Why does the last track of a lp sound distorded ?

[neonlights]

I know this is an old thread, and I'm not anywhere near audiophile-level expertise, but I recently managed to solve my own problem with inner groove distortion, which I'd pretty much tolerated as an analogue annoyance. Being relatively new to vinyl though, I've never really been able to find a way around it until now.

Some three years ago, I got a Shure M97 cartridge, thinking that would solve the problem. It was universally praised, and supposedly the next best thing to the discontinued Shure V15VxMR. Although it was an improvement from the ones I had before, it never really tracked the inner grooves as well as I'd hoped. Recently I got sick and tired of it, hearing other people's rips of the some of the same albums I had also ripped, with no distortion, where mine had tons. I ended up taking a chance based on one review on another site and ended up buying an Audio Technica AT440MLa. I got it yesterday and I can't believe how much the distortion (at least to my ears) has been reduced, to the point where it even seems non existent on the overwhelming majority of records I've tried, many which the Shure had a hard time tracking. As a result, I've sacrificed a good amount of sleep and have been luxuriating myself in my vinyl all night ... Anyway, I had paid around the same price (around $100 USD) for the Audio Technica as I did for the Shure three years back, so consider this a good low cost alternative for anyone looking for a solution..

[canadiantire]

Audio Technica AT440MLa is what I ended up using.

When properly installed, weighted and tracked, it does a decent job on my already worn vinyl records.

I am not a big spender when it comes to audio gear so the Audio Technica along with the Shure V15 were the two manufacturers that were in my target at the time.

Since I had poor results with other models of Shure (lower range of models), I decided to go with Audio Technica which always "delivered" the promise.

Still, I read good reviews on the Shure cartridges. I reserve it for my next purchase...


- Marcus

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by canadiantire

Still, I read good reviews on the Shure cartridges. I reserve it for my next purchase...

Shure's V15 is no longer in production. The M97 isn't nearly as good.

I switched to an Audio Technica AT150MLX a few months ago. Much brighter (sometimes too much), tracks as well as the Shure, and has much better channel separation. I miss the brush though... that really helped cut down the rumble and helped a lot with warped records.

[Westwood]

Hey guys and Graham ;) I have just posted a thread with a similar problem, can you take a look? I haven't read anythign that applies to my turntable here btw but reading this was very enlightening.