Well Tempered tracking issues.

[Vintagear]

This is the heatshrink I used.

Headshell - Tonearm Heatshrink Kit - (4)

(4) Pieces of Heatshrink for Cardas Cartridge Clips. Don't forget, you may need two sets if terminating both ends. Red/White/Blue/Green

www.dedicatedaudio.com

 

[Celadon]

This is the heatshrink I used.

Headshell - Tonearm Heatshrink Kit - (4)

(4) Pieces of Heatshrink for Cardas Cartridge Clips. Don't forget, you may need two sets if terminating both ends. Red/White/Blue/Green

www.dedicatedaudio.com

Thanks --- yes I have that shrink --- in fact maybe my next step today ---
SO how did you heat that ?

Me working with 34 guage wire, and the Cardas clips -- uhh I have a blow dryer-- (john Bon Jovi style) and of course a bic lighter ---
Don't want discoloration, which I think the lighter would do -- and if I use the Blow dryer --- I dunno -- appreciate your reply -- like i said inspiration, and I am way particular on crazy little stuff like this --

Thanks!

 

[Vintagear]

Thanks --- yes I have that shrink --- in fact maybe my next step today ---
SO how did you heat that ?

Me working with 34 guage wire, and the Cardas clips -- uhh I have a blow dryer-- (john Bon Jovi style) and of course a bic lighter ---
Don't want discoloration, which I think the lighter would do -- and if I use the Blow dryer --- I dunno -- appreciate your reply -- like i said inspiration, and I am way particular on crazy little stuff like this --

Thanks!

Light indirect heat gun or indirect passes of a Bic lighter will do. All you need is for the end on the Cardas clip side to shrink and grip.

Happy 4th to you also. What a coincidence that in the pic I posted the red, white & blue shrink are in the forefront.

 

[mkane]

soldering iron tip works also

 

[Celadon]

Thanks guys --
Let john Bon Jovi his blow dryer is going on ebay ... lol ........

 

[Coolhandjjl]

I skipped the heatshrink. I figured why add more mass. Doesn’t look nearly as good as the other example. Darn. Now I want to re-do them

 

[Sgt Shultz]

I skipped the heatshrink. I figured why add more mass. Doesn’t look nearly as good as the other example. Darn. Now I want to re-do them

Looks better than mine lol.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Switching over to Cardas Eutectic solder improved my soldering quality a thousand percent.

 

[JoeESP9]

As one who has tried lead free solder, I'm with you on eutectic Solder. The Lead-free stuff sucks big time.

 

[Oravita]

I used a multimeter to determine wire colors and colored them after with permanent Sharpies. I've resoldered more than one when changing cartridges on mine, usually at 2:00AM lol, you can do it.

I have a Grace G-707 tonearm on another table, it's fixed headshell and thin wires pose the same problems and I've had to resolder those also.

Thanks for the encouragement. I worked up the nerve and successfully mounted my twenty-five year old Shure V15 cartridge half guessing at the wire colors. After closely examining the removed MC cartridge, I couldn't see any evidence of damage and unfortunately the playback still doesn't "sound right" with the Shure. Too much hum, gain doesn't seem like it should after adjusting the phono preamp from MC to MM. I'm thinking it might have been the phono preamp all along.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

Thanks for the encouragement. I worked up the nerve and successfully mounted my twenty-five year old Shure V15 cartridge half guessing at the wire colors. After closely examining the removed MC cartridge, I couldn't see any evidence of damage and unfortunately the playback still doesn't "sound right" with the Shure. Too much hum, gain doesn't seem like it should after adjusting the phono preamp from MC to MM. I'm thinking it might have been the phono preamp all along. View attachment 2924309

Hum is an issue if the negative wires are loose at the rear RCA outputs, this is a common issue with the ring terminals.

They get loose from twisting the interconnects on or off, you'll need to remove that little box at the back to check, just be careful tightening them you don't break the wires at that end.

I've had to do this a few times before I finally got them perfect and now I have absolutely no hum issues even if the volume control is pegged.

