Is my cantilever broken?

[morpha2]

A few weeks ago, I brought my old Dual TT to a local tech for some service, including installing a factory-new Ortofon OM10 cartridge. Yesterday, I played a 33rpm record and it sounded like it was playing at half speed. I looked closely, and the cartridge seemed to be riding directly on top of the disc. I tried playing another older record, and the sound improved, but again the cartridge seemed to be settled on top of the disc, and in fact I could hear a loud-ish scraping sound like the plastic of the cart was rubbing on the vinyl. Yikes!

I haven't fiddled with the tonearm or tracking force since the service/setup, so I don't think that could be it. The one incident that I've had is that my clumsy fingers struck the cartridge while lifting the tonearm, causing it to dislodge and fall to the table. This is what makes me wonder if I damaged the cantilever; however, after this incident, I reset the cartridge and played several more records without any of the issues that I described above...these have developed several days after my last TT use.

Anyway, long-story short, I'm wondering if I broke the stylus and if there's a way that I can be sure before I buy a replacement. Thanks.

[Blue Shadow]

You need to grab the manual for a dual turntable from the library and learn to set the tracking force and anti-skate. These are Owner's manuals so it is an adjustment that you should be able to handle. If your unit is not listed look at a few others and get one similar. Making these adjustments is fairly similar for a lot of turntables so many Dual OMs will be good guides.

Then you can actually look at your cartridge. If the cantilever looks good, straight and with the proper tracking force does not collapse allowing the cartridge to touch the record your unit should be ready to play.

There may be other issues but you have to go through the above to get things started.

[morpha2]

Thanks for your reply. To the best of my judgement, everything is set up per the TT and cart's recommendations.

I guess ultimately I don't know if the TT's tracking force gauge is totally accurate (as it is an old table), so I should probably get a VTF gauge to be sure. At 1.5g (the manufacturer's optimal force), the cart touches the record; when i back it off to 1g, it does not, but is very, very close to touching.

[P700DEE]

Your arm is not balanced ! At 0g the arm should float very slightly above any record. This should calibrate as zero. I've not had a Dual deck since 1983 so might remember wrong but I used to balance the arm so the arm just floated by turning the counter weight. Once balanced I turned the dial to read zero and then turned the counter weight to the correct tracking weight. If you want to do it properly as I do now buy a stylus balance like the Shure SFG-2

[morpha2]

I just ordered the Shure. So is the tracking force dial not reliable? If I'm understanding you correctly, after I balance the tonearm I should just leave the dial at 0 and set the VTF with the counterweight. Is that more accurate? Thx.

[Alec124c41]

Set the tracking force dial on the side of the arm to 0, and balance the arm so that it hovers.
Set the tracking force dial to 1.5.
This is where you start. If the cartridge drags, the cantilever suspension is questionable.

Cheers,
Alec

[morpha2]

Thank you all again for your input. After receiving my Shure gauge, I re-balanced the tonearm to the best of my ability (using Alec's instructions) and measured the tracking force. I hit 1.5g on the Shure after dialing the Dual's tracking force control back to a little over 1g.

The cart is still riding very, very low, but it is no longer audibly scraping on the record. Can I feel reasonably confident that the tracking force is where it should be?

Here are a few photos--I tried to get an angle that would show the clearance. I'm still a little paranoid about the stylus having been squished at some point in all this.

[lini]

Morpha: This is definitely too close. Seems like the cantilever suspension of the needle would have a problem (or the cantilever is bent upward), provided the arm was correctly balanced.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

[gg383]

Those pic's are NOT good looking!! You can google Ortofon OM 10 stylus and get ideas on the replacement cost for an original. Then you should call the guy that did the work and 'fess up on the situation, and have him inspect it again, ask him his price on the replacement stylus before you bring it in. It most likely was damaged when your finger got in the way of it and it fell off. Maybe he'll cut you a bit of a deal, and set it up again, to keep you coming back!! If you need to save face, you can always blame the wife or kids!!! Good Luck, Glenn.

[morpha2]

If you need to save face, you can always blame the wife or kids!!!

Haha great advice. Actually, if there's one positive about this situation it's that I now feel a little more empowered to troubleshoot my TT. Looks like a replacement OM10 stylus can be had for $35-40--I may just try to install and set it up on my own.

[gvasale]

The arm should not just float above the record surface, the arm should float parallel to the record surface. Then the tracking force adjustment is made. If that TT (not familiar with this model) changes records too, is there an adjustment to switch the arm for single or multiple play? It may just be normal with that particular cartridge, but I can't say for sure. It does look like a very tall assembly.

[Ldg]

Unfortunately, I've seen a few OM styli where the suspension has collapsed causing such problems with rake angle and clearance. And a very odd metallic grating noise sometimes too. I don't think there's anything to do to salvage the stylus, best to get a new stylus. Sometimes I wonder if the problem can be caused by accidentally overload whilst setting VTF in OMs, but once it happens I'm not aware of a fix other than a replacement stylus.

I've seen far worse than those pics, BTW !

HTH !