[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRobbStory /img/forum/go_quote.gif So far, I am VERY pleased with the quality, except anytime there's a long 'ssss' sound in a vocal, it distorts very badly.

That's a dead giveaway that the stylus is worn and needs replacing. A replacement cartridge/stylus should solve your problem.

I spent a while agonizing over the AT440MLa versus M97XE decision and settled on the AT440MLa. The AT440MLa uses a contemporary microline stylus, while the M97XE's elliptical stylus and cartridge design have roots in the '70s style of manufacture. Since the AT440MLa's stylus is so small, it can read deeper into the groove, past a lot of the accumulated dust and also beyond the areas where an old stylus might have caused groove wear.

 

[trains are bad]

M97eX+Technics SL1600=peanut butter and jelly.

Remember, with technics tables you don't need a cartridge alignment guage. If you are using the stock headshell, you just set the overhang from the headshell oring to the stylus to the correct value (I think it's 54mm) and make sure the cartridge is straight in the headshell. The turntables originally came with an overhang guage.

I think they are designed around geometry that is a little different than the ones on alignment guages because whenever I tried to get mine to work with a guage the cartridge ended up being mounted all funny, or running out of slot on the headshell.