Technics Cartridge Problem

[therockst4r]

On my sl1200 turntable I seem to be having a problem with the cartridge mount. The concord cart seems to wobble a little, so I tried tightening the mounting collar. The collar doesn't tighten though; it starts to get a little tighter then it just gets loose again. It took me a few minutes just to get the cart to stay in place again. Any ideas on what is going on here?

[Marco]

Hi Anthony,

Sounds to me like the bayonet housing on the Concorde isn't 'mating' properly with the connection on the Technics tonearm, probably due to poor quality control at the cartridge end, unless you've somehow damage the fitting on the tonearm...

I suspect that the only answer is to contact Ortofon or return the cartridge to where you bought it from and get a replacement (if possible), or better still, use a better cartridge!

Unless you're a DJ and your deck is for club use, I wouldn't use the Concorde. There are far better MM cartridges available for the same money or not much more. If you're interested I can offer some recommendations :)

Marco.

[therockst4r]

The only reason I am sticking with the concorde for now is that it came free with the tt and I purchased a new om 30 stylus for it to improve its sound. When I remove the cart the collar still doesn't seem to tighten, it just freespins, is that normal? I may call up ortofon tomorrow and see what they think.

[Marco]

It doesn't sound normal to me, Anthony. I'd contact Ortofon, like you say :)

Another good contact would be Kevin at KAB USA (who knows plenty about these cartridges and of course Technics T/Ts):

http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/

Kevin's really knowledgeable and helpful :)

Marco.

[therockst4r]

Thanks Marco, I am going to try to see if adjusting the set screws helps, otherwise I will give ortofon or KAB a call.

[Marco]

No problem. Let me know how you get on :)

Marco.

[dmckean]

Do you have a regular headshell around? Does the mounting collar tighten around it alright?

[therockst4r]

Do you have a regular headshell around? Does the mounting collar tighten around it alright?
Unfortunately it did not come with a regular headshell, otherwise I would have tried that already.

[therockst4r]

Ortofon won't help me because it is out of warranty, but I am almost positive that it is the cart, as the arm seems to function fine... I will see if I can get the cart repaired or replaced somewhere.

Do tonearms normally hum without a cartridge in them? I am trying to identify the source of the hum on my sl 1200.

[DSJR]

The locking finger collet should be free to rotate with cartridge removed..

Check the "pin" on the cartridge "plug" to see if it's too short or worn. It *may* be possible to pull this locking pin out a bit..

Also, it's become a habit to remove the rubber ring fitted to headshells in the, IMO, mistaken thinking that it's making a more rigid connection. I just feel it helps to break the resonances between shell and tonearm and removing same may effect the way the thread is working.

The best thing to do is get a cheapo headshell to see if it fits properly (or a proper shell if you wish to go with a Jelco later). If this fits perfectly, then lok out for an old OM10 or similar and transfer your stylus over to this. Unlike Marco, I rate the OM30 highly as a light toned, bright and breezy good tracker with a good sense of realism rather better than MM's of old (I'm thinking of ortofon's VMS30 here...:))

If the socket in the arm is faulty, then don't despair as these can either be replaced, or even the whole arm unit for not too much money (far more costly to make than an OM30 stylus yet a third of the cost - go figure...)

Tonearms, or more likely phono stages, can do all manner of things when open circuit. The auto-mute device on the Dual (which shorts the + and - together) makes a muted "pop" through the AVI preamp yet open circuit it's fine. The Croft hums and hisses a bit when open, yet is perfectly behaved when the input is shorted or under load.

[therockst4r]

Thanks Dave. The collar does free spin when the cart is removed, but seems to work fine. When I looked at the pin earlier I figured that that was my problem as it looks a lot longer in pictures. I cant seem to pull it out, so I will look into replacing this. My preamp is very quiet when there is nothing plugged in and even when I plug in disconnected RCA wire, but when I attach the turntable it hums... I am almost entirely convinced that it is the tonearm and/or wiring, but I have no idea why they are doing that.