Trouble with Goldring 1042

The cart is sidelined currently. I tried it the other day and could barely make it through two albums before taking it off and putting my Stanton 680/Jico Shibata combo back on the turntable. 

That is interesting about adding the weight. Since I got the 1042, I mounted it on a magnesium headshell that weighs about 10g. I don't have an extra weight plate on it. I did use a test record to check the resonant frequency, which is between 9hz-10hz. In terms of the VTF, I never had good results tracking this cartridge at 1.75g. It worked better, in terms of tracking and lowering sibilance, at 1.85g to 2g. Goldring's tech support recommends tracking closer to 2g which is the max spec'd VTF. Even at 2g, the cartridge isn't that good at dealing with hotly cut records, vocal sibilance, narrow inner grooves, etc. That is why I'm so disappointed in this cartridge. 

Now, I might have a headshell weight plate somewhere and could add it to the magnesium headshell, or mount the cartridge on a slightly lighter 8-9g aluminum headshell, with or without the weight. I asked Goldring about the slightly lighter headshell and they said it should make no difference. 

On an Audiomods arm I use Baerwald alignment & with Technics, their own alignment gauge. Both sound excellent and in my experience it's quite forgiving and easy to setup.

Is your 1042 an older model? Mine has the Gyger S rather than a Gyger II. 

Re: alignment, on my JVC I use their own alignment which is based on Stevenson. 

No experience with the Roksan or AN variations of the Goldring 1000 series bodies. 

Hi David, it was a quick reply this morning and I'm recalling a selection of LP's I played a couple of weeks ago. Some were long but I'm not certain how close to the lable the recording came. If you give me an example of two of the problem LP's I'll see if I have them or something similar to try with my 1042 to see if I can hear the IGD you describe.

100pF plus cable is fine I agree. I think the extra capacitative loading would just highlight the physical problem.

These days I just use Baerwald (Lofgren A) for the IEC inner groove of 60.325mm. I do have records that are cut closer to the label than that, around 58mm as I measured it on an old classical LP and similar on a KTEL compilation (the surface crackle was a much bigger issue). Even at 58mm the predicted distortion is only about 1% which was audible but not awful, and that assumes my alignment was geometrically spot on. The distortion would be higher for hot cuts and/or loud peaks as distortion is proportionate to velocity and tracking could suffer too in the tighter radius of the inner grooves.

A suggestion only. Is it worth experimenting with a different alignment where the inner null is 63 or 64mm (like UNI-DIN: 64/112 worked well for me in the past), maybe that could help?

BTW mine is a newish 1042 stylus and says it's a Gyger S.