[Chico Jim]

My thrift store find miracord tt sounds really good after lots of trial and error setting up th tonearm.  The cartridge is its original Shure M75 that received a new stylus.  It should track at .75-1.25g, yet it plays best at 2g.  This assumes the weight is actually that, since I’m in a city without any real audio stores, I just ordered a digital accurate to .001 gram scale just to give me some piece of mind and before I spin any new 180g’s.  Funny thing, there’s a couple of record stores, but either had a scale.  The only audio store probably does, however the owner wants full pop on everything

[Chico Jim]

Feeling dumb, I couldn’t figure out why so many Lps were skipping in the first and last tracks. I checked over and over the geometry of the tonearm, it is straight and all that.  Then it hit me, check to see if it was level?  It wasn’t, now that’s level, it plays perfectly and the light rumble at the end of an lp is now non existent 😉. I love this stuff so much😊

[richidoo]

The "levelness" of the tonearm is the VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle) adjustment, and it can have a huge effect on the sound. Even a couple degrees angle change can make a big difference with some cartridges. Good idea to start at level and experiment up and down from there. Glad it's working better for you! 

[Chico Jim]

I have a couple things in the mail to me to aid me, a scale so I actually know the tracking force, I have it down to 1.25g and seems to be happy there, but is that the actual weight.  The soundstage is correct so I believe the tonearm geometry is not an issue. 

Since I’m poor, my collection will consist mostly of bargain finds and I have a manual spin type cleaner also on the way.  I hope that will cure the skippers.  I’ve been able to save a few so far🙂

Making a pile of skippers to be the firsts to spin clean as a reference point. Those who don’t come clean will be candidates for toothpick surgeries

[Chico Jim]

I want to thank everyone who has given sage advice, support and allowing me to ramble a bit.  I’ve got my old new friend performing properly and now have a baseline to work from.  I am simply blown away on how tactile, nuanced and intimate vinyl is. It was 26 years ago when I went to CD’s.  They also sound wonderful, but can be too sterile. 

I’ve become pretty good at deep cleaning my $1.00 bin finds and some play like new, some will need more work.  It’s very satisfying to save them.  Sadly, I’m now addicted and semi-obsessed and already have plans for today to hunt some down today😏