6 Reasons You Are Experiencing Turntable Distortion and How You Can Fix It (like overamplification)

Distortion can rear its ugly head in many forms when you're listening to your records. Sometimes it's in the form of crackling, wobbling, or sometimes, the sound just isn't as full as it should be. The good news is, there is often something that you can do about it. In this video, we will discuss six reasons that you may be hearing distortion from your vinyl records, and how to fix it.

0:00 Intro
0:17 Your stylus needs to be broken in
0:29 Your stylus is dirty
0:49 Static build-up on your record
1:19 Inner groove distortion
2:56 You have an off center pressing
3:49 Overamplification

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SUMMARY:

If your music sounds muffled, scratchy or harsh, it could be one of these reasons.

1. Your stylus has not been broken in. Like a speaker, a stylus has a break-in period. For the styli included with Fluance turntables. We recommend about 20 hours of listening.

2. Your stylus is dirty. Even new records can have dust and debris from the factory or little bits of paper that come off of the inner sleeve. Ensure that you've cleaned your stylus with the stylus brush and the records with an anti-static carbon fiber brush. Visually inspect the stylus to ensure it's straight and free of any debris.

3. You have static buildup on your records. As your records play, the friction between the stylus and the vinyl record can cause static buildup The static can attract dust, which causes that crackling sound. This is usually the case in dry environments or during the winter when the air is drier. An anti-static brush can be used before playback to remove the static charge from your records. There are also anti-static guns available to remove static without touching the record.

4. You're listening to inner groove distortion. To understand inner groove distortion, you have to consider the outer grooves. The ones on the outside of the record that contain the first song. The diameter of a 12 inch circle is about 37 inches. So if you took those grooves on the outer edge of the record and stretched them into a straight line, it would be about 37 inches long. Think of it like a slinky that is stretched all the way out.

Now consider the grooves that are closer to the inside of the record. The closer you get to the center, the shorter the groove is. For example, if you were to take the grooves right in the middle of the record where the diameter is about six inches and you stretch them out into a line, it would be about 18 inches long. The closer you get to the middle of the record, the less space there is for that sonic information. The grooves get tighter and the stylus has a harder time tracking them, especially in higher frequencies, which have tighter grooves.

5. You have an off center pressing. An off center pressing is when the hole in the middle of the record isn't in the middle of the record. The effect of this is that the music sounds like there's a speed or pitch change. You can tell if you have an off center pressing by looking at the stylus. If the stylus stays where it is, you don't have enough center pressing. But if the stylus moves left to right back and forth, then you have an off center pressing.

6. You're over amplifying. If your turntable has a built-in preamp like the RT80 or RT81, you may be over-amplifying the signal, causing distortion. To check if this is the case, check to see if your turntable is connected to the Phono input on your receiver. If it is, make sure that the Phono/Line connection on the back of your turntable is set to Phono. If it is set to line, then you have engaged the turntable's internal preamp, and the signal is being amplified twice. Once with the turntable's internal preamp, and then again with the Phono input on the receiver.