Why you need a Test Disc (for correct cartridge & turntable setup)
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
- In this video we explore the 4 main reasons why a test disc or test lp is fundamental to achieve perfect vinyl playback. Stay tuned!
Hi-Fi News Test LP (paid links):
(US): amzn.to/3nzoEZb
(UK): amzn.to/3nAQ4h9
(IT): Cercate su eBay, costa poco lì!
A good & cheap alternative - Speakers Corner Test Lp (paid links):
(UK): amzn.to/310j7mI
(IT): amzn.to/3EsgqZs
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#vinylcommunity #testdisc #turntablesetup - Hudba
I had a distortion issue in one channel on my new system. Well, no balance control like the good old days on my new hybrid tube amp. After some digging I found my Shure Obstacle Course record. This was a massive help so I cranked up the 1969 AR XA turntable again. The fact that it has a frequency recorded for left and right channels independently only, helped me find the distorted signal. Turns out it was the right channel. I had a bad brand new 4 week old replacement stylus for my Shure V15 III cartridge. I installed another new unused one. Played the test record again. This time the distortion was completely gone. Both channels clear as a bell. It has been fine every since. Without the test record I am not sure if I would have ever figured this out. It was making me crazy. Yes test records are a must in order to really hear how well your cartridge/stylus is tracking in my humble opinion. Test records are not something you will be reaching for very much unless you change cartridges a lot and just want to be 100% sure said cartridge is still tracking correctly after a cartridge change out. My test record was a lifesaver in my instance.
Thanks for sharing that!
Hi, thank you for this video. I've just got back into vinyl after probably 35 years. I love the sound and I suppose the whole ritual of playing a record. But most of all is that buzz of receiving a new album, takes me back to being a teenager when every purchase had to be thought about, I only had a little cash to spend on music so every purchase had to be thought about long and hard.
Welcome back!
Great advice! Your videos always have good, practical information!
Fantastic intro!!!!! You gave me a good laugh on a Friday night.
I bought this several years ago and I find it very helpful in getting the anti-skate tuned in.
Yeah!
A very good compliment to the HI FI News test record is the CBS LABS STR 100 test disc. You can use them almost interchangeably. Also a test disc with some different test checks on it is the Analog Productions - The Ultimate Analogue Test LP. From time to time I use one of these to check TT/arm/Cart setup.
Excellent intro. Made me chuckle.
Ottimo video Guido!!! Grazie a te ho comprato il tappetino della teac washi ....il migliore mai avuto,adesso vedo con questo vinile .grazie !!!!
Grande!!
Excellent, as usual. We need to verify theory with experiment!
I have the original disc you're describing and found it very useful. As for resonances, I discovered that both my vertical and horizontal resonances came in at 9 Hz without any break-up of the overriding background tone; in other words it was still tracking clean at those frequencies. As for the protractor disc, I found a very useful method for getting the stylus spot on those crosshairs located at the null points. First make sure that the turntable won't move (rotate) even the slightest amount. Then before putting the disc onto the platter, take a very sharp pick or needle and make small dimples on the disc at those 2 locations. Then with the protractor on the platter you can lower the cartridge onto the disc and see if the stylus falls into those two dimples. It's much easier to confirm alignment this way as seeing the stylus on the disc's crosshairs is not always easy to confirm. Just make sure you don't rotate the platter while the stylus is in one of those dimples.
Good idea!
Nice work. I have been wondering for some time if I needed to invest in one of those.
Thanks for this man. I have a Rega P6 with a Hana SL cart and the Anti-Skating on the Rega is kinda hard to get right. Just bought the Analogue Productions - Ultimate Analogue Test LP on Discogs, can't wait to try it out. Cheers
Nice one!
As a Rep at the time, I have an original RCA RVL1 Kouichi Sugiyama - Audio Symphony (Check Up Your Sounds Vol. 1). It was done by the lead engineer at the RCA/ JVC mastering lab in Japan. One of the top! It has a variety of tones, sweeps, blank track and surface, .... it comes with a 15 page book, all in Japanese! I have no idea what it says. But all the bands are useful! I've had it for almost 50 years and it's been played less than a dozen times! Only for fine ttble/ cart/ arm tuning.
Wow!
I use the Ortofon Test Disk No. 0002 (directcut) and it's also a great tool for those purposes. I would recommend that too.
Nice!
Ah - Italian! That explains some of your pronunciation. I think you do a very good job in explaining these adjustments. I’ve heard from a few people on the business that cantilevers and styli (especially the glued-on ones) are hardly ever situated correctly. Using a digital multimeter on the speaker leads is a cheap way to get the azimuth close.
Nice idea!
