Pro-ject Genie Mk1 Making Nasty Static Noises

[Rothchild]

Hi,

My Mk1 Genie makes some really nasty static noises when moving the tone arm out of its holster and over towards the start of a record. It all seems to be ok once it's on the record and playing but i was hoping someone might be able to give me some pointers as to how I might rectify this annoying noise?

I'm reasonably competent in terms of taking things apart and putting them back together again but I'm not sure I have the right tools to reset the tonearm angles if I go too far with it!

[hifi_dave]

Are you sure it is 'static' and not noisy tonearm wiring ?

[Rothchild]

It could be noisy tonearm wiring, what should I do to check / aliviate it?

[DSJR]

Check all the earthing wires, from main bearing to tonearm (I think there's one) and the fine black arm-earthing wire itself and how it's joined to the exit lead thicker earthing wire. There's probably a break somewhere.

[Rothchild]

Thanks Gents

I've got the output box off the bottom (beneath the arm pivot point)

I've got blue, white, red and green coming from the cart, down through the main bearing and to the RCAs, and an additional green that's on a tab in the bottom of the arm (just next to the bearing) and that runs to a tab on the output box and forms the earth with the 'thumbscrew' between the RCAs (ie the whole output box is earthed).

I've just been over it with a multimeter and there's continuity from the bottom bearing to the earth thumbscrew....

The noise is a staticky scratching and clicking and is nasty!

[DSJR]

Next thing to look at is continuity of the arm to earth terminal and hope the "extra" green wire that comes out of the arm isn't open circuit.

Are you still using the cartridge that came with the deck? The Ortofon OM series uses a little tab connecting the body to one of the earthing pins, as do the Stanton/Pickerings and others.

Please check the earthing of your amp and the deck to it (in this case).

Can't think of much more. Good luck

[hifi_dave]

Static usually sounds like random clicks, usually when the arm is close to or playing a record.

Your description is more like faulty wiring. If you move the arm from side to side using the finger lift, does it make the scratchy, graunchy noise then ?

[Rothchild]

Your description is more like faulty wiring. If you move the arm from side to side using the finger lift, does it make the scratchy, graunchy noise then ?

Yes, that's it but when I insulate my finger (just using the needle guard over the finger lift) there's no noise. Is / should the cartridge be connecting earth to the arm too? If so how?

[hifi_dave]

Do you get any radio noises ?

The metalwork of the arm should be earthed separately from the signal wires, to prevent hum and radio etc. This is usually accomplished with a separate, single wire, which connects to the amp earth.

Is the turntable a recent acquisition ?

[Rothchild]

Thanks Dave,

I guess that's what the green wire from the bottom of the bottom bearing is for. It seems that the top part of the arm is not connected to this (I can get continuity from the horizontal bearing but not the vertical one.

That said I'm getting continuity from the two 'grounded' outputs from the cartridge to the earth line too, is that right? (that's why I was asking if the cartridge should be bonded to the arm)

Alas it's not a recent purchase (and it was B-stock at that) it's just that recently I've stepped up how much I use it (along with finding this forum) so I thought I'd try and do something about it.

Edit: No I don't get any radio noises, it's only an issue while I'm handling the arm, it performs ok once it's on and playing.