Excellent post! Reading it inspired me to send my old Troika to Goldring for servicing. It also made me go through all the carts I have had in my system(s) over the years and the only 2 that I have loved were (my first love) Linn Karma and the Linn Troika. My original Karma was refurbished by another firm last year but it did not at all sound like before! I have also been though Arkiv (did not like), Arkiv B (impressed me), Akiva (impressed me even more) and now Kandid (sounds fantistic!). I also have a Dynavector XV-1t (close to love and deeply impressed in an ARO/SL/HC) and some EMTs (for my EMT 997 arm in Thorens TD124). The Troika will go to to the Second Home System with Ittok lv2.
@ Kuma- Have you tried the AT Art 1000?
Nope. I wish I could demo one, tho.
Unfortunately, my time with the Troika may be over. Yesterday, I bumped up the tracking weight and bias weight, per @kuma, and got the various setup parameters pretty much dead-on. The first record I played sounded great, the next one developed some distortion on vocals, and in general things started sounding weird.
This afternoon, I put on a record I played a lot using my previous Dynavector (“Texas Sun” by Khruangbin and Leon Bridges – highly recommended!), and at the first sign of serious bass, the Troika skipped halfway across the record. Bummer.
As you can see in the photo below, the cantilever is seriously deflected to the left (in a head-on view). Am I correct that it’s a lost cause?
@sweet.bippy,…You should have shorter cartridge screws,.they should not stick up above the nut.
This is,.so that you should not add more weight than necessary,at the front of the arm.
And yes,.it sounds better with shorter screws.
/Peder🙂
What a shame! I certainly wouldn’t risk damage to any of my records with that cartridge now. Is there any kind of guarantee still from the rebuild?
Oh dear.
Were you able to dress the tone arm wires to balance the azimuth? Was the cantilever off center like that when you get the cartridge? It is hard to judge from your photo because depends on an angle a cantilever looks like off center.
I never had a cartridge skipped on a record and I have played plenty of dance records. So wondering it might be a set up issue.
Bias should be at 1.75g as well as VTF. ( at least it’s a starting point )
Tho I don’t think this is the issue for skipping but have you adjusted the arm height?
Hi Kuma,
No, the cantilever was perfect when I got the cartridge – and the funny thing is that I really dialed in all the setup parameters when I increased the tracking (and bias) weight.
I took the Troika out of action and put the Dynavector back in. @marksnaim – I’ll check in with Goldring and see if they can advise on what the issue might be.
Here’s a pic of the Troika as I was removing it; if you zoom in, you can see that the cantilever is way off.
Yeah, that’s knackered for sure. Hugely disappointing I’m sure. Good luck with Goldring.
I run a Goldring rebuilt Troika though mine has a ruby cantilever and Gyger S stylus (it’s also black). I would disagree about using shorter screws on an Aro as this will reduce arm mass further and the Aro is already rather low in that regard.
I don’t think Goldring offers Ruby cantilever and Gyger stylus for Troika.
I contacted them just before the lock down for another rebuild, they did not offer me that as an option. Did you have to change a VTF for that?
BTW, do you have any recommendation for a headshell weight for an ARO?
I don’t use one for Troika but might be good for AT33 MONO.
Out of curiosity, what did Goldring say about this skewed cantilever?
Hi Kuma – hope you’re doing well! The folks at Goldring said I might have damaged the cantilever and if so, it wouldn’t be covered by the warranty. I’m going to send it back to them once they’re doing rebuilds again so they can check it out. I don’t think I damaged the cantilever while installing the cartridge, but I guess anything’s possible. As I noted above, the sound deteriorated while playing a few sides; you’d think that if I knocked the cantilever, things would have gone poorly from the off, rather than going off piste while a few records were playing.
–Joe
HI Joe,
Thanks for the updates.
I hope they can figure out what happened because the work I received from them were excellent.
I assume that they might have shut down the factory?
There was an email I sent them a few weeks ago and I have not heard back from them.
It was a while ago so they may not have this option currently.
I think my VTF is 1.85g
I don’t actually use my Aro currently as I have moved over to a Javelin which has a slightly higher mass as it uses titanium for the armtube rather than the aluminium of the Aro.
I do have a design for an Aro headshell weight but haven’t made any yet.
How are you liking a Javelin?
I asked my dealer to order one but I was told that the company folded. I’d reckon resonance frequency would vary between two arms if different material was used.
If you decide to make a few ARO headshell weight, do let me know!
I really rate the Javelin and it does a very good job of combining the best qualities of the Aro and the Ekos SE. However, as you say, TigerPaw no longer seems to exist.
I agree with the above. I remember describing it as “a really big Aro”.
Indeed, it retains the the delicacy and purity of tone that the Aro possesses whilst clothing the sound in a more muscular physique.
Thanks.
I didn’t think ARO lacked muscularity but tracking ability is an issue in a complex orchestral program. EKOS SE tracks but I still miss ARO’s alacrity in jazz material.
So sorry I did not get to listen to Javelin.