Nice purchase and congratulations. Great thing about the OM10 is you have a very clear upgrade path to the 20, and the 30 is a substantial leap in performance.
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Turntable around 400€
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JeremyFife
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Quick update, for context: my vinyl setup is a Pro-ject Debut III with an Ortofon OM20 - sitting on a small table sitting against a wall (edge of the room) and with the dustcover still attached (I put the lid down when playing as I can't be bothered to remove it). No problems with the stylus skipping, although I wouldn't jump up and down beside the TT when playing.
A very bouncy sprung floor might cause the problems the OP describes, as might enthusiastic dancing. Just closing the lid should certainly not.
A nice heavy wooden board under the TT - £20 butchers block, no audiophile nonsense - might help, but check the tracking weight first.
I'm a fan of buying only turntables that come with hinged dust covers AND using them always while playing records. I have cats roaming around and shudder to think about records playing without that protection. Also, I hope it helps with dust while records are in play.
Congrats on the new machine OP. Enjoy!
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somebodyelse
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This depends on the construction of your walls and your floors. A wall shelf helped when I had brick walls and suspended wooden floors. It probably won't if you have concrete floors and partition walls.
somebodyelse
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I've seen plenty of arguments for and against playing with the dustcover. What I haven't seen is any evidence either way. Can you point to any evidence? I haven't been sufficiently bothered to make any measurements myself yet.
Cover down supposedly reflects stylus, tonearm and main bearing noise back into the system, but playing cover up (or off) allows noise from the external environment, including speakers, into the system. I've seen multiple-page threads on the topic on the relevant forums but it's usually based on intuition and belief rather than data, from what I've read.
Like I said in my earlier post I will not buy a player without a hinged cover and won't play records without keeping it down. It's a practical aspect that keeps my cats from wrecking the works.
I've never been able to detect a difference cover up or down (casual listening, not rigorous testing), and I'm certainly not removing the cover entirely every time because I don't have a great place to set it down and I'd hate to scratch it up. I usually leave it up while playing.
spiral scratch
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Congratulations on the new turntable, good luck getting it set up and working properly. Having the needle ‘jump’ when you put down the lid isn’t abnormal if it’s not done carefully.
The OP was having a problem with tracking and it was being suggested that removing the cover might help. I think that’s all that it was about.
I don’t have any idea if covers up or down make any audible difference. I’ve heard people state it’s better to not use covers, but the evidence seemed anecdotal. This could easily be measured. The only thing I could see as a possibility is if the cover is up, it may throw off a level platter on some of the lighter plinth decks. Again, it’s easy to measure the platter level with the cover up or off to see.
I’m not sure how easy it is to get the turntable back to the dealer to have the set-up checked, but there’s a few things that can be done at home to check it. If I was setting up a new cartridge I would do these in this order. It’s also not a bad idea to check this stuff as not all dealers will take the time to do this set up properly.
1) Check the platter is level in it’s normal location with a small spirit level or bubble level. Make sure that the platter is perfectly level in all directions.
2) The VTF or tracking force has been mentioned and some sort of stylus gauge is a good idea to check that. Cartridge tracking force is measured in grams and will likely have a range. Check with the cartridge manufacturer for appropriate weight.
3) Tonearm height can be checked with a small “recipe card” or another 6x9 card with parallel lines. Place the card behind the tonearm when the stylus is resting on an LP to check that the tonearm is level with the surface.
4) If the cartridge alignment isn’t fixed on the arm, overhang and alignment can be checked by downloading and printing a protractor from here: https://www.conradhoffman.com/chsw.htm (it’s the third link, titled “Custom arc template generator…” If the included “READ ME” text is followed, a perfectly accurate alignment can be obtained. I print onto photo card stock, tape it onto a cheap LP and fasten the platter with a couple of pieces of painter’s tape. You would need to know the type of alignment that your dealer used to download the correct alignment, i.e.- Loefgren, Stevenson, Baerwald or ‘generic’ (my words) where the stylus is perpendicular at the centre of it’s arc.
5) If azimuth alignment is possible, you can check that with a small mirror resting on the platter and there’s measurement LPs if you want to dial it in perfectly.
6) Recheck the VTF or tracking force.
6) Lastly anti-skate, which I generally set with the tonearm’s guidelines and then check with a test LP.
The surface your turntable sits on may or may not be a factor. A wobbly shelf or cabinet is likely not going to be a good idea. It also depends on your building’s architecture and room set up.
Have fun!
The OP was having a problem with tracking and it was being suggested that removing the cover might help. I think that’s all that it was about.
I don’t have any idea if covers up or down make any audible difference. I’ve heard people state it’s better to not use covers, but the evidence seemed anecdotal. This could easily be measured. The only thing I could see as a possibility is if the cover is up, it may throw off a level platter on some of the lighter plinth decks. Again, it’s easy to measure the platter level with the cover up or off to see.
I’m not sure how easy it is to get the turntable back to the dealer to have the set-up checked, but there’s a few things that can be done at home to check it. If I was setting up a new cartridge I would do these in this order. It’s also not a bad idea to check this stuff as not all dealers will take the time to do this set up properly.
1) Check the platter is level in it’s normal location with a small spirit level or bubble level. Make sure that the platter is perfectly level in all directions.
2) The VTF or tracking force has been mentioned and some sort of stylus gauge is a good idea to check that. Cartridge tracking force is measured in grams and will likely have a range. Check with the cartridge manufacturer for appropriate weight.
3) Tonearm height can be checked with a small “recipe card” or another 6x9 card with parallel lines. Place the card behind the tonearm when the stylus is resting on an LP to check that the tonearm is level with the surface.
4) If the cartridge alignment isn’t fixed on the arm, overhang and alignment can be checked by downloading and printing a protractor from here: https://www.conradhoffman.com/chsw.htm (it’s the third link, titled “Custom arc template generator…” If the included “READ ME” text is followed, a perfectly accurate alignment can be obtained. I print onto photo card stock, tape it onto a cheap LP and fasten the platter with a couple of pieces of painter’s tape. You would need to know the type of alignment that your dealer used to download the correct alignment, i.e.- Loefgren, Stevenson, Baerwald or ‘generic’ (my words) where the stylus is perpendicular at the centre of it’s arc.
5) If azimuth alignment is possible, you can check that with a small mirror resting on the platter and there’s measurement LPs if you want to dial it in perfectly.
6) Recheck the VTF or tracking force.
6) Lastly anti-skate, which I generally set with the tonearm’s guidelines and then check with a test LP.
The surface your turntable sits on may or may not be a factor. A wobbly shelf or cabinet is likely not going to be a good idea. It also depends on your building’s architecture and room set up.
Have fun!
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A cross between horrifying and mesmerizing.
A deltawave comparison between the 2, with the volume up, would be interesting, and you could ABX to check audibility. I strongly expect we are in audiophile myth territory, or it's complicated by where you turntable is relative to your speakers, how loud you listen, and what the turntable it is.
My Rega P9 was allegedly designed for cover down use, and there was a measurement showing improvement by some reviewer years ago, but I wonder if I looked at it now it wouldn't be relevant to real playback. I always keep the lid down, it objectively lowers dust, which is an important metric.
somebodyelse
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Another option is to record with needle down on a stationary record while something else is playing through the speakers. That would show what comes on from speaker feedback as opposed to some of the fanciful ideas like the noise produced by the cartridge being reflected off the lid and licked up again. Need to fix the old homebrew phono stage first, or get a replacement. Low priority as there are only a few bits of vinyl I either can't find streaming or haven't already digitised.
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