woe is my Ortofon Blue stylus...

[Nat]

I surprised that you only have one channel - the twist might be straightened out, and only you can decide whether you can live with it in close, but certainly not perfect alignment. But if you only have one channel, that's not acceptable. I'm wondering if there wasn't also damage to the body or to the wiring.

 

[Gigantic]

Thanks. I guess I could test my 'restoration work' out on some expendable vinyl to see if it worked...Gotta be worth a try? Actually did I hear somewhere that I could fit a cheaper Ortofon Red stylus instead if I wished to save some pennies? Are they compatible perhaps? But you wanna know what's the worst thing about buggering up the stylus - it had had less than 20 hours on the clock.

OK, moving on from that tale of woe, I'll happily give you the heads-up on my current system:

Rega RP40 (essentially the same as the RP3 with the external psu, RB303 tonearm)

Audio Technica MP110 cartridge

Roksan Kandy integrated amp with phono stage

Polk Audio Monitor 50 Series II Floorstanders

Thank you for your sympathy at this...difficult time but I'd be delighted with any advice you could give me on where to go next audio-wise. Or indeed any views you may have on my set-up. Speakers too cheap for it maybe?

The Ortofon Red and Blue use the same cartridge body; the styli are interchangeable. That said, The red is a significant downgrade from the blue, you may save money, but it will come at a significant cost. There are re-tippers who could repair yours with a new boron cantilever and diamond tip for about the cost of a replacement stylus, that may (or may not) prove to be an upgrade.

 

[Roman Totale]

It's totaled except for maybe one of the few retippers out there that try to straighten the cantilever, but that costs more than a new nail.

The Blue is a much better sounding nail than the Red but the Red will work as the cartridge body is the same, if you much find a less expensive alternative. There are also some inexpensive cartridges that could replace the Ortofon but might not sound as good.

The cartridge being the way the music gets started from the record, it is not a place I try to save money.

What turntable do you have, if you want suggestions on a different cartridge.

Thanks for the comment. It's a Rega RP40 with a 303 arm.

 

[twiiii]

A friend of mine lost his Ortofon bronze the same way. He had a MC input on his pre-amp and is now sing a Denon MC cartridge and is much happier with the sound quality and after two years is still using the Denon with out any cantilever issues. I was a dumb bunny and wrecked my last Stanton CS stylus assembly for my 881S cartridge. I switched to Dynavector and have much better sound and thank fully over the last 16 years haven't made any more dumb mistakes. I went from a 10 X4 to a 20 x to a 20 X 2 to my current xx2- MK II. At least on my stereo system my arm has automatic lift at the end of a side and semi automatic let down. Its a linear arm with no mechanical connection to the turntable mechanics. The Levinson/VPI 515 Dragon has a Fat boy arm and is finger lift only with a manual cue for up and down. So I have to be careful and think before I use that TT each time. I have the marble bass under the 515b because if you use the feet to level the tt you can't level the motor box with the tt so you always throw belts on start up. So I just level the marble instead. No problem with the Thorens as it has its own to level the chassis in it wood base. Its a pain, but doable.

 

[Roman Totale]

I surprised that you only have one channel - the twist might be straightened out, and only you can decide whether you can live with it in close, but certainly not perfect alignment. But if you only have one channel, that's not acceptable. I'm wondering if there wasn't also damage to the body or to the wiring.

Thank you for that pointer. As it happens I've now eliminated the old 'damaged' stylus from the problem by replacing it with a new Ortofon Red one and still only the left channel is sounding. No change. All of the cartridge wires are soundly attached. So it's the cart after all. What can I have done to it unwittingly?

 

[Nat]

If you changed cartridges and are still missing one channel, it seems likely that the issue is not the cartridge but the tonearm wiring or the RCA cables, or in the preamp.
Start by swapping the RCAs at the preamp input. If the channel that is out switches, then its the wiring. If it doesn't, its the preamp. Work you way through the sections of the wiring - I've only worked on a Rega 300, not the 303, but I remember being unimpressed by the connection between the internal wiring and the RCAs, and between the heavier cartridge leads and the internal wiring.

 

[Roman Totale]

If you changed cartridges and are still missing one channel, it seems likely that the issue is not the cartridge but the tonearm wiring or the RCA cables, or in the preamp.
Start by swapping the RCAs at the preamp input. If the channel that is out switches, then its the wiring. If it doesn't, its the preamp. Work you way through the sections of the wiring - I've only worked on a Rega 300, not the 303, but I remember being unimpressed by the connection between the internal wiring and the RCAs, and between the heavier cartridge leads and the internal wiring.

Thanks but it's the stylus I swapped out to no overall effect, not the cart itself. This points to the cartridge being at fault in my case since the arm and headshell play fine with other carts.