Ho hum – Turntable Problem

[Greenwich_Man]

I have an intermittent problem with my Project Debut 2 – I get hum out of one channel – and when this happens I loose one channel of sound (the humming channel)

I have found in the past that if I apply a little pressure to the contacts at the back of the cartridge will often rectify the situation.

I don’t think it’s a cartridge fault as I have changed the cartridge to replace it with another Ortofon OM cartridge. And it makes no difference.

And it's stopped being intermittent - and now is there all the time.

I’m not very handy with the soldering iron – so I may need to find a turntable repairer in Sound East London

Any suggestions please – inc shops in SE London that may be of help

 

[gwynne61]

Are the leads onto the cartridge loose, they are usually a push fit

 

[gregory]

I suppose you have checked all the obvious, earth lead connected and as gwynne suggests making sure the connection leads are firmly seated onto the cartridge pins, are your speakers near to the TT this could play a part is it just the TT are any other components humming, i know it sounds obvious but sometimes it's the most obvious we miss, if you cant find the fault i suggest taking your deck to an authorised Project dealer, you could try Oranges and Lemons, they are based near Clapham Common or from where you bought the deck.

 

[5cats35]

My Project has it's own interconnects. Does yours? When I have had this problem I have found that it is usually becuase one of the interconnects has worked loose.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

Well as I said it can be intermittent - and it's OK now.

Thanks to all of you who made suggestions

 

[Greenwich_Man]

Well I thought it was OK!

I was listening using the headphones - and that was fine...

If I listen to the turntable using headphones - I get sound in both ears - If I put the sound through the speakers I get only one speaker with music.

However if I listen to Radio or CD I get stereo on speakers or headphones.

I did move the turntable phonos from "Disc" to "Aux" it it's just the same.

Am I missing something obvious?

 

[limbok]

Its hard to tell without proper hands-on on the system but it sounds like the contacts are not properly earthed from the cart or perhaps a failing phono stage. If everything has been checked at the source it may be an amp issue. Sometimes dust build up on the pots can cause crackle and hum. A quick blast with compressed air will remedy this.

 

[gregory]

Greenwich-Man, where are you based. If your in Greenwich i could maybe take a look.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

It seems that the turntable is only giving out the left channel, and my headphone amp is recognising this and putting out that channel into both ears. I tried a PC headset plugged into the amp - and only got one channel.

I bought the turntable reconditioned off e-bay a couple of years back - about 18 months ago I had this problem with it and sent it back to Henley Designs. And they replaced the preamp board. It has worked fine till now.

I do have another cartridge that I will try at the weekend - but I'm thinking that the preamp board has blown again - and that doesn't make me think well of Project.

I may need to save up my pennies to get a new turntable.

Thanks for the offer Gregory - I live in Plumstead - and I would appreciate some help

 

[gregory]

If i have time over the weekend, probably saturday i could bring my phono stage over and take a look.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

Thanks mate - Saturday will be great - my mobile is -------------
Let me know when you have this (a text) then I'll wipe out this post

 

[Greenwich_Man]

I want to say a big thank you to Gregory who came over on Saturday and looked at the turntable - a real generous thing to do. Even though we were unable to mend the turntable I learnt a lot from him.

Gregory is a great bloke - and it's a privilege to know him

Thanks mate