Very interesting video as usual. I now have all my cassette decks and my SACD player back from service / repair and am now poorer. Thinking of getting my reel to reel decks done ( they are basic ones only) but the cost is putting me off. I must pay more attention to my turntable set up as well. Bought my first Mercury Living Presence LP last week on the back of your video on the subject. Keep smiling now,
Good job!! It's a pain, for effort and the wallet...but it's rewarding and keeps the value up if you decide to upgrade!
@@anadialog - many thanks for your reply. Trouble is, I cannot seem to part with any of my audio ,( to my wife's dismay). Same for my music. Am having to rethink my house storage- wise to stop it taking over- such are the joys of our hobby. All the best now.
You may already be aware of this site, but their is a CZcams channel called Bigg Matt and this guy mainly repairs reel to reel decks and is excellent and has prices that won't break the bank. He is in Charlotte, N.C. and I intend to take my Akai GX-635D to him for repair, when I get a chance : )
Thanks
An absolute must have for setting up your turntable. I have been using mine since the 1970’s, you can also test your tracking to get it set just right rather than just using a digital scale. I am sure I have an earlier version of the same record picked up from a hifi show all those years ago.
Absolutely not a must have.
@@leon9021 why not?
@@tonyjedioftheforest1364 Because you can use plenty other tools to set up a cart correctly, you dont need a test disc at all and I would argue it can be a very misleading tool as well.
@@leon9021 I use them all then fine tune using my test record. It’s never let me down and have set up friends turntables using the same method.
@@tonyjedioftheforest1364 Too bad for them.
Good video :)
hi at last you are showing one i have some is i know the audio levels ref
set up to my tape decks test the pre amps as well full marks hear
If make a mistake on the polarity of the cables (red/black) will you get any sound from the speakers??
Hi Guido I have the Hi Fi News test disc. Thanks for the video.
Hey, Do you work on your reel to reels? I've been learning how to do the maintenance on my on my two reel to reels!
You speak very good English amico mio. I enjoyed your video and look to watch more of them.
i bought the Hi-Fi News LP last year from audio affair UK to replace my worn out Hi-Fi Sounds 72 Test Record it cost about £40 but was well worth the cost
I have a Rega Planar 2 (not the new model) so I can't adjust anti-skate. Would it still be worthwhile getting this test record if I can only adjust cartridge alignment and VTF?
A real allignment protractor remains the best solution, send cheapest (again excluding software). This is to fine tune. For the tracking force I recommend to follow the manufacturer indications, going near the maximum of that.
The test disc is very useful to verify the compliance of the cart+tonearm combo.
Interesting! I hope or is there a sample video how it works? Thanks!
Just play it on your turntable, that it. On the back you will find all the instructions for each track.
The Very Best reason for having a test record (or two ...or thirty)
is so you can pull it/them out and show people that you own one/several of them.
I have a couple of good test LPs I need to try using one of these days. I am curious though, what are your thoughts on using a blank record or video laser disc to check anti-skate?
That is also a good method for a good antiskating settibg, but to fine tune it along with the stylus tracking, no
Hi - I don’t think a blank record is a good way to set anti skating.
Reason is that the friction produced by the needle vibrating in the grove produces drag that will not be present on a blank record.
I'm using the HiFi News test record and have found that there's a tiny amount of distortion on the right channel that can't be eliminated with anti-skate adjustment. Which way should I be adjusting my cartridge to reduce that distortion more? Should I be angling the front of the cartridge more toward the spindle, or more toward the edge?
Impossible to say. It may not even be possible given your current situation.
We would need a lot more detail. My advice, forget about test discs if your music plays fine already.
If position can help, you must try to adjust the right channel, which is toward the edge, meaning that you should slightly, very slightly moment toward the spindle. In any case this may persist if we are talking about the very last track of the test disc...extremely hard to pass!
I keep putting it off, but by the end of this year, I’m going to get the Hi-Fi News disc. I have an older one that London Records put out in the 70’s but the grooveless section is completely shot and scratched up.
I (still) own one from ca. 30 years ago. It’s in the dutch language and titled ‘Hoe controleert u zelf uw stereo-apparatuur’ (How to check your audio equipement’) by Decca. I was wondering: are there audiocassettes like that?
@@arieraaphorst1998 Yes there are, for head azimuth, wow and flutter and speed adjustment. Very useful, I should get one.
Got a record with a grooveless side: sixth side of a 3 record registration of Bach’s Hohe Messe.
@@arieraaphorst1998 Is it a shellac 78 rpm record? If so one-sided ones are pretty common.
