Hum ......... Which cartridge

Ok thoughts welcomed....
I have recently changed my phono stage to a iFI micro and I am very pleased with it. But I have now noticed a bit of a hum from my cartridge during quieter pieces and between tracks. I thought that maybe it was the new phono stage but changing back to my Angle reveled it also. I think that the iFI with higher gain has simply made it more obvious. So is it my cart - no hum when not on the record? Cartridge is a Benz Micro Silver and is only around 6 months old. I have checked the connections whci all seem positive and earth is secure.

If the cart does need replacing - suggestions welcomed!

Cheers.

What is the turntable? Also, have you tried disconnecting the arm earth?

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Originally Posted by YNWaN

What is the turntable? Also, have you tried disconnecting the arm earth?

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TT is a Roksan Radius 5 and yes have disconnected arm earth it does not seem to make any difference :(

Yes, I'd be playing around with the earthing arrangements (a lot if necessary) before I started buying new cartridges.

My life has been plagued by hum issues. Look to earth loops first. Assuming no obvious oher hum sources near the cartridge. Earth arm to preampand preamp to power amp.

Try a different cart if you have one to eliminate the cartridge or prove that's your problem.

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Originally Posted by YNWaN

What is the turntable? Also, have you tried disconnecting the arm earth?

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I have a problem with hum which is eliminated if I disconnect the arm earth lead to phono stage - is it worth me trying to discover the root of the original hum, and if so, how might I go about it? I think it started after swapping my tone arm over to another deck and back again but can't be sure ...

The hum is caused by an earth loop - as long as there is no hum that is all that matters.

I don't know what you did when you fitted your arm but the chances are you have altered the earth bond to the mains. Either the arm was grounded to mains earth and now it is not, or vica versa.

Some cartridges are more prone to picking up hum - Grado and Deccas for example.

Did a bit of experimenting trying to find what has caused the earth loop in my system which wasn't there before. So with the tonearm earth cable connected to phono stage I get a bad hum in the right channel. Disconnecting the red cartridge tag removes the hum completely. Does this tell me anything useful? :scratch:

The fact that there is only hum in one channel suggests that there is a continuity issue in your arm wiring rather than just a ground problem. There may be two separate problems here.