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View Full Version : MMF-5 harshness (Goldring 1012GX)


Mephistopheles Jones
July 10th 03, 11:23 AM
Hey everyone, I'm looking for advice on what I think is called
"mistracking". I have a relatively new Music Hall MMF-5 which comes with
a Goldring 1012GX cartridge and Pro-ject tonearm. On loud orchestral
passages I always get a little static, some instability, and harshness,
especially in the higher frequencies. This is even with the volume turned
low. Increasing the tracking weight doesn't alleviate the problem,
either. I noticed my tonearm is a little high, so I used a thicker
homemade mat (felt circles arranged in concentric circles on paper). This
doesn't cure the problem, though, but I'm looking for other ideas. Do
others have the same problem with this turntable?

Also, where can I get a tool for adjusting the height of the arm? I know
about the two microscopic screws at the base, and according to the
Pro-ject instructions, an allen wrench is supposed to fit in them. Do
they make allen wrenches this small?

Lastly, does anyone else think the frequency balance of the Goldring
1012GX is just off? There seem to be gaps in certain ranges. Percussion
sounds incredibly nice, though, as well as piano on good recordings. Lower
brass instruments sound awesome too, but trumpets (playing loudly) can
give some of the aforementioned problems. Is the Goldring 1042 much
better, balance-wise?

Thanks for listening.

Meph

Arny Krueger
July 10th 03, 10:51 PM
"Mephistopheles Jones" > wrote in message

> Hey everyone, I'm looking for advice on what I think is called
> "mistracking". I have a relatively new Music Hall MMF-5 which comes
> with a Goldring 1012GX cartridge and Pro-ject tonearm. On loud
> orchestral passages I always get a little static, some instability,
> and harshness, especially in the higher frequencies.

Sounds like you're listening to a LP, right?

That would be called mistracking.

>This is even with the volume turned low. Increasing the tracking weight
doesn't
> alleviate the problem, either.

That would be called mistracking. The best tracking cartridges I've heard
come from Shure and Grado.

> I noticed my tonearm is a little
> high, so I used a thicker homemade mat (felt circles arranged in
> concentric circles on paper). This doesn't cure the problem, though,
> but I'm looking for other ideas. Do others have the same problem
> with this turntable?

How the fact that you can have this problem with just about with any
turntable?

> Also, where can I get a tool for adjusting the height of the arm? I
> know about the two microscopic screws at the base, and according to
> the Pro-ject instructions, an allen wrench is supposed to fit in
> them. Do they make allen wrenches this small?

http://www.cvfsupplycompany.com/25pcalwrenhe.html

> Lastly, does anyone else think the frequency balance of the Goldring
> 1012GX is just off? There seem to be gaps in certain ranges.
> Percussion sounds incredibly nice, though, as well as piano on good
> recordings. Lower brass instruments sound awesome too, but trumpets
> (playing loudly) can give some of the aforementioned problems. Is
> the Goldring 1042 much better, balance-wise?

The "aformentioned problem" is mistracking, not a frequency balance problem.

Same comments apply.