@@VinylComeback No 33 1/3 rpm. They could have used it for a cantatata or the Magnificat, but decided to leave it blanc LOL. The Hohe Messe takes 5 sides.
Thank you for this very informative video. Can anybody give me advice in purchasing a microscope to check the condition of my stylus? Which brand, the amount of enlargment etcetera. Thx!
Right here: czcams.com/video/21kt62BRNPo/video.htmlsi=eoyfhclLp4i2shbc
@@anadialog Thanks a lot! 👍
I have not had a lot of luck using test records to do adjustments. I cannot hear definitively the resonance frequency, nor any difference in the tones when testing anti-skating. I use the Hudson disc which has a blank side for anti-skating, but I’ve read that that is definitely not the way to do it. Unfortunately, I must not be good at doing “subtle”.😕
Sorry to hear that, I have only tried the one in the video and it is quite clear when something is off
Should my tone arm move outward if placed on blank vinyl before runout groove? In relation to anti skate
No it should stay firm, that is what the antiskate should be doing, compensating the centrifugal force
Some turntables such as Pro-ject come with an aligned pre-mounted cartridge. Do you need to perform this sort of a check & correction. Getting my turntable in 2 days. Thrilled.
I am sure you'll be fine. No need. Congrats!
@@anadialog thank you for the speedy response!!!
You are very welcome!
I've always wondered what nationality you were, now I know...a good old Italian audiophile, I'm a good old English audiophile, I guess you watched the England v Italy football match a few months back? Love your ON AIR sign at the back, I will be purchasing that test record £34, not too bad, great video 👍
Yup, my mother was American, that's my trick. Thx you are the first to say something about the sign!!
Thanks for video I have this record long time but uses for 2 options only
Would be nice to add reference tracks from this record for each measurements
Left right track # 1
Face check track #2
….
….
I know there is a description on the record but that’s why we are watching your videos
We cannot reed
😂
Where we can buy it? In amazon it doesnt ship to my country
Try eBay! Should be cheaper in some countries
Where do you find your prefer the anti skate? I would say anywhere between 1 g to 1.5 g what sort settings do you prefer
First I start with the manufacturer indications, then I use the test disc for accuracy
This is quite pointless to discuss.
1.5 on one TT may = 2.3 on another.
It also depends on the cart used, no useful info can be gathered here.
@@leon9021 that's not useful information, ok I'm not using lots of turntables but for the turntable I have at the given length of arm it's quite relevant cartridges doesn't make a lot of difference
@@anadialog can you give me some figures?
I don't understand this. Of course it changes, each tonearm, cart etc.is different, that is why with a disc you can use antiskating to finetune the cart performance.
I just did the tests with the HifiNews Analogue Test LP. Some tests were obvious but for some tests I wasn't sure what to listen for, and if what I heard was good or bad. Therefore I think it would be a good idea when you do a video where you play the test LP and give some explanation with every test. Just an idea.
Sorry about that! The HiFi News has extremely clear info on the back. I thought it was sufficient. If you have specific questions I am happy to answer them.
@@anadialog I'm struggling with the Bias setting (anti-skate). I get band 6 and 7 right, but not band 8. I keep hearing a buzzing sound. If I increase the anti-skating it keeps buzzing, when I decrease the anti-skating it keeps buzzing as well. So I don't know how to get it right for band 8.
@@AnthonyCandaele There are many factors at play.
The anti-skatings purpose is to distribute the tracking force equally on both groove walls.
Since you're unable to achieve proper tracking regardless of your anti-skating being increased or lowered, the answer is simple.
You have other misalignments making it impossible for your stylus to track both walls equally.
Perhaps your stylus is overly rotated in the arc it's supposed to track, making the stylus sit non-symetrically in the groove. Having too much, or too little overhang, will also result in non-symetry.
Also it could be Azimuth problems, eg; your stylus is tilted horizontally - again making it impossible for the stylus to sit firmly against the two groove walls in a symetric fashion.
Perhaps your tracking force is not optimal so you're not tracking very well causing the buzzing.
Only in a perfect world, where your stylus sits correctly in the groove, will the anti-skating test work.
You might also have a cheap cart that's simply unable to track it.
Instead of test LP's do yourself a favor and buy a BestTractor from MintLP
This one is custom made for your turntable, has a mirror, and extremely small null points that you can only see using magnification.
Here you will literally see the stylus make direct contact with a point so small you can't see it with the naked eye.
This will give your system a huge SQ boost. Test LP's are pointless.
is test record helps with speaker placement?
No, not really. I did a video on the subject though: czcams.com/video/EmXJqJ4QCt0/video.html
Ho letto in alcuni forum che questo disco non sia proprio il massimo come disco test (non ricordo però i consigliati)
Il mio è un pochino centrato male, da un disco test mi aspetterei la perfezione come centratura
Hai ragione, il mio non ha questo problema per fortuna.
