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Persistent ground buzz |
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suede
Senior Member Joined: 25 May 2011 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 1200 |
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Posted: 05 Apr 2012 at 5:17pm |
I have a very frustrating recurring problem with ground buzz. It's a fairly high frequency buzz and it is pretty silent but still quite annoying when listening to headphones. If I twirl and bend the mounted TT cables, which have the ground wire attached running along between the signal wires, I can momentarily remedy the problem but it usually comes back straight away. Sometimes though, it has fixed it for days or even weeks! While bending and twirling I get some sporadic static crackle in one or the other speaker. Is my mounted TT-interconnect bunk or how can I remedy this permanently? I would be very thankful for any answers or tips how to fix this!
Cheers! Johan |
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Graham Slee
Admin Group Retired Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Location: South Yorkshire Status: Offline Points: 16298 |
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We don't have a clue what arm, turntable, cartridge or interconnect you're talking about here suede.
Please give us some details as well as some photo's including the arm base plug etc. |
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suede
Senior Member Joined: 25 May 2011 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 1200 |
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Sorry! It's a Pro-ject Debut III Esprit turntable, the interconnects are factory mounted to the TT and hooked to my Reflex M, grounded correctly there of course, and the cartridge is an Ortofon OM40. The arm is the factory mounted standard that comes with the TT. I'm sorry I can't supply any more precise details, I had just hoped this was a well known problem with an easy solution regardless of the make or specs of the turntable.
Also, I forgot to add in the earlier post that when I touch the Reflex and thus ground it through my physical self the problem ceases. Therefore I guess that I could perhaps fix it by connecting the Reflex ground post to that on my line amp, but would this be safe doing? I'm not quite versed enough when it comes to electronics to dare try this without someone who is saying so. Thanks for taking the time helping me out Graham! Edited by suede - 05 Apr 2012 at 6:10pm |
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Graham Slee
Admin Group Retired Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Location: South Yorkshire Status: Offline Points: 16298 |
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The ground post on your line amp, if it is a ground post, that is to say if it is connected to the case metal work, is OK/safe. However, it may or may not work.
It does make me wonder if there is any ground continuity between arm "wand" and arm base on the Pro-Ject? In olden days arm manufacturers used 5 pieces of wire: 4 for signal connections to the cartridge and one to connect the "wand" to the arm base because the engineers of yesteryear had real brains... they knew arm bearings are poor electrical conductors and without the 5th wire eventually buzz would enter the equation. I'm not saying it's this. |
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That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
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Fatmangolf
Moderator Group Joined: 23 Dec 2009 Location: Middlesbrough Status: Offline Points: 8989 |
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Hi Suede some practical tests you can do: 1) turn volume up so your HF buzz is clear 2) hold a metal part of the tone arm (e.g. the screws on the headshell) with one hand 3) touch the earth contact on the Reflex If 2) increases the buzz this reduces the buzz from 1), the arm is probably not well earthed or the earth cable is damaged, which fits with the crackle when twirling you described. If so replace the earth wire and see if that helps. From your message we know 3) is better than 1, so see if 2 plus 3 is better than 1. If the buzz is much lower there may be a problem with the arm earth connection in the TT. If not you may want to try connecting your line amp's chassis to earth e.g. a central heating pipe or the mains earth, this may have the same effect as your original check. The other thing I would investigate is the possible source if the interference. Is your TT next to mains cabling, lighting dimmers, anything with digital electronics in it, e.g. a CD player or satellite receiver or a set-top box? The cartridge or its cables are vulnerable to interference so just moving the TT may help. You could test this by carefully picking the TT up and moving it away by 40-50cm from wher it sits now, put the stylus protector and arm transport lock on first. Hope this helps. Jon |
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Jon
Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC. |
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tg [RIP]
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Location: Sydney Status: Offline Points: 1866 |
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A further thought, I have noticed similar symptoms to those described, when one or another of the phono plug/socket pairs were not making good contact. Not all socket and plug combinations will mate well together, some being a sloppy fit either on the ground connection (outer contact) or the inner socket. Pulling the plugs off one at a time may indicate which is the culprit, as may wriggling the plugs at the socket. I have a number of cables that will not make effective contact on certain items of equipment but are fine with many others.
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suede
Senior Member Joined: 25 May 2011 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 1200 |
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There are in fact 5 pieces of wire here. 4 for signal and one ground wire connected to a screw on the underside of the arm at the headshell end, just behind the cartridge and all its connectors/wires. And it does in fact seem to have been badly soldered to the spade on the screw and is now loose. It's impossibly thin, not much thicker than an eyelash, so it doesn't surprise me that it has come loose. It has a rubber "sock" or tube around the connection which before hid the bad connection. The wire does however stick to the old solder if I make it, very weakly but still. It fixes the problem so maybe I can live with this for now. The deeper buzz/hum I get when I happen to meddle with the cartridge connector wires, is that normal or is it due to the bad earth connection on the arm you'd say? Thanks for everyone's great help here! |
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