Technics SL-B300 possible needle cartridge issue?

[lini]

steigede: Well, you should at least use something like a carbon fibre brush for dry cleaning. But of course the crackling could just as well for example be caused by excessive static charge (which you could significantly reduce for example with a "zapper" like the Milty Zerostat) or by some form of contact/continuity problem.

Maybe you'd best first try a few of your crackling records on your dad's system: If these sound pretty much the same way there, but without the crackling, that would be a good hint that your problem isn't caused by a lack of cleaning.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

[steigede]

The static could be the issue. I moved away from my parents place a few years ago so trying it on my Dad's system isn't a possibility. The only time I've played the record in question was on my Dad's system though. I bought some new records coming in the mail and I'll try those. I guess I've only tried the one record so I'll try some other ones.

[steigede]

I closely watched the needle as the records were playing. It was hitting tiny hairs/pieces of the record sleeve. So that problem is fixed but a new one arose... At low volume parts of songs it sounds great. The moment the singer or the music gets loud and intense it sounds distorted and really bad. I at first thought it could just be the record/artist that intentionally put it on there, but it showed up on my other records too. I'm using this preamp http://www.amazon.com/Madisson-Preampli ... =pd_cp_e_2 and I have a tubeamp I built as the main amplifier. When the input the to tubeamp is plugged into an ipod or my tv, there is no issue. When it is plugged into the turntable preamp it has a very slight hum. I have the ground hooked up securely to the preamp with a washer and screw, so I ruled out that possibility. Any idea what it could be? could it be the poor quality needle? Could it be a bad ground wire? When the grounding wire is not connected, the hum is significantly louder, with it connected, you can barely hear it. I feel like this hum/distortion gets superimposed on the audio when the music gets loud. Any ideas?