P2 With Bias 2, Gritty And Sibilant Sound.

[machinegreen]

Hi folks, I'm totally new to the world of high-endish turntables, so forgive me if I doing this all wrong.

I managed to get a good deal on a still-new-in-the-box P2 with Bias 2 cartridge. I wanted to get the best sound possible, so I invested in cleaners, a MoFi Geo-Disc for cartridge alignment, a stylus force gauge, level, etc...

I got everything set up to perfection, and started checking out some records through a MusicHall preamp and a generic headphone amp that's served me well through the years. What I was greeted with was a sometimes detailed and revealing sound, but overall what I'd describe as gritty and sibilant. "S" sounds overwhelm the mix, and the distortion on inner grooves is pronounced, almost unbearable.

I have a gut feeling that the Bias 2 is bringing the whole system down here. Any experiences with what I'm going through?

[safe1]

I'd try these 2 things:

- Set anti-skating to 0
- Align with the Baerwald protractor you can find in the library on this forum.

If things don't get better, I'd suspect the Bias is probably guilty. BUT,
to be honest i never heard a Bias cart.

P.S. Consider a 2M Red. It sings like a bird and it's not expensive.

[machinegreen]

Hey, thanks for the suggestions. I've tried setting the anti-skating anywhere between 0 and 1.5, with minimal results there. I wound up leaving it a touch over zero where there seemed to be a sweet spot.

As for the protractor, from what I understand, the Geo-Disc is based on the Baerwald geometry. I know the cartridge sits about 3mm forward as compared to the Rega protractor. I'm seriously considering an AT150MLX at this point after everything I've been reading about its tracking ability.

[machinegreen]

Here's an update on this thread. I got an Audio Technica 440MLa cartridge, and all of the problems that I was having with the sound disappeared. It couldn't have been more of a night-and-day difference.

I set up both cartridges with the Baerwald protractor and a HiFi News test record, and the Bias 2 absolutely choked on anything but the most forgiving records. The AT440MLa cruises through the inner grooves and picks up only the music. The inner groove distortion is just gone.