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Help, I am STUMPED: observations regarding tracking ability Shure SC35C vs Pickering V-15 ACE-3

Equipment is a Lenco L75 deck with vintage Rek-0-Kut S120 stereo tonearm. All cartridges are aligned using two mirrored protractors, a laser pointer for guaranteed accuracy, and a Shure stylus force gauge.

Here are the facts:
1) Pickering V-15 with relatively new/NOS, genuine .03 x .08 elliptical stylus tracking at 2.75 grams sails right through all 3 Hi-Fi News Test Lp trackability bands on side 2 without buzzing. When playing a clean copies of various records pressed in the '80's, a fair amount of ugly-sounding sibilance is detected on the 's' sounds of vocals. To me, this sounds like mis-tracking.

2) 1 brand new Shure SC35C cartridge and 1 vintage, USA-made Shure SC35C with good, original, used genuine stylus(both .07 spherical, I think) tested, both tracking at 4 grams and also experimenting with 3 grams and 5 grams tracking force fail miserably on the test bands of the Hi-Fi News Test lp. Neither new or vintage Shure SC35C will play even the first band without buzzing loudly out of control...HOWEVER...both Shure SC35C cartridges sound clean and upon playing the same passages where sibilance is observed with the Pickering V15, there is no sibilance on the vocals with the Shure SC35C.

Now, what the hell is going on? Can somebody help me solve this mystery?

Possible solutions to explain the problem. One or more of these could be true:

1) The Shure SC35C is total garbage.

2) The Shure SC35C is a horrible mismatch for the Rek-O-Kut arm.

3) The Rek-O-Kut arm is total garbage or is broken even though it feels smooth as satin, tight, and friction-free.

4) The Pickering stylus is riding on a different portion of the groove than the Shure resulting in sibilant sounds on modern records because it's not accurately reading the information in the groove walls. It sounds like mis-tracking, but it's actually not and is safe to use as demonstrated by the Hi-Fi News Test lp.

5) The Shure SC35C, while not displaying overt evidence of poor performance in the form of sibilance, is actually tracking very badly as demonstrated by the test lp and therefore should not be used in this configuration.

6) other...


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Topic - Help, I am STUMPED: observations regarding tracking ability Shure SC35C vs Pickering V-15 ACE-3 - Mr Blue Sky 23:07:23 12/2/12 (13)

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