Sony turntable has loud buzzing when you touch tonearm

[IowaFightFan]

I have a Sony turntable that I got the other day. It appears to work fine, but I have noticed there is a grounding buzz that comes through the speakers when I touch the tonearm. It doesn't seem to matter where I touch the tonearm, it makes the buzzing noise.

If I am not touching the tonearm at all, the buzzing cannot be heard at lower to mid volumes. If I turn up the volume over 60% or higher, it becomes audible.

If I remove the head shell completely, the buzzing gets MUCH louder. Then, if I put the head shell back on, it quiets down considerably.

Any ideas?

 

[homebrew]

Sounds like it may be a bad ground. The obvious suggestion is to check all connections for stray wires or loose connections. I am assuming the ground wire from the turntable is securely connected to your receiver or amplifier.

 

[Balifly]

Check the four protruding pins inside the tone arm cavity - remove the head shell.

 

[IowaFightFan]

remove the head shell.

From the original post: If I remove the head shell completely, the buzzing gets MUCH louder. Then, if I put the head shell back on, it quiets down considerably.

 

[IowaFightFan]

I am assuming the ground wire from the turntable is securely connected to your receiver or amplifier.

Yes, the ground wire going to the amp is secure. That was the first thing I checked. It's something to do with the tonearm though, as that seems to be where the issue really gets better/worse.

 

[Balifly]

From the original post: If I remove the head shell completely, the buzzing gets MUCH louder. Then, if I put the head shell back on, it quiets down considerably.

One of the pins may no longer be protruding sufficiently and cause the slight short.

 

[bberkom]

On my Sony ps-x500, there is an azimuth set screw on the underside of the tonearm by the headshell connector that needs tightening every once in a while if I remove and replace the headshell. If loose, I get some noise when I touch the arm.

 

[MCM_Fan]

I had a similar problem, loud hum when touching the tonearm on an MCS 6601. I finally traced it to one of the pins inside the headshell end of the tonearm making contact with the inside of the tonearm. In may case, it was the green pin (right channel ground). Complete description of the problem and the fix here.

 

[IowaFightFan]

I'm guessing I found the issue. I opened it up this morning and found this. The black ground wire from the tonearm is disconnected. Unfortunately, it's disconnected on the tonearm side, and not the circuit board on the back of the turntable. Any idea where the end of the wire goes? I know the four colored wires go to the pins on the end of the tonearm, but not sure about the ground wire .