Good luck and interested in hearing your results.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Thanks for the encouragement. I worked up the nerve and successfully mounted my twenty-five year old Shure V15 cartridge half guessing at the wire colors. After closely examining the removed MC cartridge, I couldn't see any evidence of damage and unfortunately the playback still doesn't "sound right" with the Shure. Too much hum, gain doesn't seem like it should after adjusting the phono preamp from MC to MM. I'm thinking it might have been the phono preamp all along. View attachment 2924309

The connector on the green doesn’t look seated very well. It also looks like a replaced connector, not an original WT one. Everybody seems to rave about the Well Tempered cartridge clips, but in reality, Cardas ones seem more secure to me.

If that were mine, I’d get four Cardas connectors and resolder them. They have a video tutorial that shows how to solder the extremely fine wires. I recommend using their technique.

 

[Barncats]

Hum is an issue if the negative wires are loose at the rear RCA outputs, this is a common issue with the ring terminals.

They get loose from twisting the interconnects on or off, you'll need to remove that little box at the back to check, just be careful tightening them you don't break the wires at that end.

I've had to do this a few times before I finally got them perfect and now I have absolutely no hum issues even if the volume control is pegged.

Good luck and interested in hearing your results.

This is an "aha!" post for me. I have been chasing minor hum for a long time, dressing cables in differing ways, replacing ground wire between WT and phono preamp, swapping interconnects, trying to add other ground links (say from phono pre to amp) and never getting rid of it. When you say ring terminals and twisting, do you mean the negative wires are held in place by a threaded nut applying pressure and are not soldered? I have never had that terminal strip off the back in nearly forty years so never looked at how the RCA jacks are terminated.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

This is an "aha!" post for me. I have been chasing minor hum for a long time, dressing cables in differing ways, replacing ground wire, between WT and phono preamp, swapping interconnects, trying to add other ground links (say from phono pre to amp) and never getting rid of it. When you say ring terminals and twisting, do you mean the negative wires are held in place by a threaded nut applying pressure and are not soldered? I have never had that terminal strip off the back in nearly forty years so never looked at how the RCA jacks are terminated.

Yes they are held on by a nut, at least on my original square motor model they are, so if any twisting is done to remove the interconnects it's highly likely the connection is loose.

Once you look inside you'll see it would be quite easy to break the leads if the terminal is turned too much. As such care must be taken when tightening that the ring terminal doesn't turn as well.

Good luck.

 

[Barncats]

Yes they are held on by a nut, at least on my original square motor model they are, so if any twisting is done to remove the interconnects it's highly likely the connection is loose.

Once you look inside you'll see it would be quite easy to break the leads if the terminal is turned too much. As such care must be taken when tightening that the ring terminal doesn't turn as well.

Good luck.

Many thanks. Mine is also square motor, so I'm sure our terminal blocks are the same.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

Many thanks. Mine is also square motor, so I'm sure our terminal blocks are the same.

Any luck getting rid of the hum issue?

 

[Barncats]

At the present moment, too busy with other matters to address that, but hope to do so in next couple of days. Will report back. Sure would be an easy fix if that's the problem!

 

[Sgt Shultz]

At the present moment, too busy with other matters to address that, but hope to do so in next couple of days. Will report back. Sure would be an easy fix if that's the problem!

The reason I tracked it down to this was wiggling the interconnects at the jacks would affect the hum. Like you I kept dressing the interconnects etc as this also affected the hum, but once fixed at the jacks moving the interconnects had zero affect, the hum is completely gone.

Good luck, I'm quite sure this is your issue.

 

[Barncats]

The reason I tracked it down to this was wiggling the interconnects at the jacks would affect the hum. Like you I kept dressing the interconnects etc as this also affected the hum, but once fixed at the jacks moving the interconnects had zero affect, the hum is completely gone.

Good luck, I'm quite sure this is your issue.

The hum is gone! (Sung to the tune of B.B.'s "The Thrill Is Gone" . . . ) Just as you suspected, the negative connectors were quite loose, and gently tightening up the nuts took care of things. Thanks again for the tip, I would never have thought of that as a source of the problem.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

The hum is gone! (Sung to the tune of B.B.'s "The Thrill Is Gone" . . . ) Just as you suspected, the negative connectors were quite loose, and gently tightening up the nuts took care of things. Thanks again for the tip, I would never have thought of that as a source of the problem.

Glad I mentioned it so it helped, hopefully anyone else looking to solve the issue will land on this thread.

I should also mention one time wasn't the charm, I was so worried about damaging the leads it was a few attempts before being permanent........well so far anyway lol.