anyone else running vintage Empire carts?
- Thread starter gadget73
- Start date
And speaking of metal shielding...
A quick reminder that if you're trying out an all-metal cartridge body (eg, the early 888s) after a lifetime of cartridges with plastic mounting caps, you'll need a layer of insulation between the cartridge and a metal headshell. Most of you already know this, but it can be a shock if all your other cartridges have had plastic mounts.
A quick reminder that if you're trying out an all-metal cartridge body (eg, the early 888s) after a lifetime of cartridges with plastic mounting caps, you'll need a layer of insulation between the cartridge and a metal headshell. Most of you already know this, but it can be a shock if all your other cartridges have had plastic mounts.
infullview
Super Member
Would that account for the slight hum I get at high volume? Also seems to change with the proximity of my hand on the tone arm.
russdall
An Uprooted Oklahoman
And all this time....I thought the humming was in my head.
GrampaDave
Active Member
If your metal cart body is touching your metal tonearm, congratulations, you've created a ground loop. Or at least enlarged the hum pickup area.
Free Speaker
Member
I have a similar (but different) issue with a NOS 888P mounted to a low mass metal "cheese grater" silver headshell. It doesn't shock or hum, it actually sounds just fine. What it does tho, when you touch the little handle to move it, it acts like a microphone and you can hear your finger rubbing against the finger-grip over the speakers. I then isolated the body from the headshell with the rounds clear rings that came with it, along with a full-width acrylic spacer (since those old 888 bodies have low mounts anyway) and switched to nylon screws and nuts. It still makes the amplified noise when touching the finger lift. Anyone else experienced anything similar? Just curious.
Hum can creep in many ways, but you can try the old tricks first: Turn everything off, then, one at a time, reverse the AC plugs on turntable and electronics, then test. Don't forget to volume down between tests. I've found this to work the few times I've heard slight hum, but I've been hum-lucky, so am not an expert on the topic.
Closely related, yes, if we're talking about mechanical vibration, not electrical hum. I sometimes hear, not finger noise, but a little clunk when the cartridge is returned to the rest when the volume is at moderate-to-above. It doesn't appear to me to necessarily indicate a problem, though some cartridge bodies are more microphonic than others, and if it's annoying, see if you hear it with more than one cartridge. Shure had been potting their better cartridges' innards since at least the early '70s, so try a Shure cartridge under the same conditions, and let us know what you find. And yes, a phono cartridge is essentially a microphone with a cantilever in place of a diaphragm.
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Free Speaker
Member
I have a couple Technics tables that have a muting circuit like that. The sound is delayed until after the needle has dropped. Cool feature.
I'm not sure my Dual mutes. But it makes no noise while moving. My "Big Rig" doesn't mute and still makes no sound.
Adding to this, I recently fixed a hum by removing the bottom of a table, plugging a jumper with an alligator clip to the phono ground, then probing with the other end of my jumper to the RCA grounds, the headshell ground pins, and the motor body itself. When you find the ground loop, the hum goes dead silent. Just don't touch those AC power wires or pins!
I learned that one Pioneer and one Akai table both had these little metal v shaped inserts in the bottom of the tone arm that terminate a ground wire. They are held in place mechanically and they get oxidized. They are quite easy to pull out with tweasers, burnish, spray with Deoxit, and reinsert. Just don't pull on those tiny black lead wires!
New to me Empire 1000 ZEX has what I am guessing to be a ground wire exposed. It tests good both channels, I mounted it and it plays beautifully. But I don't like the idea of leaving this wire dangling.
Anyone see this before? I'm considering 1) snipping it where the wire comes out by the ground pin or 2) soldering it to the ground pin "plate" for lack of a better term and then snipping it. Anyone have experience?
Anyone see this before? I'm considering 1) snipping it where the wire comes out by the ground pin or 2) soldering it to the ground pin "plate" for lack of a better term and then snipping it. Anyone have experience?
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salamander
Active Member
There should be no hairs . The ground connection is only a wide copper contact. There shouldn 't be anything else there.
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If you are comfortable, you might detach that clip from the cartridge pin and then try to clean it up. Maybe something got stuck in the clip when it was installed on the pin?
So sound hound, by "clip" are you referring to the copper grounding "plate" as I call it? Not sure what the proper name is. Do they just slide out? I'm just trying to understand. I've never opened one up except a Shure V-15 I sadly dropped and the entire back section with the pins popped off, breaking all the pin contacts.
I'm quite handy and have some 2000E clones with one bad channel I could practice on before attempting on a working cart.
I'm quite handy and have some 2000E clones with one bad channel I could practice on before attempting on a working cart.