Piezo-Azden-Acutex Thread

[GerardG]

Okay, just had an idea about this hum business. The Spectrum is the only cartridge I own which does this. One of the noteworthy things about this design is that it's an IM with a pretty good size magnet. Now, the "bricks" have a magnet of the same size but it's shielded by a steel lining in the stylus assembly. The Spectrum has no such shielding. Neither do the LPMs but the magnet is a LOT smaller. So, maybe the problem is that the "short nose" type cartridge has a large unshielded magnet that can pick up RFI from any nearby source.

Any thoughts?

John

A noticeable hum, eh?

I've tried my identical combo on my Yamaha and while the 701 does not like this combo it isn't because of hum. The blasted thing is just too tall for the arm to clear the platter when playing heavy vinyl. On my Zero 100 there was a very, very slight hum (only noticed it turned up very loud) and on my Toshiba none what so ever.

Gerard

 

[boreas]

Wouldn't a hum caused by a grounding problem be a case of rfi being generated by the cartridge? This is definitely a case if rfi being picked up by it. All I need to do is move the arm away from yhe amp and the hum fades out, eventually disappearing.

John

 

[wualta]

Wouldn't a hum caused by a grounding problem be a case of rfi being generated by the cartridge?

I've never heard of such a thing and don't see immediately how a cartridge could generate RFI, especially if we arbitrarily define RFI as frequencies in the hundreds of kHz range (ie, AM broadcasting). Could a cartridge pick up such frequencies and send them on to a preamp? possibly, but I'd think the shielding and/or its ground would have to be compromised.

This is definitely a case of rfi being picked up by it. All I need to do is move the arm away from the amp and the hum fades out, eventually disappearing.

Dang. Sounds like a classic case of hum pickup from a nearby power transformer, in this case the amp's. Why the Spectrum would be so more sensitive to hum pickup, I dunno. If it's an old amp, try flipping the AC plug. I also wonder if all Spectrum lack the shielding we see in the Piezo-branded clones or near-clones.

 

[boreas]

I've never heard of such a thing and don't see immediately how a cartridge could generate RFI, especially if we arbitrarily define RFI as frequencies in the hundreds of kHz range (ie, AM broadcasting). Could a cartridge pick up such frequencies and send them on to a preamp? possibly, but I'd think the shielding and/or its ground would have to be compromised.

Just flaunting my ignorance! It's a 60 cps hum so not RFI as I mistakenly said.

Dang. Sounds like a classic case of hum pickup from a nearby power transformer, in this case the amp's. Why the Spectrum would be so more sensitive to hum pickup, I dunno. If it's an old amp, try flipping the AC plug. I also wonder if all Spectrum lack the shielding we see in the Piezo-branded clones or near-clones.

I'll try reversing the polarity of the power cord tomorrow.

It's not a really big deal. With the arm in the rest the hum is quite audible through headphones, much less so through the speakers. It's virtually gone with the arm hovering over the lead-in grooves and completely gone with the arm hovering about a third of the way in. The amp is next to the turntable and next to that is the CD player. If I were to switch the positions of the amp and CD player I'm sure there would be no hum.

John

 

[boreas]

Comedy aside, is there a difference between the YM-308 and the YM-308 II?

Near's I kin figger it, it goes like this:

YM-308 conical
YM-308IIE elliptical (0.3 x 0.8?)
YM-308IIX tri-radial

Generators are all the same.

John

 

[GerardG]

Just for what it is worth I do remember having to flip the non-polarized plug of the Yamaha as it does hum with some cartridges. Indeed the YP-701 owners manual has this as a first step in hum elimination. I didn't with the Spectrum-Piezo Frankencartridge though.

Gerard

 

[boreas]

Just for what it is worth I do remember having to flip the non-polarized plug of the Yamaha as it does hum with some cartridges. Indeed the YP-701 owners manual has this as a first step in hum elimination. I didn't with the Spectrum-Piezo Frankencartridge though.

Gerard

Flipping the plug didn't work.

Turns out I was wrong, though, about only the Spectrum humming. What I should have said is that it's the only one of my cartridges that I've used lately". Turns out that my Stantering MIs hum too, not as much as the Spectrum though.

Another thing that I discovered is that if I listen through headphones with the speakers switched off the hum is more pronounced than it is when the speakers are switched on. The volume of the music is unchanged. Odd................

Anyway, when I discovered that my old friend the V15/IV didn't hum, I decided to repack the pivots for the "Dynamic Stabilizer". A SCARY job! I was absolutely convinced that I was going to snap the cantilever while trying to remove or refit the brush. (The only time I'd ever done this before was on a stylus that had already lost its cantilever.) I got lucky though and all's fine. Listening to it right now.

