Just ordered a Dynavector DV-17D3...

I dont think any amount of VTA adjustment would get the clearance on that mk3 down to our levels!! I sent the pics off here to my delaer and he has said he will send the cartridge back to Japan as he thinks it's not as it should be.

Meh - I 'll keep you all posted.

 

Funnily enough, mine seems to have sagged considerably in the few days I've had it - looking at it now it's much closer to the other pics on here! Maybe not quite, but a lot closer. The suspension must've been particularly stiff straight out of the factory?

I'll try and get a pic when I get the chance.

Beyond that, I think my original pics are a bit misleading - there's a bit of an optical illusion effect going on where it looks lower down to the record than it actually is. Have another look...

Dunc

 

The suspension loosens up over the first plays. I think you are running the cart far too heavy, though. I ran my DV17 at around 1.8gms.

 

I've tried 1.8g and it seems too top-heavy - it's much more balanced to my ears (and in my system) at 2.1g or so. Then again, maybe it has more running in to do...

Dunc

 

Mine seems very happy at 1.9g - at 1.8 there's a tiny bit of 'noise' on hard-struck notes on solo piano music. Bias setting's 'somewhere in the middle'. Don't find it makes a huge amount of difference tbh.

 

Well its gone back to the dealers. Last night it was skipping and I thought I had a arm bearing or bias problem but it was grounding on the record. i adjusted the vta to compensate until the arm was really way off parallel but it's still really low.
I have a 10X on loan which is not too shabby really.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Doesn't sound too good at all. Hope you get a satisfactory resolution to this.

Stuart.

 

Any comeback on this yet?

Evey time I look at mine I'm thinking 'Ooooh...that's surely not right' but it sounds fine. The bottom the cartridge body and its reflection in the lp are almost touching.

 

Well that's exactly my experience. I was lent a Dynavector 10X it's OK but sounds considerably worse than my 17 did so I've taken it off again.
Like I said it was actually touching specifically on a record where the label was a bit higher than the edges so on side A it touched but on side B it cleared!

I doubt I'll hear anything for a week or two but I'll be back with news. I ended up running to tonearm at about a 15 degree slope down to the cartridge to give some clearance, which I think is wrong.

 

Okay, that end-of-side distortion I mentioned earlier is definitely there and it's quite bad - and it's not just at the end of sides, just much worse at the end of sides... Basically no matter how I tweak it, I can't get it to track well at all. Tried different alignments (the HFN one and the Rega one that came with my arm produce quite different cart positions) but it seems to have little effect on the tracking.

I've also tried a wide range of tracking force settings to no avail. Changes the balance of the sound from bright, light, and toppy to dull, flat and ploddy, and everything in between. I have no trouble finding a balance that sounds great - apart from this tracking distortion...

I'm running out of ideas to try! Can anyone suggest anything else?

On the HFN test record it sails thru the first bias test track, but even the second one shows a slight bit of tracking distortion, and even with the bias set correctly it's still there, but in both channels equally! The third track really sets it off a-buzzin' in both channels, and the 4th track is totally out of the question.

I did notice that at present, the lateral resonance test track does show up a pretty pronounced resonance at about 14-15Hz, which is just inside the "safe" range (HFN disc says 8-15Hz is okay).

One thing that does concern me is that the distance from the spindle to the centre of the arm bearing is less than it should be - 217mm or so rather than the ideal 222-223mm. Not a big diff, but it's supposed to be important. As I say, there's a big difference in the carts position in the mounting slots when I align it using the HFN two-point protractor compared with using the Rega one-point one (the cart ends up much farther back in the slots using the Rega alignment tool - nearly as far back as it'll go), and I suspect this arm-spindle distance discrepancy has something to do with it.

I also had tracking issues with my previous cart, a Sumiko Blue Point, so I'm starting to wonder if maybe something's up with the arm or deck? Are there known problems that can manifest themselves in a deck, that can cause tracking distortion? Seems a little unlikely, but then turntables are such delicately balanced devices...

The only thing I can think of to try is to bring it in to the dealer's and try it in one of his decks and see if it's really the cart at fault. I'll see if I can do that this weekend, or possibly the next.

