For my 50th, the wife and youngest got me a turntable. I dug out LPs that have sat in boxes for literally 15 - 20 years in less than ideal conditions.

I've tried about a dozen, and all but one (which I seldom played) skipped within the first 15 seconds.

Tracking weight is within specs as is anti-skating. Turntable is Audio Technica AT-LP120BK-USB.

Are my records just toast after all these years?
Is there likely something wrong with the turntable?
Thoughts?

T@3

Are the records visibly warped such that the needle is being launched vertically into the air? Then of course increasing the needle force might do it.

If the records are not warped and the needle is skipping then that's a mystery. My suggestion is to try another 10 records. If you still have the problem then perhaps the records are contaminated with dirt, dust, and grit at the outer edge. I don't know the magic recipe for washing records but I will guess mild dish washing soap and a cloth and lukewarm water. Then rinse under lukewarm fresh water and then leave for an hour to dry,

Pressure on the needle? Too light?

Make sure that the tracking force and anti-skate is set up correctly on the arm.

If I'm not mistaken that turntable is typicaly suplied with a Green coloured AT95E cartridge ...which shud be set up with about 2gms of tracking force.
[Set the anti skate/bias to the same reading].

Check that the stylus itself does not look crooked and is free of visible fluff or dirt deposits.
A new stlus for that cartridge isn't expensive and iyt might be worth replacing it if all else is well.

Could you borrow the odd record that you know to be good playable condition, ....just to ensure that your records aren't simply clogged up with crap ?

Sometimes it helps tightening the anti-skate settings a bit more than what's supposed to be the correct settings.

Yeah .... increase the anti-skate a lil' ......... easy easy ....lil bit at a time ....



ROCKMAN

Clean the records. Could be crud stuck in the grooves

Well crud should get his ass outa the trenches and get straight back home .....



ROCKMAN

.... Get a SOTA with VPI .... and ya will be rockin' for life ....



ROCKMAN

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terraplane
Clean the records. Could be crud stuck in the grooves

VERY important. Go and spend a few (insert local currency) on a cleaning device. I use a sort of brush thing that has carbon fibre "bristles" - a clean makes a huge difference.

(I have a friend, now in LA, who has a vacuum cleaning device for his albums. Before and after play. Over the top? Possibly. But The Stones first (UK) album on one of those half speed masters sounds .. ahem .. impressive. I'd go on about how good Sgt Pepper sounds, but that's off topic).

--
Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan

I set one of these decks up for a friend and even though these are a plug in and play type deal, the cart was not aligned properly at all. The tracking was very poor.

I recommend downloading the stevenson alignment protractor from the site below and watching one of the many videos on youtube on how to set the deck up properly.
It should be fairly easy to do and well worth the effort.
These are decent decks for the money but you need to align the cart correctly to get good results.

[www.vinylengine.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-02-23 14:01 by mikehat.

If the above doesn't work try putting a coin on the tonearm.

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Rokyfan
If the above doesn't work try putting a coin on the tonearm.

That might have worked 50 years ago on your Dansette !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-02-23 16:56 by Spud.

Im not sure if it would help...
but if I was having this issue i would buy this box set... mostly for the Geodisc TAT
I am very optimistic this thing could solve all our problems...
I am not even sure what it is or what it does.... but I really really want one...
I just need to find a spare 8 grand... and I gave the TV away... and someone stole the money under the soap.

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Rockman


Record Collector 463 - February 2017