Whew!

John

 

[wualta]

YM-308 conical
YM-308IIE elliptical (0.3 x 0.8?)
YM-308IIX tri-radial .... Generators are all the same.

Aha! Thanks. Just mounted the 308IIE with a yella 707-DE in the Onkyo preparatory to giving it a zang pow demo/comparo tomorrow. Tracks Marshall Crenshaw's "Cynical Girl" just fine, but I couldn't crank the volume just then.

Flipping the plug didn't work.

Okay, so you have a general hummage problem (60 candle power seconds here in Umurrka). Still caused by the nearby power transformer, right? Next step, aside from moving things around, would be to flip the AC plug on the turntable, if you can.

The headphones could be 180 dagrease out of face with the lautsprechers. Bass always cancels first in an acoustic setting.

... I decided to repack the pivots for the "Dynamic Stabilizer". A SCARY job! ... I got lucky though and all's fine. Listening to it right now. Whew!

Brave indeed! Did you use supergooey silicone oil or some sort of grease?

 

[boreas]

Aha! Thanks. Just mounted the 308IIE with a yella 707-DE in the Onkyo preparatory to giving it a zang pow demo/comparo tomorrow. Tracks Marshall Crenshaw's "Cynical Girl" just fine, but I couldn't crank the volume just then.

I'll be very interested in that. I haven't installed the yella spike in my TM-308. When I do, I'll have to realign since the original cantilever's a good bit shorter.

Okay, so you have a general hummage problem (60 candle power seconds here in Umurrka). Still caused by the nearby power transformer, right? Next step, aside from moving things around, would be to flip the AC plug on the turntable, if you can.

Will do.

The headphones could be 180 dagrease out of face with the lautsprechers. Bass always cancels first in an acoustic setting.

You mean one channel wired out of phase? Not sure about that as the fish is a powerful swimmer.

Brave indeed! Did you use supergooey silicone oil or some sort of grease?[/QUOTE]

I used the cuing piston 300K stuff. I put a tiny dot of it on the end of each hinge pin. There's a dimple on the end of the pins that I think is intended as a receptacle for the goop.

I actually had to do this twice. The first time I slathered silicone all over the pins and the sockets they fit into. Too much. The brush wouldn't move on its own.

It's like Brylcreem.

John

 

[wualta]

Sorry, I shoulda said the BASE would cancel. We must adhear to standard internet-level spelling practice or we risk KAOS, people! Trower of Babel!

Not one channel outer faze with the other, but the speakers moving out of phase with respect to the headphones. Might be a good absolute-phase listening test. But anyway: flip the wires on both speakers, then try the same speakers-and-headphones-together trick. I'll bet your headphones think they got the new subwoofer plug-in.

Got the YM-308 with its $14 yella stylus sounding really really good at 1.5g. It Bangles well. Lively, impacty, pratty, all those audiophile things. I'm impressed, jonesin' now for an STR to put on it.

Good to hear of success with the 300k goo and the Shure brush. A yabba dab'll do ya, huh?

 

[boreas]

Sorry, I shoulda said the BASE would cancel. We must adhear to standard internet-level spelling practice or we risk KAOS, people! Trower of Babel!

Not one channel outer faze with the other, but the speakers moving out of phase with respect to the headphones. Might be a good absolute-phase listening test. But anyway: flip the wires on both speakers, then try the same speakers-and-headphones-together trick. I'll bet your headphones think they got the new subwoofer plug-in.

With speakers off the hum is worse than with them on. So, if I het the most hum with no current going to the speakers, I wonder how phasing could have a bearing.

Also, I switched the popularity of the turntable. No change.

Got the YM-308 with its $14 yella stylus sounding really really good at 1.5g. It Bangles well. Lively, impacty, pratty, all those audiophile things. I'm impressed, jonesin' now for an STR to put on it.

There's an Acutex Flatnose 312 III STR on eBay but the photos appear to show a bushing turned to goo.

I should install one of my yaller styliusi.

Good to hear of success with the 300k goo and the Shure brush. A yabba dab'll do ya, huh?

Yeah, it's working quite well. As "proof of concept", I did the same thing to a busted N97HE about a year ago and it's still doing the 2 - 3 second drop that Shure says is the right degree of damping. That gave me the confidence to try the VN45HE.

John

 

[wualta]

With speakers off the hum is worse than with them on. So, if I get the most hum with no current going to the speakers, I wonder how phasing could have a bearing.