In the meantime I'm incredibly frustrated as part of the reason I bought this cart was to banish the niggles and problems with the old cart! Not to mention that I've plumped up 600 quid of my hard earned on this thing (no small amount for me - I'm only 25!) Plus, the overall sound quality is fantastic - just what I'm looking for... which makes it heartbreaking when the tracking distortion kicks in and spoils it...

Help...!

Dunc

 

Dunk. Not having the arm at the right pivot to spindle distance is going to potentially cause tracking issues yes, so its not helping. It will increase the amount of tracking distortion outside and between the null points on whatever protractor you used. 5mm is actually quite a lot.

That said, these cartridges just don't sound right to me. Cart suspensions loosen up sure, but physically sag? So's you can see it? Hmmm??

PS. Its definitely going to mess up your rega alignment protractor

 

Thanks Uncle, 'tis as I feared. I'll take the cart in to the dealer when I next get the chance, and see how it sounds in one of his decks.

I wonder if my Pink Triangle just has the wrong armboard for a Rega arm? It was bought 2nd hand, but it came with a Rega arm so I assumed it was the right board for it. Also, I believe PT decks were always designed with the Rega arms in mind - but it's certainly possible that my particular deck has a different arm board.

Maybe I'll try contacting Arthur Khoubessarian at Funk Firm about it...

Dunc

 

It shouldn't be too hard to find the correct pivot/spindle distance on the net and then measure it on your deck.

Duncan, what you hear might also be due to defective arm bearings. Take a good look/feel at your arm, is the bearing moving freely and very easily in all directions?

 

I have taken the opportunity to have a play with my arm mount while the cartridge is off the deck as I was having a bit of a problem with the arm clearing the arm clip at the beginning of a record. Suffice to say I think the mounting distance is absolutley fundemental to getting your cartridge tracking well. Because the arm mounting pod can be moved around on a NAS I've been able to use my Roksan arm protractor to set the distance and angles perfectly and that should now mean that the cartridge can be aligned to the headshell for almost perfect alignment witht he slots allowing the last nth of adjutment. I have very much learned something going through the process and by actually reading the instructions for my arm! (never had to when it was on the Xerxes)

You can get your arms details here http://www.vinylengine.com/tonearm_...r&ascdesc=ASC&type=1&pass=null&Search2=Search

I had to move my arm pod from the 1pm position to around 2.30pm in order for my arm to align correctly with the arm protractor so it's not just about distance IMHO.

 

Hi Markus, nice to hear from you! I've been a bit paranoid about the arm bearings from the beginning, as people say they're so fragile, but AFAICT my arm swings freely and smoothly in both axes. It was bought new about 2 years ago, and I've treated it well, so I don't think it's the culprit.

The pivot-spindle distance for Rega arms is 222/223mm (seems to be lack of consensus...), and I've roughly measured mine to be 217mm or so. I say roughly cos I haven't been arsed to remove the arm and measure it. But it's definitely shorter than it should be.

Dunc

 

Is the armboard rectangular? Might be fitted back to front. Its 222mm for a Rega.

 

Strange - I would've thought the arm's position relative to the spindle wouldn't matter as long as the distance was right? Surely any point on the circle whose radius is the correct arm-spindle distance would work equally well?

Dunc

 

Sorry to contradict, but its the same thing. If you loosen the arm pod on a Space, you can move it in or out or move it round. They both effectively do the same thing ie. change the spindle to pivot distance

 

Well, funnily enough this is what I suspected when I first got the deck, as flipping it round 90 degrees seems to position the arm hole more closely to the specified distance, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't get the thing to slot in this way, whereas as I've got it at the moment, it just slides right in nice 'n easy. Hence my supposition that it's the wrong sort of armboard.

Hmm. I guess I could have another go at jamming it in the other way round, but I don't think it will work. For one thing it has metal weights strategically positioned to balance the platter correctly on the suspension, and I suspect even if I could force the armboard round 90 degrees, the balance would be off. Doh!

Dunc

 

Duncan, bad news - you've caught the Edinburgh cartridge/tonearm dysfunctional virus. You probably picked it up from mine a few weeks ago.

My arm is now on its way back to SME for investigation, my symptoms are very similar.