Trimming the sides of a phono cartridge

[Esque]

Recently ordered and installed a AT-VM95 cartridge with headshell for my Sansui SR-222 (mK1). Which I bought used as a project. Ive Adjusted the weight, anti-skate, lined up the cartridge and found out the headshell is too long. Could not set the cartridge back far enough to set it to factory spec.

Thus I tried fitting the cartridge into the original headshell. Another issue rose. the cartridge is too wide to fit probably within the Sansui headshell. Thus I resulted to my Dremel and I've trimmed off a bit of plastic next to the mounting screws.

So now I setup my turntable again, overhang, anti-skate, balance weight etc.
Played a record and it sounds like shit. Worse than it did with the AT headshell.

It sounds distorted, muffled, just not right.

So now I sit with a few questions:

- Is it possible I've ruined the cartridge's internals by sanding down the sides?

- How bad is it really to have the effective length of the tone arm a bit too long?

- Did my stylus damage somewhere along the way?

 

[Apesbrain]

If you only sanded down the outer edges of the plastic where the mounting holes are located, it shouldn't have caused an issue to the cartridge internals. That said, perhaps you torqued the cantilever while handling it?

(Seems unlikely, but maybe the magnetic field generated by the Dremel motor had some effect on the magnets inside the cartridge body?)

Now sanded, confirm that the cartridge is sitting flush to the bottom of the headshell and the cartridge is perfectly vertical. Overhang is important, but more so is getting the cartridge to align on a proper two-point protractor.

Check VTA -- tonearm should be parallel to LP surface when playing -- and also that the stylus is fully seated into the cartridge body.

 

[Esque]

Tone arm is close to parallel, not sure if i can adjust the height of the tonearm. So that would mean a thicker slipmat. To be sure I already ordered a second cartridge and needle. Again a AT-95 because I wanna make sure its not either the stylus or cartridge.

This €30 Sansui is becoming a fairly expensive project at this point.

 

[Apesbrain]

You might try placing a shim between the top of the cartridge and the underside of the headshell in order to clear the edge of the headshell. Would also raise the front end of tonearm. Something lightweight.

 

[Esque]

There is about 0.8mm difference in height between the cartridge which was mounted on it and the current AT. The shims ive seen are 2mm or more.

 

[DSJR]

The VM95 range (and AT95e before it), is arguably one of the most tolerant and bomb-proof out there. Downforce is suggested at 2g and I don't think the 222 tonearm is especially fussy (it's many years since I set up and sold these, sorry). The body internals don't appear to be loading-fussy either,

What's the amp/phono stage and speakers too? It's not set to MC by any chance is it? (granny sucking eggs, but I'll put it out there. Have you had a vinyl set-up before (don't expect 'digital' sonic fireworks at this price level, as it'd take a 95ML minimum to bring some real life into things (merely a stylus change).

 

[Timcognito]

Had a number of problems a while back and adjusted everything to no avail. Played with the anti skate and wha-la. YMMV

 

[Esque]

I have setup some SL1200's in the past, both for DJ and Hi-Fi use.
The 95ML seems nice however I'm not sure if the SR222 is capable of bringing all the potential out of that stylus.

besides that my current phono amp is the build in one from my NAD C399. This unit seems to like a bit more mv from the cartridge. So as an upgrade the Ortofon series will be more likely.

Currently reverted back to step zero. Cleaned the needle > aligned the cartridge > setup the counterweight. VTA and Azimuth are as good as it gets with this table imo.
Got out a known clean record and things started to sound better. I like the low and mid end, the highs are where things start to get a bit sour.

I might try a thicker slipmat to even out the VTA, anyone got ideas on that? Any preferred materials and or brands?