Easy. If the speakers were in phase with the headphones, when you played them together the bass in the headphones would seem stronger than before. Since it's weaker, the speakers and headphones are most likely out of phase with one another.

I'm thinking there's just enough leakage in the earpads to let the speaker sound through to cancel the bass as it emerges from the headphone. If you can cram the bass into your ear, he'll translate any fish language in the universe.

Remember, this is analog. There are no standards. Nothing that says speakers and any random pair of headphones plugged into the jack must be in phase when both are playing. This is hairy, tax-free, self-sufficient, laissez-faire, gardyloo, let the oiks take the hindmost, no gummint to take away your base and give it to undeserving BPC owners analog. Which means when the going gets weird, you gotta deal with it.

Also, I switched the popularity of the turntable. No change.

Not too surprising. Now I'd look for iffy connections in the phono wiring.

There's an Acutex Flatnose 312 III STR on eBay but the photos appear to show a bushing turned to goo.

It looks as if it's been used to play goo.

I should install one of my yaller styliusi.

Monsieur! Please! Seaview Plate! When we wish to refer to more than one of anything whose name ends in -us, we cultured elites simply replace it with one i, or maybe two. As many as you like! Why limit yourself? Life, it is, how you say, two shorts.

 

[boreas]

Easy. If the speakers were in phase with the headphones, when you played them together the bass in the headphones would seem stronger than before. Since it's weaker, the speakers and headphones are most likely out of phase with one another.

What we've got here is failure to communicate!

It's not the fish that gets weaker with the speakers switched on. It's the bumble bee.

It looks as if it's been used to play goo.[/i]

Hit do, don't it?

Monsieur! Please! When we wish to refer to more than one of anything whose name ends in -us, we cultured elites simply replace it with one i, or maybe two. As many as you like! Why limit yourself? Life, it is, how you say, two shorts.

Or a long and two shorts. (A ling and two sharks?)

John

 

[wualta]

It's not the fish that gets weaker with the speakers switched on. It's the bumble bee.

Eigh? Ya got humblin' and bumblin' both? I bees lost.

 

[boreas]

Eigh? Ya got humblin' and bumblin' both? I bees lost.

Translation: It's not the BASS that gets weaker with the speakers switched on. It's the HUM.

It may be something in the headphone section of the receiver(s). It's audible only through headphones, is weaker when speakers are switched on and occurs in both my Oinkers, a TX-3000 and a TX-5000.

John

 

[wualta]

I thought 60 Hz (ie, hum) was at least the beginning of bass, but I'm willing to listen to reason. Some hum graduates, thanks to lots of harmonics, to become buzz. That's a whole different thing to me, and you may be right, there's something funny going on with the Oinkers. I've never owned one.

 

[boreas]

I thought 60 Hz (ie, hum) was at least the beginning of bass, but I'm willing to listen to reason. Some hum graduates, thanks to lots of harmonics, to become buzz. That's a whole different thing to me, and you may be right, there's something funny going on with the Oinkers. I've never owned one.

I'm sort of a babe in the woods when it comes to all but the most basic electronics stuff so reason may be out of the question.

Okay, so about this hum thing. A 60Hz hum is what you get if you run your turntable without a ground wire connected, right? Okay, well that's what I hear plus a harmonic (120Hz?). So I guess my hum done matriculated and graduated.... "come louder"

The two Oinkers I mentioned are my first and only ones. I like 'em. I picked the first one up, the 45WPC TX-3000, for $15 clams. Figured I didn't have anything to lose. Turns out I really like it, much better than the comparable Pioneers and Marantzes I've had. After spending around $30.00 for a perfect face and knob set, the thing is cosmetically above 9.5 too!

I just got the TX-5000, 65WPC. Figured it had to be at least as good as the 3000. It is. A good bit better, actually. It's more than a matter of 20 extra watts. The amplifier is some sort of servo controlled thing that I don't understand.

John

 

[wualta]

In any case, get the headshell as far away from the receiver's transformer as possible and the problem ceases to be, correct?

 

[boreas]

In any case, get the headshell as far away from the receiver's transformer as possible and the problem ceases to be, correct?

Yes, it rapidly becomes a Norwgian Blue. It's quite noticeable with the arm in the rest, almost gone with the stylus at the lead-in grooves and totally gone before the stylus is at the midpoint of the record. The turntable is about 2" away from the transformer side of the receiver so the field doesn't really extend too far from the transformer. It's not really a factor when it comes to listening since it's masked by the music for the brief time it's there.

John

 

[wualta]

Still, it's a puzzle and a mental burr in the mental saddle. So to speak.