Turntable cartridge help needed

bklynNupe

Hi, I just purchased a new Ortofon 2m Blue for my Pro-ject debut iii. I'm pretty sure I connected all of the wires correctly. From my left channel i get a loud hum and I can faintly hear the music. From the Right channel the music plays clear but I can hear a slight hum.

Thus far, I've switched to another source, my cd player and it works fine.
I don't have another turntable to see if it's my preamp. I'm going to try running my turntable through my phono on my avr to see if it is coming from the TT.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Brad

inspiredsports

bklynNupe wrote: »

Hi, I just purchased a new Ortofon 2m Blue for my Pro-ject debut iii. I'm pretty sure I connected all of the wires correctly. From my left channel i get a loud hum and I can faintly hear the music. From the Right channel the music plays clear but I can hear a slight hum.

Thus far, I've switched to another source, my cd player and it works fine.
I don't have another turntable to see if it's my preamp. I'm going to try running my turntable through my phono on my avr to see if it is coming from the TT.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Brad

Hi Brad,

First, what was your original setup (cartridge) and did it work perfectly?

As you know, the wires that run through the armwand are incredibly fragile, especially where they connect to the cartridge, make the 90 degree bend down into the base, and connect to the larger phono output wires.

The first place to check (with a bright light and maybe a magnifying glass) is where you connected the left channel wires to the cartridge. Just having worked with those tiny wires right there could have broken something loose.

A separate ground from the metal portion of the turntable base to ground may also be necessary. I don't know a lot about Ortofon cartridges, but I remember one case where a Shure of mine was silent, but my moving to a Grado caused hum that a separate ground wire cured.

bklynNupe

inspiredsports wrote: »

As you know, the wires that run through the armwand are incredibly fragile, especially where they connect to the cartridge, make the 90 degree bend down into the base, and connect to the larger phono output wires.

The first place to check (with a bright light and maybe a magnifying glass) is where you connected the left channel wires to the cartridge. Just having worked with those tiny wires right there could have broken something loose.

ok, after returning my stock ortofon 5m , i still had the hum. I fiddled with one of the wires and the problem was solved . i returned my new cart. and it fine as well.
So does this mean I have a short and need new wiring in my tone arm? If so, were can i get this doe?

Thanks.

inspiredsports

bklynNupe wrote: »

ok, after returning my stock ortofon 5m , i still had the hum. I fiddled with one of the wires and the problem was solved . i returned my new cart. and it fine as well.
So does this mean I have a short and need new wiring in my tone arm? If so, were can i get this doe?

Thanks.

There is most probably a break in one of the left channel wires unless the inside of the clip from the wire to the cartridge post was just corroded a bit. Your pushing it on and off the the cartridges might have cleaned it up.

Replacing/resoldering dekicate tonearm wire can be like performing brain surgery. I've never sent anything out myself, so maybe someone else here who has can chime in.