Question on Rega P3-24 cueing lever/tonearm drift

I've been using my P3-24 for a while now and had a curious question that I've ignored for a while, but thought I'd ask.

I'm not actually able to use the cueing lever to let the stylus down on the beginning of a record because any time that I lower the lever, the stylus and tonearm slowly swing away from the record spindle (and don't lower straight down). I thought this was possibly an artifact of the anti-skate plunger, but in any extreme position, I get the same effect (just more/less depending on where it's positioned). This has caused a couple of "near accidents" where I lower the lever to put the stylus on the record, only the tonearm starts its drift and the stlyus actually misses the outer portion of the record... The table is perfectly level.

I'm to the point that I use the lever to lift the stylus when the record is through playing, but I have to manually lower it if I want to start a record or cue onto a song in the middle of the record.

I don't want to cause un-needed wear or damage to my stylus by manually lowering it down so much (with the always possible mishandle). Is this how they usually operate, or is there something else going wrong? Thanks.

 

So this happens even when anti skate is set to 0?

 

My P3 2000 tonearm does the same thing -- I wouldn't dream of using the cueing lever to let the stylus down. It's certainly no big deal to me, but then I never cue in the middle of a record. I don't think you need to be concerned about wear or damage when manually lowering the stylus.

 

There's no numerical readout per se, but it happens even when the anti skate plunge is all the way in or out (just to a faster degree depending on placement).

 

I have the P2 so my antiskate is a little different, but there should be a "null" setting on that and I don't think it should drift back at all on that setting. What would be pulling it back? That's what antiskate does. Though it is a magnet in that one, I think, so maybe some attraction is always there.

 

I've had a few P3s and a Planar 3, but I've never had this problem. I wonder whether your turntable is level (though I don't know if that would have this effect).

 

Note that the RB300 manual makes the following statement:

"Note: Even at zero there will be some small residual anti-skating force. Therefore it may also be necessary to gently touch the arm bearing carrier to stop the arm moving outwards"

 

Hmm.... so it's not even possible to drop the level to cue the record? Seems kind of odd, maybe it's just the way that level of table is designed.

And to a previous question, yes, the table is level (as mentioned in the 1st post).

 

My P5 does something similar and everything is set up per spec, leveled, etc. If I drop the cure lever, the stylus drops down with a very slight angle back (towards the outer rim). Its a very shallow angle though - for example if I want it to hit a run-in groove, I position the stylus over the 'beginning' grooves of the song and it comes down right on the run in groove. Same thing with the rim of a record. I just eye it up over the first grooves of the track to compensate. After a while it becomes second nature thus, no problem. I've had one or two other TT's that do this to a degree or another.

 

Thanks James,

Just wanting to confirm that it's not just me and I didn't have a bum table or was doing something out of the ordinary.

I didn't have the problem with the old Project Debut I used to use, so I'll just be extra careful now

 

How about someone post a video or instruction on how to set the RB301/200 tonearm. Include how to raise or lower the cue arm adjustment.

Much appreciated.

 

Mike Fremer did the first using a P5, same idea. As far as the cue I believe someone just gave instruction. My P3/P3-24/P5 all did something similar which lessened after I worked the anti skate a bit and got the spring to "pop' so to speak. I also just eyeballed it and learned to compensate. No big deal.

 

"got the spring to pop"...? That doesn't sound good.

 

It's not bad...I read about it somewhere online and turns out to have been right. Do a search and you'll probably find mention of it. I long since lost track of where I read it.

 

My P7 does this too...really bugs me..

My old P25 does not do this at all...go figure....

 

My P3 did it but my P5 goes absolutely straight down.

 

Great instruction here... pay attention to 'bias adjustment'... I believe this is what makes the tone arm swings back...

http://www.rega.co.uk/downloads/P5 Manual.pdf

 

My RB300 on P3 falls straight down. Isn't it related with antiskating? I would try to match antiskating with VTF and see what happens.

 

So I thought it would be wise to use my first post to respond to a four year old question. But I had this same issue with my RP6, and found
that cleaning off the arm cue rail with a soft cloth completely fixed the issue. Even with the anti-skate (temporarily) set at 2, there suddenly was zero drift.
It was like night and day. Just a thought.