Phono Cartridge Response Measurement Script

[Thomas_A]

Hey guys, machines are fun but don't forget the music....

 

[JP]

Ha. Turntables are for measurement. Listening is for digital.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Who cares about the music? Finding g out how it is replayed is much more interesting. The last new interesting band that came on was Dire Straits

 

[mash]

Trying this for the first time and having some issues getting SJPlot to accept my input file. I did look through the thread and could found a few references to my error message but not any correction hints that would help. I'm sure its a fairly simple user error. Here is a screen shot of the issue: (any help would be appreciated)

 

[Balle Clorin]

Usislly i Find the pladlen problem to be due to editing of the file, maybe too long silence in front or after, or some editing between left and right channnel. Did you Ask it to extract LR ?

 

[mash]

I've tried a few different edits (and using the Sweep extraction setting). I can try a few more. It would help if I knew what the script wanted (or tolerated)? Does it want silence before, between and after? If so, how long? Should I trim all of the silence out? If silence is ok, how long...5/10/15 secs?

 

[mash]

Ok, after playing with trimming/breaking the file up in Audacity I think I got it working. Here's my first graph. Now to figure out what its telling me and how to adjust....(it does look like I have higher distortion in my right channel).

 

[Thomas_A]

Ok, after playing with trimming/breaking the file up in Audacity I think I got it working. Here's my first graph. Now to figure out what its telling me and how to adjust....(it does look like I have higher distortion in my right channel). View attachment 528479

Seems you get one channel as crosstalk.

 

[mash]

Ok, I must still be doing something wrong with the file prep. I am recording in stereo but couldn't get the site to work with the stereo recording. If I trim/cut the file into 2 files (1st half with Right channel dominant, 2nd half with left channel dominant) and submit both of those, I get the result that I posted. Any thoughts? and/or is there a guide or write up that discusses how the file(s) should be prepped?

 

[USER]

Ok, I must still be doing something wrong with the file prep. I am recording in stereo but couldn't get the site to work with the stereo recording. If I trim/cut the file into 2 files (1st half with Right channel dominant, 2nd half with left channel dominant) and submit both of those, I get the result that I posted. Any thoughts? and/or is there a guide or write up that discusses how the file(s) should be prepped?

If you send me the file via PM I can take a look at it, but it seems to be a trimming issue to me. Try leave a little bit of the recording before and after where you are cutting. You may be trying to be perfect and are inadvertently cutting off too much. The script will take care of that for you. You want to give it the full recording. Also are you recording at 96k? Some people have their settings at max 192k and that doesn't work.

 

[JP]

STR-100 should have ~15s between the end of the first sweep and the start of the second pilot - this file looks trimmed there? If using Extract Sweeps do not trim the file between the sweeps.

 

[mash]

STR-100 should have ~15s between the end of the first sweep and the start of the second pilot - this file looks trimmed there? If using Extract Sweeps do not trim the file between the sweeps.

Ahh, that helps. Used the stereo file with the start and end trimmed but left the middle as is. (used Extract Sweeps). Here is the result:

 

[JP]

You don’t need to trim anything.

 

[mglobe]

Ahh, that helps. Used the stereo file with the start and end trimmed but left the middle as is. (used Extract Sweeps). Here is the result: View attachment 528565

Not bad.

 

[mash]

You don’t need to trim anything.

When I didn't trim anything, I was getting Padlen errors. Anyways, now I just do a quick trim front/back in Audacity which is also used to convert my flac file recording to wav format. Here is the final result after making some small physical alignment adjustments and minor changes to my Puffin settings (FineBal and AIr). Thanks for everybody's help, ASR is a great community.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Here is the final result after making some small physical alignment adjustments and minor changes to my Puffin settings (FineBal and AI

Please always provide a file without EQ so we can see the true response. You may course add a EQ file plot also to show your preference
Nice to see a Hana! How does it track? ( Ortofon test record etc)

 

[Jimi Floyd]

To all you who use puffins and waxwings, I don't like to see your plots here with signal processing or EQ activated, like Air for example. I would like to see in this thread the cartridge frequency response as it is, not the frequency response after adjustment. Otherwise any cartridge can be EQ'd to be ruler flat and we would learn nothing from it.

 

[JP]

I believe for the library thread @USER doesn't include such measurements in the index.

When I didn't trim anything, I was getting Padlen errors.

Share the file so we can see what's going on.

 

[mash]

My bad, I thought this thread was for looking at using the script/website and debugging issues. Here is a "clean" run with physical adjustments only...no Puffin EQ.

I'm happy to add (or not add) the results to the library. Let me know if you want me to do that and/or what I need to do to add it. Note - one other point on this particular cartridge...I didn't have the Puffin logging turned on but I estimate that it has about 400-600 hrs of use on a high quality library. (min VG+ with most NM or M discs). I don't have a USB microscope to give you a good picture of the tip. One last point...in the Library thread, USER wrote a really nice guide for using the graphs to adjust your setup. The one adjustment/point that I didn't see much discussion on was VTA adjustments. That's one adjustment that I am currently playing with to see what type of impact it has on the results.

 

[mash]

I believe for the library thread @USER doesn't include such measurements in the index.



Share the file so we can see what's going on.

Sorry, I was working back and forth so much that I never saved that file. Its also possible it was user error as I was playing with the script settings at the same time. Currently, I open the file in Audacity to convert it from flac to Wav, so trimming it literally take 10 secs. I'll try no trimming and see if I run into it again. If so, I'll be sure to share the file.