard

first impressions ( on a rough setup and a change of tt ). the sound is much more fluid and organic. more treble and less midband ( could be effected by alighnment )

the outcome of this was i ordered a basic slate deck. (don't think i need to explain my reasoning here).

[BOONDI]

Did you keep the Pickering on the evo???

Several of us who use it have found that it has a very organic, musical nature. However, the point...... What does it sound like in a slate deck, as most slaters seem to be using DL103's????

Paul Barker mentioned the Pickering in one of his posts after the Eggfest. When I asked him he simply replied that it was like a junior DL103.....

Please post your thoughts on the matter as soon as you get a good listen to your slate........

[richardcooper2k]

i'm afraid i havn't got/had much in the way of other carts to compare the pickering to but will pass comment on what happens when slate deck is introduced to the procedings. i only ordered it yesterday though. my previous cart was a goldring 1012gx i think. could try that again to compare and refresh my lost memoryof it. in the past, personaly i've noticed more difference between arms than carts or decks. hoping this is going to change when slate deck arrives !

in the meantime i have a couple of other issues to sort out. since i started trying to set up the garrard and evo arm i have been getting some mains buzz through the speakers. there's no earth wire from the arm at present so i think this is the first thing to try. it increases with volume

the other is that when i turn the volume above a certain level the music stops, cones start to flap and there is a squeeling noise despite the fact i don't keep pigs. feedback i think. got to have a play around to try to isolate it. going to try putting a bicycle inner tube under the tt plinth like i used to when i first built it. wish i had some spikes to try - there'll be some coming with slate deck. still happens when no signal is going to the speaker nearest the turntable ?

i didn't use the two plastic mounting bits for the pickering cartridge - this may be having an effect. have discussed the above with vic who was very helpful. he also thinks i should be able to get the cart to track on the ol deck, but for the moment i'm more interested in playing with the garrard

[richardcooper2k]

the plot thickens - i turned on the amps to warm up an hour ago and the woofers started flapping and the speakers were making a sound a bit like a bird tweeting. same noise as before but better described. this was before i tryed putting any music on. so i asume it is being caused by the arm/amp combo being unstable wrt oscillation. after a minute or two it stopped. i assume the problem is still going to occur when i turn the volume up but havn't tryed this yet as i have some other stuff i need to do today as well but will get back to it

does anyone have any theorys or suggestions as now it appears it is not to do with vibration. maybe an earth wire will help ?

[Clive]

Hi Richard,

I can't imagine how the arm could cause squealing but it can cause cones to flap, or as I've found pulsate. This is simply due to having the air pump turned up too high but this would only happen with a record playing.

[richardcooper2k]

the air pump wasn't switched on and the needle was off the record. i'm assuming its an electrical resonance rather than a mechanical one now, in the light of the latest symptoms

[Shane]

If the stylus isn't touching the record (or anything else) then that completely rules out any sort of mechanical or acoustical noise or feedback.

[richardcooper2k]

hum wise i have discovered it mostly disappears when i disconnect the garrard from the mains so i'll try earthing the garrard chassis

the oscillation still has me mystified. there is instability in the system for some reason. even with the needle off the record if i turn the volume up it starts to oscillate. one time one of my tj 300bs developed a red spot. you've never seen me move so fast as i dived for the off switch. doesn't seem to be any harm done luckily. could the wiring on the evo arm be acting as an ariel or something ? i'll try a different pre amp, tt and arm (one at a time)

[david counter]

the Garrard chassis should definitely be earthed,
there is a tag on it underneath for this purpose,

[richardcooper2k]

after reading marks kel84 post i tryed changing the interconnect from pre to tone arm. the result is now i can turn the volume higher before oscillations start.

innterconnect removed was an old ixos gamma. replaced by something black and really old !

can anyone explain this ? capacitance ? do i need a filter ?