Try the "Fozgometer"!
I haven't tried it but I read in several articles that it isn't very precise...what do you think?
What? Are you Italian? I thought you were American. Your accent is spotless. Great video
I am 50-50 but born and grew in Italy
Is setup the same for LPs and 45s?
Only 33.1/3rpm
@@anadialog So a different setup is needed for 45s?
Well, that is just a matter of speed. If you need to check the speed, yes, otherwise for all the rest, no, it's the same, no need.
A well recorded test record with a pink or white noise section should be very useful to find resonant peaks or to find if your cartridge or preamp is coloring the sound too much
True, there are various functions!
doesn't mean because your amplifier speakers are out-of-phase that's a bad thing! speak designers design their speakers to be out of phase and so do amplifier designers.
does that have vertical tracking capability that record? maybe you'd like to check out the ortofon it does have that ability to adjust vertical tracking perfectly
Inverted phase changes completele the sound...of course it has vertical
Don't see the need, personally. For alignment there are quality protractors. For proper anti skating, I use headphones. For dynamic compliance matching, I use my brain and experience. If your cantilever is bent (Most Audio Technica are, sold them for 15 years) buy better gear.
Happy to see you bring that up though, as few do. I see a hell of a lot of high compliance Ortofon cartridges on massive heavy S-shaped tone arms. Not a match, sorry. I see CZcams so called Audio Reviewers guilty of this left and right. I've even seen CZcams reviewers compare two cartidges sonically. One, an ideal match, the other a horrible match. Rarely do I see new gear with subsonic filters to make this more idiot proof. God knows we need idiot proof audio, especially vinyl playback, more now than ever.
Geo disc
Not at all. The first 2 seem quite redundant for a 40€ test disc.
3, there is no such thing as a correct anti skate. Different test disc also dont necessarily use the same level for their AS tests so how do we know which is correct? Again, none of them are since its a moving target.
4 may be the most useful aspect but you can just do this with math, you cant really change the compliance of a cart either so not much you can fix.
There are also many other uses, these are just a few. It also depends from the brand When you start using it you immediately understand the purpose and usefulness. I was skeptical for years. Forget setting antiskating, and change point of view. You want your cart to perform at its maximum, with these frequencies you can fine tune the groove reading, there is no correct level just some hard to track frequencies that allow to empirically understand what is going on. Antiskating helps. I disagree that compliance can be solved by math because manufacturers declare wrong or different specs and it is very hard to establish the real characteristics. In some cases they are not even public. Again, this is a practical way that IMO is quite helpful and with concrete results.
@@anadialog Yes there are other tests which I also do not like but these are some of the main ones as you said.
It can give you an idea, sure. But you dont to explain this much in the video, most will just assume to set their AS so there is no distortion on the test track, meaning they will probably overcompensate for 99% of the music they play.
Point taken on compliance, but at least the other tests allow you to change the outcome by adjusting settings. For compliance you can find out that your cart is a bad match, but you have almost no ability to change that.
I just watched your video - this could be a lot better if you actually demonstrated the use of a test album. I've been into vinyl now for a year - and honestly - most people talk conceptually without ever demonstrating. This is a good example of something that could benefit substantially from someone showing the method.
Mmmh...demonstrate or proof?
@@anadialog Demonstrate - tell me - how does anti-skate feature work on one of these test LPs? How do you adjust it while simultaneously playing the LP? I'm not picking with your video - I'm sure most people here YT just like to listen to people talk about this stuff. I'm actually a little more interested in HOW it works.
why do you show a card with 3 geometric symbols on it at the start and then act real creepy?
Eh eh eh...ever heard about Squid Game?
And if you can't figure out that your speakers are out of phase, may be no hope for you. Got bass? Probably not out of phase? No bass? Turn the balance all the way left. Got bass now? Speakers are out of phase. Not rocket science. No test disc needed.
Which one did you try?
Sorry but way too much bla bla bla for the basic info. You could hve explained String theory in lass time ( assuming ) you know what string theory is..
It's ironic that we are watching a video that is supposed to help us achieve better sound and yet the music in this video irritates the hell out of you. Its a video in which this guy talks and thats all there is in this video. You need that stupid music?
@ANA[DIA]LOG these videos of yours are so pedantic. Try shortening these down, dispense with the 2-minute lead-ins before you even get to your point. Stop yourself before you repeat every point.
I did in the past, everyone told me to go back to long videos. So I did!
@@anadialog I want it long and detailed ;-)