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Technics Sl-J2 Distortion on every LP

ClayTune

ClayTune

Well-Known Member
Hello all,

I recently grabbed a Technics Linear tracking turntable off a guy who lives about 25 miles away from me.

Before you jump to conclusions, I went to his house and tested it on multiple LP's and it sounded perfect, before I bought it and took it home with me.

For some reason, I get it home, connect it to my Yamaha RX-496 receiver with pure direct and every single LP has mega distortion during the quiet parts.

Before you jump to another conclusion, it is not my receiver I have tested and re-tested it with another turntable and there is zero distortion on that other turntable.

Before you jump to the conclusion that it's the speakers. I connected two sets of speakers on the other turntable, no distortion, only on this one.

Again, it tested perfectly at the gentle-mans home, but I get it home, connect it and every single LP has distortion in the beginning and between tracks and quiet moments.

Also, it has a brand new stylus for the technics cartridge that was built for it which is the P24.

I need recommendations on what to check for.

Thanks

EDIT: IN THE HEADER I MEANT TO SAY *STATIC* NOT DISTORTION. PARDON MY INCORRECT TERMINOLOGY.
 
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SORRY GUYS I MEANT STATIC NOT DISTORTION. STATIC. I SHOULD THINK OF MY TERMINOLOGY BEFORE HITTING THE SUBMIT BUTTON!
 
Could be the seller's system wasn't as resolving as yours. Could be you're hearing surface noise between tracks on your system that you couldn't hear on the seller's system because his system didn't produce enough detail.
 
Do you have a external phono preamp you can plug the table into and then plug into one of the receivers other inputs (not the phono)?

it might just be that the built in phono stage in the receiver is sub par / noisy.
 
I agree with the above thoughts ^. I would add, as I have had it happen with a brand new stylus, check the stylus for a piece of dirt or crud. I played one side of one album and had a new stylus pick up some crud. I couldn't see it with my bad vision but I too had an unusual amount of static and distortion during quiet passages. Then used a cheap microscope to see a piece of black crud stuck on the diamond. It was difficult to remove. I finally used the mr.clean pad to get it off. That fixed the problem immediately.

It's worth a check and cleaning to eliminate one more possibility. And did the cart or tonearm get bumped during transport? Good luck and let us know what it was once you get it resolved.
 
Are you ABSOLUTELY sure there is only static or noise during the “quiet” deadwax between music tracks??

That cartridge, and that table, doesn’t know the difference between the two.

Have you tried going back to the original stylus, before the new one?
 
Did you use his records or your records to test it at his house?
And which stylus are you using, conical or elliptical?

In like the P24 a lot.
Used one on my SL-10. A nice full range warm sound.
I bought the conical aftermarket gold colored stylus.
I have since switched to the AT 450 elliptical.
Whereas it's not as good of a compliance match, it has less surface noise than the P24 conical.
I was running the P24 at 1.25 TF and I'm running the AT at 1.75 TF.
 
I've had one of these for years and the ground lug can be finicky to say the least. The ground hum would be there in quiet passages. Double check you've got a good connection there for sure.
 
The only thing I have ever seen happening for noise in the quiet sections are either dirt on the needle or a damaged tip. You might be best off buying a cheap little plastic microscope online and inspecting your stylus.
 
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