New needle and/or cartridge for Technics SL-BD22D Options

[jamie_P84]

We have a Technics SL-BD22D turntable, originally manufactured in 1998 and still with its original Technics P34 needle and cartridge (T4P standard).
I'd like to replace the needle and/or cartridge. The deck is factory adjusted for tracking force and anti-skating of 1.25

Which new needle and/or cartridge would be most suitable?

Thanks
jamie.

This post has been edited by jamie_P84: Jan 25 2011, 21:11

[ramicio]

The distortion I was talking about isn't because of being mastered in the digital domain, it's because no one can master an album nicely anymore, for digital, much less a medium that has physical limits to consider. And musical "artists" are mostly idiots anymore who can't even sing, so they get close to the mic so they don't have to sing loud.

The only thing to adjust on a p-mount is tracking force. There is nothing else needs to be adjusted because the geometry is set up already. One would just need a scale.

[jamie_P84]

The only thing to adjust on a p-mount is tracking force. There is nothing else needs to be adjusted because the geometry is set up already. One would just need a scale.

My deck has the Philips screw you mentioned at the back of the counterweight, but there's no weight indicator ring, which makes any accurate re-adjustment impossible
Where there's a tracking force adjustment there's always an anti-skating one too, because a natural inside skating force exists during playback which is directly related to the tracking weight of the cartridge.
The label on my turntable (stating the factory presets) makes direct reference to both adjustments.

Although I don't have the official T4P specs, posters in other forums claim that the following are standardised for all T4P cartridges:
- tracking force and anti-skating: 1.25g +- 0.25g
- cartridge + stylus weight: 6.00g

If this is so, no re-adjustment should be required after replacement.
Can anyone confirm this?

[Cavaille]

The only thing to adjust on a p-mount is tracking force. There is nothing else needs to be adjusted because the geometry is set up already. One would just need a scale.

My deck has the Philips screw you mentioned at the back of the counterweight, but there's no weight indicator ring, which makes any accurate re-adjustment impossible
Where there's a tracking force adjustment there's always an anti-skating one too, because a natural inside skating force exists during playback which is directly related to the tracking weight of the cartridge.
The label on my turntable (stating the factory presets) makes direct reference to both adjustments.

Although I don't have the official T4P specs, posters in other forums claim that the following are standardised for all T4P cartridges:
- tracking force and anti-skating: 1.25g +- 0.25g
- cartridge + stylus weight: 6.00g

If this is so, no re-adjustment should be required after replacement.
Can anyone confirm this?

I can confirm this. I´ve read it numerous times in audio magazines. Although I don´t have proof, the system supposedly was designed to get rid of all the problems apparent in normal vinyl installation. With TP4 it was possible to change the stylus or the system without the need of re-configuring skating, tracking force, weight etc. - you just remove the old system and pop on the new one. With that you´re finished. The reason is that every TP4-compatible system has to follow the specifications given by Technics when they developed it. They even proposed it for an industry wide standard in 1980 but it wasn´t adopted in the end. I guess all the audiophiles wanted to continue to tweak their turntables . I´ve read that the system technically isn´t that bad and that it actually was quite clever for consumers. Almost any TP4-compatible cartridge is designed (ideally) to be at its best quality right out of the box. For a replacement, I would look for the usual companies like Ortofon. I don´t know if there are better ones but given the price-range of your turntable I feel it would be futile to spend more than 200 bucks on a new system. And Ortofon always was the safe route if one wanted decent quality.

This post has been edited by Cavaille: Jan 26 2011, 03:43