Ortofon OM10 Mystery!

tankdonovan

tankdonovan

Senior AK Member
I bought an Ortofon OM10 Cartridge for my Pioneer PL-518. I installed it and balanced it[seemed overly hard to do] and tried it out. It was awful! It skipped and the sound would come and go in both channels. It would hardly track the record. It acted like the table may be off balance[but it is not]. I balanced the tonearm again but the same thing happened. I checked the wires and all was O.K. with them. I decided to try it on my Yamaha YP-B2 and it worked perfect! Great tracking and great sound! I took my headshell and cartridge from my Yamaha and put it on the Pioneer and it played just great. Does anyone have any ideas?

TankDonovan
 
I'm guessing the contacts on the Pioneer headshell are dirty.

Love my OM10 by the way. Good buy!

Ed
 
Maybe your weight or balance was to close to the tonearm pivot. My point is its something odd and your other head shell maybe heavy enough so when its balanced its not causing a problem. Since your skipping its most a mechanical problem. It will be interesting to see what your problem turns out to be.
 
This sounds like a super extreme case of tonearm/cartridge incompatibility to me. Arms and cartriges must be matched in terms of compliance, and mass inorder to work together. If you were using a high compliance OM-10 with a high mass arm, then your resonance frequecny will be down areound 5Hz, which will cause your arm to oscillate with even the slightest record warp.

High compliance cartridges need to be used with low mass arms, and low compliance cartridges need to be used with high mass arms, or bad things will happen. :yes:
 
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How do you know which tonearm you have? I have a Tech. sl1500, Dual 701, Realistic lab400, Pioneer PL35.
 
goldear said:
This sounds like a super extreme case of tonearm/cartridge incompatibility to me. Arms and cartriges must be matched in terms of compliance, and mass inorder to work together. :yes:
Click to expand...


I agree completely, but Tankdonovan did say, and I quote :

"I took my headshell and cartridge from my Yamaha and put it on the Pioneer and it played just great."

I believe Fast Eddie nailed it.

Jorge
 
What I can't understand is that it skipped with one headshell/cart combo and not another, even though both were balanced. :scratch2:
Tom
 
I assume you left the little brass weight in. I really like my OM 10 on my higher mass Technics tonearms, but the little weight must be in. The problem may have been getting the correct weight adjustment on the tonearm with the first headshell. You know how to "zero balance" and then set the proper tracking weight (1.5 grams for the OM 10 with the anti-skating at the same setting.) If you tracktoo lightly, the stylus/cart will be unstable.
 
I left the brass weight in the cartridge.
I cleaned the contacts to be sure it had nothing to do with it. I even added a little more tracking force to see if that would help. But no help. It will not play on the Pioneer but it plays just fine on the Yamaha. I`m useing the same headshell on both the Yamaha and Pioneer. So it`s not the headshell. It does seem to be something to do with the balance/anti-skate. I have balanced many tonearms with no problem. I set the tracking force/anti-skate at 1.5 grams. With the OM10 the tonearm will not track right on the Pioneer. I have moved the cartridge forward and backward in the headshell but no help. I orginally had it set at 49mm on the overhang. Other headshells and cartridges play just fine on the Pioneer.

Very strange indeed!

TankDonovan
 
I have to agree with Goldear...I had disasterous results with an Ortofon OM 5E on a Pioneer PL-518. I was finally able to tweak the VTF enough to get it to play, but I didn't trust it, and the whole setup seemed incredibly nervous and frenetic. Shame, because the cartrdge sounds great.

Listening to Prestige Black on that table right now, and it's doing much better.

Wish I knew what cart was the perfect match for the PL-518.
 
I do believe there is a problem between the OM10 and the PL-518. But it is a great match for the Yamaha.

I have found one way[not a good way] to make the OM10 work on the Pioneer. When I get it balanced I move the balance weight slightly forward causing the headshell to drop down some then dial in the 1.5 gram and set the anti-skate at 1.5. It then tracks just fine. The sound is very good too. I`m sure it is not good for the stylus or LP.

So, I guess the Yamaha YP-B2 has a new OM10.

Maybe I`ll buy a Shure M97xE for the PL-518. I understand they are really great for the money.

TankDonovan
 
Let us know how the Shure works out on the PL-518. That's a pretty low mass design, and seems like it would be a mismatch...

I'm listening to "Silk Degrees" on a Prestige Black on my PL-518 right now...sounds sweet!
 
It has been over a month since I bought the OM10. It has been on my Dual 1228 for over three weeks and it sounds better each time I play it. I guess that is where it will stay. I`ve not bought another cartridge for my PL-518 yet. When I do I think I`ll try a Grado Black or Green.

TankDonovan
 
tankdonovan said:
I do believe there is a problem between the OM10 and the PL-518. But it is a great match for the Yamaha.

I have found one way[not a good way] to make the OM10 work on the Pioneer. When I get it balanced I move the balance weight slightly forward causing the headshell to drop down some then dial in the 1.5 gram and set the anti-skate at 1.5. It then tracks just fine. The sound is very good too. I`m sure it is not good for the stylus or LP.

So, I guess the Yamaha YP-B2 has a new OM10.

Maybe I`ll buy a Shure M97xE for the PL-518. I understand they are really great for the money.

TankDonovan
Click to expand...
Sounds right to me. As I recall, the OM 10 can be set as high as 1.75 grams. I usually find better results at the higher ranges of tracking force for any given cartridge. 1.5 should be great. and I see no reason that anything would be damaged. Did I misunderstand something?

Russellc

Ok, I see, the part where it is adjusted downwards BEFORE dialing in 1.5 grams. I would suggest a scale to get a really accurate tracking force. Maybe this arm is a little off?

Russellc
 
Last edited:
Russellc,

You got it! Adjusted downward before dialing in tracking force.

I don`t know what the problem was or is...but I know the OM10 worked great on the Yamaha and even better on the Dual. There may be a problem with the Pioneer tone arm. Maybe a problem with the anti-skate adjuster.

TankDonovan
 
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