Cartdridge damage! What am I doing wrong ??

lsegeorge

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Greetings to the Group!
I hope you are having a fantastic time.

Below are the pictures of the stylus from my 70 days old AT VM540ML. No more than 150 hours on the clock.

From the pictures is seems that the cantilever is bent with a left direction. My basic knowledge makes me suspect that this is the result of too much anti skating.

I am using a Project Debut Carbon and having followed the suggestions of my hifi retailer I used the same antiskating setting as the downforce measured in grams (anti skating 2nd notch, downforce 2 grams).

The plan is to replace the stylus or to upgrade the cartridge altogether! Before I do so though I would like to understand my mistake so I dont repeat it with the new stylus or cartridge

20230318_001610.jpg 20230318_001501.jpg 20230318_001408.jpg
 

Headcoat

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Just a thought, do you use one of the gel pads to remove dust from the stylus?

If so, it's quite possible - if you're not very careful when cleaning with a gel pad - that repeated use could cause this.

Took me a while but I realised over keen stylus cleaning with a gel pad was causing me stylus and associated record damage.

I now just use a carbon brush and no issues.

Another possibility is the stylus was always offset and you've just noticed it?

I think it's unlikely a little too much anti-skate would cause this.
 
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robbie010

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At such little use I would think that anti-skate alone may not be the issue, it could be a combination of issues.

What tonearm is it mounted on?

Do you use digital stylus scales to accurately set your VTF?

Is the turntable itself properly level?
 

rabski

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Anti skate setting the same as stylus downforce is about right. You could back it off a bit. Too much (or too little) anti skate will be evident in notable distortion. However... 2 gm anti skate should no way be capable of bending a cantilever or attacking the lever suspension to that extent.

The first possibility is accidental damage, either on your part or someone else when you weren't looking. For example, whacking the stylus against the edge of the LP when moving the tonearm. The second possibility is that it was actually misaligned from new and possibly you didn't notice, as you wouldn't have expected it. It's not unheard of to find a stylus/catridge with a misaligned cantilever. Third possibility is the suspension was faulty from new and it has shifted to one side.

That doesn't look too pretty, but it's actually not incredibly badly misaligned. If you set up the alignment using the cantilever rather than the cartridge body (so the cantliever is correctly aligned with whatever gauge you use, rather than the cartridge body) you may well find it sounds absolutely fine.
 

Headcoat

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ps regarding too much anti-skate the middle setting on pro-ject decks is usually for 1.5 to 2g vtf. the outer setting is for 2g and above vtf.

if you're tracking at 2g then the middle setting is - if above is true - unlikely to be too much anti-skate given the final of the three settings is recommended for 2g vtf and above.
 
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lsegeorge

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Many thanks all! These are all very useful!

Just to answer the questions

I only use a carbon brush for cleaning no gel pad.

The tone arm is the basic version of the project carbon.

From when I was installing the cartridge a couple of months back, I dont recall any alignment issues.

Accidental damage is a possibility as I had a couple of instances where I lowered the tonearm next to the record. I also had a couple of instances where the tonearm swinged freely towards the centre of the record.

Aligning the cantilever rather than the cartridge is something I could try. I need to admit that soundwise I have not noticed a huge deterioration.
 

lsegeorge

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ps regarding too much anti-skate the middle setting on pro-ject decks is usually for 1.5 to 2g vtf. the outer setting is for 2g and above vtf.

if you're tracking at 2g then the middle setting is - if above is true - unlikely to be too much anti-skate given the final of the three settings is recommended for 2g vtf and above.

Yes I was using the middle notch
 
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Headcoat

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Another thing to consider is you're using the carbon brush in the correct direction i.e. back to front. Brush from rear of tone arm forward. Other wise that could damage the cantilever/stylus.

You probably are but worth making sure.
 
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jbcortes

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I also don't think anti-skating would've damaged it over such a short period of time. It was either delivered that way (quite common) and you didn't notice, or it got damaged.
 
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JANDL100

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As others have said, it's not at all uncommon for stylii to be misaligned when new.

If you don't fancy returning it, and after 70 days you may not get a sympathetic reception, then (if any OCD tendencies don't interfere) my bet is if you just carry on using it there won't actually be any deterioration in the sound. I bet you haven't really noticed any at all. ;)

But longer term stylus wear might be an issue. Might be best to set it up with respect to the cantilever direction rather than the cartridge body, as previously suggested.
 
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bigrod

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As Rabski , Robbie and others have said 2g anti skate is unlikely to bend the cantilever ..I also doubt it would pass QC when it was made ..
 
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rabski

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It looks to be the suspension that is at fault, as the cantilever looks twisted rather than bent.
I did wonder, but looking carefully I think the relevant picture is taken at a slight angle, so it's hard to tell. The diamond may actually be properly vertical, but the cantilever slightly to one side.
 

lsegeorge

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Thank you all! This is all very useful.
Now its back on the TT doing its little dance on the grooves again. As some already suggested it sounds fine.

I recently received my Dynavector P75 mk4 so was thinking of trying an entry level MC cart in the near future (AT33ev or Denon dl103r or Hana sl etc), so although it makes total sense I will not mess with the alignment of the cart for now!

20230318_152619.jpg
20230318_152550.jpg
 
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Mr Kandid

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I wouldn’t it’s your records and your system but any doubt about the crucial contact would render that stylus useless.
 
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