Best upgrade for Debut III in terms of tracking?

[Hepokatti]

Hey.

I've owned a Debut III for a while now, and it seems like an okay budget table. However, what I dislike about it is the tracking which is far from satisfactory. Personally I'm not so much into the "rich bass" and all that, but what I want from my turntables is decent tracking without distortion.

I simply hate that my cheap and old Technics tables, even a lowly T4P SL-QD3, used to outperform Debut III easily in terms of tracking (and sound) with rather cheap cartridges.

I'm also planning to upgrade the platter soon enough (which I believe won't affect tracking), but as for cartridges go, I'm lost.

- Currently my Debut III has the stock OM5E cartridge. Upgrade to OM 20 stylus? Does this improve tracking a lot as the OM 20 stylus is still only elliptical? OM 30 seems too expensive for the moment considering I can get AT95E Shibata or AT440MLA cheaper, and I really don't mind AT sound - I think it's great ;D.
- I also have AT95E, which I could upgrade to have HE or Shibata stylus.
- AT440MLA since I've heard lot of good things about its tracking abilities
- Some other option?

As far as I'm concerned, these cartridges match the arm in terms of resonance quite well.

[jackfish]

The AT440MLa can track about any groove and can reduce/eliminate inner groove distortion on problem setups. For $150 wouldn't be a bad choice, may be better choices though.

[ighten]

The 5E is pretty poor tracking wise.. look to change the cartridge. I'm using a Grado Blue now after a pretty long testing session .. Transforms every record into music for me and tracks fine..

[Hepokatti]

Thanks for the suggestions. As I'm very skeptical towards "normal" elliptical styli I'm leaning towards AT440MLA based on comments I've read. However, I would still like to hear how OM 20 nude elliptical (or OM 30 fine line) styli track in comparison with the OM 5 - if someone has experience

The 5E is pretty poor tracking wise..

Yeah, I've noticed :p The funny thing is that as I said in my original post, my lowly Technics SL-QD3 used to track much better with the P-mount version of the same cartridge, although still far from perfect. My alignment, tracking force and azimuth are all fine with Debut, so I guess that plastic SL-QD3 just had something done very right.

The low end turntable business has so many sweet words, but the results to claim those words are still to be heard.

I'm using a Grado Blue now after a pretty long testing session .. Transforms every record into music for me and tracks fine..

I've heard about possible humming problems with Grado + Debut combinations, but then again, some people say there are none.

[ighten]

I get some hum if i turn it up to an un listenable 11.. Then again i get hum on every cartridge I have ever tried if I turn it up to 11.

Technically due to its lack of shielding its probably more likely to hum than any other but I think there's more to it than that including basics like your turntables position etc.

Like I always say.. try to find a dealer who has cartridge examples he is willing to let you demo at home on your system..

[Hepokatti]

Well.. my cartridge adventure stopped right on its starting tracks. I broke the tonearm wiring so that they are not repairable and need to be replaced.

I've changed few cartridges before but never faced wiring of such poor construct and unnecessary tightness from connectors. Of course it was mostly my own lack of patience too, but come on..

I wasn't happy with the table out of the box, and now I'm especially unhappy. I'll take it to the shop and ask if they can refund maybe 30% of the price and put it available for 2nd hand shoppers or something like that since I want to get rid of it now. I know the wiring's replaceable, but with this kinda table I just rather not have the trouble.

Thanks all for help tho!

Back to Technics.. ->

[ighten]

They are badly designed.. Oddly once you get them off the first time they are fine from then on as you loosen the ludicrous tightness. I think this is more of an issue on this table because of the factory fitted (misaligned when I checked mine) cartridge. I guess they designed it thinking you would only ever change the stylus as theirs no VTA adjustment but I don't know why because once you add a new cartridge it makes the turntable sing well above its price point.

Tip is to not pull the leads at all .. get hold of the connector with tweezer clamps and use something to lever the edge of the connector away from the body of the cartridge. Once you have levered it a micro amount it will then slide off.

[Hepokatti]

You may be very right about the VTA thing, and their idea behind not including that.

The maintenance estimate for complete tonearm wire replacement was between 66 and 93$. That sounded like an unnecessary investment for such table, so bye bye Debut III.

Shop refunded some amount and basically traded my unit for a nice pair of 2nd hand speakers, which I needed anyway. Not a big loss - part of the hobby

By the way, the new Debut Carbon looks like a serious improvement (and a replacement too I heard) over Debut III and with similar price; still no VTA, but carbon fiber tonearm, detachable RCA cable, OM10 cartridge, full size platter and improved motor damping. This is the standard Debut III should've been.