I was very fortunate to get a Troika / Aro / LP12 / Lingo in the late 1990’s. It’s the only system I’ve ever known. Purchasing it was a stroke of luck, helped by a hifi writer I knew - Tony Bolton who sadly died in 2015.
After finding Peter Swain’s Cymbiosis, I had the deck serviced / set up in 2016, with a few upgrades added (chassis and a lift arm). I use a Creek passive preamp into a Leak Stereo 20 and out to a pair of Kelly KT3 speakers. I’ve got a lovely big room with high ceilings which makes listening a joy.
The Troika has just been overhauled by Goldring (the standard rebuild) and after last nights first listen it’s even better than ever. It’s such an immersive and musical listen, very rich and weighty sound.
Q. One thing that happened when listening to one particular album could be related to tracking but I have no idea about adjusting such things.
I was listening to a Beck double album ‘Sea Change’, which is an immaculate pressing but now seems to have a pop happening about every 10-15 secs on all four sides. Is this a tracking issue? It’s not static either. I played other albums without any issue yesterday.
Mistracking tends to manifest by increased distortion, especially where the amplitude rises. If the rise is sudden and the cut is a high-level one you can get a crack or pop - was that the case in this instance?
I don’t think so - the sound is really smooth, so I’m really puzzled by this. I played 12 different records last night, ‘Sea Change’ was the only one popping. I played all four sides to check and all did the same thing.
If anything the surface noise on all records has notably reduced so this is a weird one.
I imagine you removed the arm wand to change the cartridge.
It would be better to check out the VTF stylus pressure as repairs to the cart might change its weight etc depending on what was changed.
I’d defo be looking at the album in question.
Might perhaps be a cantilever suspension issue? I had a similar issue with a Rega Apheta 3, which tracked and sounded as it should but made intermittent clicking sounds (not loud, but loud enough to be heard during quiet parts or between tracks). The clicking sound could be reproduced when - carefully! - pushing down on the arm/cartridge with the cartridge positioned in the groove between tracks and the platter not spinning. If you can reproduce the sound in this manner it’s most probably a suspension type issue.
That is due to the design of the Rega cartridge’s suspension…
To me, it sounds like a periodic static discharge as Richard has said already, and it appears only on one album! I’d be looking at anti-static inner sleeves unless you are using them already. Maybe getting a Zerostat gun or similar and having the album cleaned.
Are you sure it’s just one album 8bitBarry or is it much worse/more frequent pops with this particular album??
I had a problem with a Krystal years ago - Skeptikal will remember, and it manifested itself as a continual noise like analogue radio interstation hiss in his case. It turned out to be an internal body earth that had become loose within the Krystal. Maybe it could be something similar and the discharge occurs when sufficient charge has built up!? If so, Goldring can check.
Other possibles… What is the impedance of your Aro between the test points on the underside of the head-shell and the cup?? - Hopefully it’s less than 5 Ohms as otherwise this will degrade sound quality! The problem is that HQ don’t service them now
KR,
Yes I agree, the first answer is to play the record on another system, so I will do that. If there is something wrong with the vinyl, I am hard pushed to work out what on earth has damaged it. As soon as I noticed my Troika was going wrong, I stopped using it and got it rebuilt.
You have a new cartridge now. Weight of it and azimuth may well have changed, so keeping the “weights the same” is likely not actually keeping the weights the same.
I’d ask ESC as their rebuild likely wouldn’t just match the original for tracking weight (may or may not).
Azimuth you need to observe to set it. Some folks do it by checking on the platter without a mat, or using a small mirror (easier, IMO). The small bubble levels are often not very precise, so unless you know how to calibrate one I wouldn’t bother.
Usually about 1.75 for Troika unless they have set a different weight requirement.
As for azimuth it’s a unipivot arm so good luck changing that it should just float level.
I just think it’s weird he can change a cartridge removing the wand but not know how to balance and set up the arm.
It should always be done after being worked on.
Most of my albums have been cleaned ultrasonically with new anti static sleeves, but I do sometimes find one or two that stick to the mat when lifting side A. I can usually tell antistatic issues audibly, but this seems way more regular. The Beck album has been cleaned and sleeved. Anyway it won’t harm to do it again and report back.
I listened to around 8 sides of music last night and other than one or two known issues with scratches / pressings, the result with the Goldring Troika was very special.
I’m a bit confused about where to point the multimeter - when you say the ‘cup’ I’m not sure I understand. Could you elaborate please?
