Recently purhcased new Gemini T 1000 turntable and it skips constantly when playing records. I allowed more weight to be assigned to the needle on the record and it helped slightly (up to about 1.5 from zero balance on the weight arm). This turntable received great reviews so I'm convinced I must be doing something wrong. Records are VERY clean too. How should I troubleshoot this skipping problem? Thank you!

Hi
It sounds as if the tone arm has become unbalanced. Make sure the turntable is on a firm flat horizontal surface and at the opposite end of the arm from the needle there will be a weight and a means of altering the position of weight on the tone arm. This weight keeps the needle on the record but only lightly when positioned correctly. If positioned too far from the pivot post the needle will as you have experience skip virtually straight across the record. You need to adjust the weight so that the needle just sits in the groove and plays without being too heavy. It is best to use a record you are not too worried about for this testing as the test record can sometimes get scratched.
Hope this is helpful, if so would you please register that with Fixya
Cheers

The needle skipping is caused by (A) a worn stylus. (B) not enough pressure. Which is solved by adjusting the weight on the end of the arm. It can only really be solved by trial and error. You increase the weight slightly, then play the record. You keep doing this till the record stays in the grooves but doesn't make a rumble sound. If it starts to rumble reduce the weight.

You should look for an anti-skate control on the turntable and adjust that. It will be a question of trial and error with it as there is no fixed rules for these. The weight on the back of the arm should be set to the weight of your cartridge.

Two causes the stylus is worn, or there is not enough pressure being applied to the stylus. Most cartridges track at 2-3 grams. The weight at the end of the arm should be set around this figure and slowly moved higher till it tracks without sliding and without creating too much rumble in the sound. If you have to take the weight up high, then that's a good sign the stylus has gone. Or that the arm itself has a fault on it somewhere (when tried with a new stylus installed).

Hi, most likely a worn stylus or the tracking weight is set too lightly. Adjust the balance weight at the back end of tonearm forward slightly. If no weight adjustment available put a very small coin on the end of tonearm above the stylus. [email protected]

A needle is a precision part. Look to see if the needle has a conical point descending from the cartridge needle carrier. If not, replace the needle.
*Always protect the needle while you adjust things!
Pressure is essential for the needle to track. Turn the weight down until the needle just floats above the record. Zero the weight by turning just the weight indicator, not the weight. Now turn the weight to add 1.2 to 1.5 grams. (Always use the manufacturer's recommended weight if different!)
A level surface is important. Make sure the turntable is level.
Test the arm bearings:
Adjust the weight until the arm floats. With a feather, gently push the arm towards the center. Now gently push it back. The arm should move smoothly with no hesitation and easily. Reset the weight to 1.5 grams or less.
If your cabinet is moving when you walk around, the records will skip. Find a different place for the turntable or don't walk around. In severe cases, raise the weight to 1.75 to 2 grams, but this wears the needle fast an can cause distortion.

The anti skate adjustment. And if you scratch @ all....move the weight all the way in and take off the little extra one that screws in on the back. Also a great tracking needle is a M44G.

Regarding the poor sound quality (and possibly the skipping):
check the needle condition, see if exchanging it with a needle (or the entire pickup head) from a working turntable does any good.

Check the pickup connection pins (contacts on the pickup head and on the end of the wires coming through the arm from the unit), see if there is any dirt or oxydation and clean the contacts if necessary, also check for any damage to the wires.

As for the skipping - a heavily worn needle may affect the sound quality and cause skipping as well - if cahnging the needle (or the pickup head) doesn't make a change, try to realign the weight on the tone arm so that the pickup head will become a bit heavier, this could help somewhat (before you actually try to realign the weight, try to put a small coin or a small weight of some kind on the pickup head while it is playing a record, if the skipping goes away, you need to realign the tone arm weight).

This could also be a problem with the tone arm lifting mechanism (may be obstructed by something or damaged so it won't let the tone arm sit properly onto the record and "grab" the groove).

I just mentioned a few things you might want to check, but don't take anything for granted, the problem may as well be elsewhere in the unit.

regards

Triarcuate

Hi the pennies will mess up the stylus. There should be an anti skate setting at the back of the turn table, a round adjustable bit with numbers, increase the anti skate and then use the balance weigth (weight right at the back of the arm that turns to get the weight right. Set the anti skate with the tone arm light, then increase the weight a bit. Hope that helps

thats good..