just got a red genie2 (slight earth problem)/few comments +questions

[smuggs]

i will get people saying that i could of saved £65 more and gone for the mk3 but £120 was enough to spend for me.

it took a while to set up, the main problem now is i did not plan to buy one today and was left to try my arm in the local leukaemiaresearch shop where all i got was a bee-gees and a bowie album so limited to say the best.

i do have a problem is that i have ran an earth to my old rotel rx202 amp due to my arcam having no stage(getting one next month) and when i touch the arm i am getting a slight nosie as if im the earth. Im thinking of running an earth staight to my local socket is that ok.

next question are them cork mats for £20 worth getting?

are the brushes for around £10 a must?

do you guys only buy new180/200g vinyls?

how do you all clean your records?

and do you guys have one of them weights that slip on top of the record over the round peg if that makes safe?

 

[mitch65]

Hi Smuggs

As far as your amp is concerned, it does sound like your deck is not earthed properly. I am assuming that the Genie was new and that the earth wire from the Genies arm is intact of course but I would certainly not earth at the plug socket as I think that's just asking for trouble.

I don't know that I would bother with a cork mat or a record clamp, whether you would get any noticeable difference or not(spend the money on more records!)

If you are talking about the record cleaning brushes, yes I would, with no lid on the Genie you will get plenty of dust floating around to foal the cartridge.

With regards heavyweight vinyl, I have a personal preference towards 180g but that's just me, and if I want a new Peter Gabriel LP I have no choice but to pay for a 200g Classic Records because that's what's available. That's not a winge as they are good recordings but they are expensive at £30-£40 a pop!

A cheapish but effective way to clean records, especially if your going to buy secondhand, is the Disco antistat device which wet cleans your vinyl.

 

[smuggs]

thanks mitch it does seem that from the earth pin of the plug to the back of the amp im getting no joy when trying to bell it out so i may have to take the amp apart.

i think ill buy a brush ive seen a £4 one on richer sounds website so that will do.

one more question mitch i cant do any harm for the next couple of weeks still i get a stage if the genies not earth right.

 

[mitch65]

I must admit it seems a bit strange that it won't earth off at the amp. The arms earthing wire just connects to the amps chassis via the earthing clamp on the back of the amp. It may be worth a quick look inside your amp to check that this is actually happening. If all is well there then the problem could be at the arm end, maybe look at the connection of the earth tag on your cartridge? It will not do any damage to the Genie or your amp but it may annoy your speakers with the feedback you're getting.

I use a Goldring Exstatic brush which, at about £15, isn't cheap but it's very good.( I think Moorgate Acoustics do free delivery as well)

 

[margetti]

Have you tried it without the earth connected? In some circumstances not having the earth connected produces better results than having it connected. Trying it without the earth connected will also help troubleshooting - if you experience exactly the same thing without the earth connected, this would indeed imply an earthing problem.

With regards the cork mat, I bought one for my Debut and I can't say it made any obvious difference. But the felt mat that came with the Debut (bought 2nd-hand) was well past its best, so wasn't to bothered. The cork mat cost me £10 just over a year ago, so prices have gone up a bit during the recession (!) - if you decide to get one might be worth shopping around.

 

[smuggs]

i think start of may when i get paid im going to get

s/hand stage (project,ca640p or nad) hope for £40

cork mat £20 (just for looks really)

record brush i like that £15 one. 1 x lp brand new fancy that new broken bells album

i have removed the earth and it got worse, opened the amp tighted all the connections and it has improved but you can still hear it should i getting no feedback what so ever.

 

[Andrew Everard]

So are you using the Rotel as the amp for playing the music, or just as a phono stage, with a tape out connection to the Arcam?

 

[smuggs]

no i was aware i could do that i am using the rotel rx202 mk11 if that helps it does look a bit battered it sounds warm and good so i think its working fine. I can hear crackling through the speakers even when nothing is playing. Plus if i turn the moter off on the the genie and then turned the amp off the speakers make a quick pop. so i started it back up and everythings fine but it does it everytime should it do that. I have found that if i take it of phono setting on the amp and then turn it off alls good.

So how do i do that using the rotel as a stage. into as normal from turntable and then some inters out the (tape out) into the aux of the arcam.