Distortion, what causes it?

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Lathe noob
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:01 am

Distortion, what causes it?

Post: # 48611Unread post Lathe noob
Thu Nov 30, 2017 12:52 pm

I searched this site for what causes distortion and how to remedy it but did not find what I was looking for. I'm having a distortion issue that I have not had before.
I am using my shank diamond stylus and blanks as well as polycarbonate and ruby stylus, and use a heat lamp. I have been getting decent sounding disks, now I have distortion in the high end freqs out of nowhere.
I am using a rek o kut lathe and amp with a Grampian head and presto 1-d head. I have switched amps and heads, tried cutting at low volumes, used reversed riaa eq, checked the cutting path and continue to have this problem.
Can any one help this lowly lathe noob?
All the best.

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ilium
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:50 pm

Re: Distortion, what causes it?

Post: # 48613Unread post ilium
Thu Nov 30, 2017 1:14 pm

Have you eliminated the playback turntable as not being the problem?

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Lathe noob
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:01 am

Re: Distortion, what causes it?

Post: # 48621Unread post Lathe noob
Thu Nov 30, 2017 7:45 pm

"Have you eliminated the playback turntable as not being the problem?"

I have not. I did not consider the turntable would cause distortion. The tt is 16" pick drive, if I did determine the tt was the source, what could I do to remedy the issue?
What causes a turntable to cause distortion?
I have redundancies for most of my cutting gear but no second turntable.
Thank you for the insite.

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ilium
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:50 pm

Re: Distortion, what causes it?

Post: # 48622Unread post ilium
Thu Nov 30, 2017 8:27 pm

Lathe noob wrote:"Have you eliminated the playback turntable as not being the problem?"
I have redundancies for most of my cutting gear but no second turntable.
Do you have a lathe that you cut before you started noticing the problem?

If you play it on your turntable does it have the problem?

The stylus on turntables can break or wear out so that might explain the distortion.

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