did I screw up my needle?

Hi, I am fairly new to the LP world and I received a bunch of records for Christmas. I just bought a Pro-Ject Debut III witht the Ortrofon OM 5E and set it up yesterday. I was attempting to start to play a record and I thought the tone arm lift was up (it wasn't) and when I dropped the tone arm it just fell right onto the record. How shock absorbing is the needle? I think it is fine I am just a perfectionist and not sure what to look for.

Also, what do you recomend to clean LPs with. I have read and been told all sorts of stuff....from alcohol is good to bad, don't use solvents, always use solvents.

Also, how do you care for the needle?

The Ortofon OM 5E has a sturdy stylus assembly. By dropping it onto the record you would have damaged the record more than the cartridge or stylus/needle. This is assuming the cantilever is not bent. Everything should be fine. I use a manual Alsop Orbitrac record cleaning system that might be discontinued and I have hung on to a Discwasher record cleaning system and I use the brush mainly for surface dust. I use a stylus brush with stylus cleaner I purcahsed from www.turntablebasics.com. Two other sources for record and stylus/needle care is www.musicdirect.com and www.needledoctor.com.

I think the knock on alcohol is probably that it leaves a residue. I suspect it won't work extremely well, but it might help the severe ones. I've heard some people use baby shampoo (and water, of course) on severely dirty records. Some mix dishwashing soap and alcohol in water. I tried Dawn and water on an old record in bad shape and whatever is on it didn't budge.

If you don't mind spending some dough, you could get a Record Doctor. If your records are only slightly dirty, you could give them a light rubbing with Gruv Glide, which is a spray lubricant applied with a velour pad. Badly dirty records would probably mess up the pad. The main benefit of Gruv Glide is the lubrication, but it cleans a little, too.

thanks for the help. Just ordered some cleaning tools from turntable basics.

When looking to see if the cantilever is bent or not, I am not exactly sure where to be looking. The only thing I notice is that when the needle makes contact with the surface of the record, the needle moves slightly toward the center of the record. So basically, when the arm is up the needle sits centered on the C that is on the end of the cartridge, but moves slightly right (or towards the center of the record) when it makes contact.

The cantilever is a straight aluminum pipe that comes out of the cartridge and holds the stylus at the other end. If it is bent to the right or left you have a problem. If it is still straight all is fine.

The 5E is the most resilient hi fi tip ortofon makes. Considering I even DJ with mine, I don't think you'll have much of a problem.

The issue with using alcohol is that nude diamonds are glued to the cantilever and alcohol & solvents can dissolve that.

The 5E uses an elliptical diamond cap bonded to a tube that sticks out from the cantilever, so it's more than just a rock and glue holding it on.

Nude diamonds oscillate with more "purity" than a bonded cap, but are not as durable. It's also impossible to get a super elliptical, stereohedron, microline, or Van den Hul from a bonded cap.

Notice with the OM 5E you want the capacitance of your preamp to be low at 100pF (I've got 150pF right now). Pro Ject makes the Phono Box (non adustable pF version) that should match just right. This it the only way to get a cartridge's highs to sound correct.

If you have more money to spend, certainly get an even more expensive phono stage that can handle lower inductance carts or is suitably adjustable. There is no shortage to choose from.

Otherwise, there's no point in getting VTA correct, since everything above lower treble will roll off the same anyway. Once you get a good electrical match, you'll hear the treble sounding compressed and hair-lipped with too much VTA. Too little VTA will just sound midrangey and dull. Again, you can't hear this difference until the inductance-capacitance is matched up.

Oh, and don't forget a test record with tones for checking antiskate for frequency intermodulation distortion control. That will cost you $40-50 US. Check the other threads for more info.

Or click on my name, since I've got some other posts on that cart.