The VPI Turntable Thread

Angsty said:
It could be. I’m finding the Luxman tonearm cable to be a little suspect, for no real reason other than its meager diameter. A small diameter to me suggests lesser shielding. On the other hand, Luxman is not known for cutting corners.

It’s a tough DIN cable to replace due to how it’s connected to the table, but I’m also not anxious to spend hundreds on a replacement.

I may see what Blue Jeans could do for me if the problem persists; it is intermittent. The intermittence does imply a cable/placement issue. It also only shows up for MM carts; the MC carts are not a problem, even with more amplification. Peculiar.
Click to expand...
Have you tried swapping leads at the cartridge pins to eliminate the cart as a problem? Doubtful, but an easy test. I can’t remember if you have swapped tonearm leads at the phono input - l to r and r to l - but that will isolate the tonearm cable as the culprit. My apology if that has already been discussed.
 
OMC said:
Have you tried swapping leads at the cartridge pins to eliminate the cart as a problem? Doubtful, but an easy test. I can’t remember if you have swapped tonearm leads at the phono input - l to r and r to l - but that will isolate the tonearm cable as the culprit. My apology if that has already been discussed.
Click to expand...
No, I have not swapped leads at the cartridge pins. I did swap cartridge/headshell combinations to find that both MM carts had the problem that the MC did not. Each cart had its own headshell and cartridge lead wires.
 
Angsty said:
No, I have not swapped leads at the cartridge pins. I did swap cartridge/headshell combinations to find that both MM carts had the problem that the MC did not. Each cart had its own headshell and cartridge lead wires.
Click to expand...
I have been following your thread about the hum problem but not closely enough, I guess. Did I forget the part where you swapped tonearm leads at the phono input, too? :unsure:
 
OMC said:
I have been following your thread about the hum problem but not closely enough, I guess. Did I forget the part where you swapped tonearm leads at the phono input, too? :unsure:
Click to expand...
Gotcha - I probably misinterpreted what you said earlier. No, I had not swapped phono cables. My BJC LC-1’s had been very good previously, but I’ll swap out to another brand to see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Angsty said:
Gotcha - I probably misinterpreted what you said earlier. No, I had not swapped phono cables. My BJC LC-1’s had been very good previously, but I’ll swap out to another brand to see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the suggestion!
Click to expand...
While your swapping to a different pair of tonearm leads is a sound idea, what I meant was, using the original pair of interconnects, putting the right connector into the left input of your phono preamp and the left into the right input. If the hum changes to the other channel after doing this, it would indicate it’s the lead feeding the humming channel.
 
OMC said:
While your swapping to a different pair of tonearm leads is a sound idea, what I meant was, using the original pair of interconnects, putting the right connector into the left input of your phono preamp and the left into the right input. If the hum changes to the other channel after doing this, it would indicate it’s the lead feeding the humming channel.
Click to expand...
If the hum stays in the same channel that it was in prior to swapping the tonearm leads left to right and right to left then the problem is somewhere between the phono pre and the speakers. Keep after it and you will figure it out. 👍
 
Angsty said:
Gotcha - I probably misinterpreted what you said earlier. No, I had not swapped phono cables. My BJC LC-1’s had been very good previously, but I’ll swap out to another brand to see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the suggestion!
Click to expand...
I could be more precise. The tonearm cable from the Luxman to phono is “captive”. It could be swapped for another DIN cable, but it is a big hassle.

The BJC cables run from my phono to the preamp. Those are easily swapped, but operate at unbalanced line level, not at 0.5-5mV level.

Edit: Saw your update after I posted and will give that a try.
 
The stated capacitance of the captive cable is 100 pF. The phono is turned down to zero pF, which probably means that it adds less than 50 pF. I did notch up the phono to add 47 pF once, but it made no difference to the noise level.

Anyone know if static impacts MM carts more than MC carts? This table does have a tendency to accumulate a fair bit of static electricity.
 
The more I think of it, the more it seems like the grounding may be faulty. The static buildup should be drained by the ground wire and a ground loop could be the source of noise.

Any ideas on how to test for ground continuity on a turntable? Would it be a test from the green cartridge pin to the ground spade lug? Somewhere else?

If my laziness beats my curiosity, I’ll just reinstall the MC cart! 😂
 
Still working on the "hum" with my Classic 3 as well. Haven't been home to do much but Keith at DL sent me some RCA attachments in an attempt to isolate the problem. Going without my records this long has been a severe PITA. 🙄
 
Angsty said:
The more I think of it, the more it seems like the grounding may be faulty. The static buildup should be drained by the ground wire and a ground loop could be the source of noise.

Any ideas on how to test for ground continuity on a turntable? Would it be a test from the green cartridge pin to the ground spade lug? Somewhere else?

If my laziness beats my curiosity, I’ll just reinstall the MC cart! 😂
Click to expand...
Not sure if you made any good progress yet.
Thought this might help.


 
spydrwebb44 said:
Please tell me this news about Peter and VAS winding down business is offered tongue-in-cheek, no?!
Click to expand...
Hey ya I'm just joking about the fact that I know the second I shell out for a fancy Soundsmith cart is also the exact moment that Peter and VAS will each independently decide to fold their business. I am not speaking from anything beyond a deep personal knowledge of my own cosmic karma and what horrors it tends to spew forth with alarming regularity.
 
Jbraswell said:
Not sure if you made any good progress yet.
Thought this might help.


Click to expand...

I think laziness beat curiosity! I swapped the 2M Blue with the Hana ML today and the problem is greatly reduced. I decided life was too short to troubleshoot a good MM cart when a superior MC cart was waiting in the wings.

Will revisit the issue again when the stylus wears out and I’m ready to move in the Nagaoka MP-500.
 
Angsty said:
I think laziness beat curiosity! I swapped the 2M Blue with the Hana ML today and the problem is greatly reduced. I decided life was too short to troubleshoot a good MM cart when a superior MC cart was waiting in the wings.

Will revisit the issue again when the stylus wears out and I’m ready to move in the Nagaoka MP-500.
Click to expand...
I don't blame you at all. Since going to MC, I've never looked back.
Problem is I have 5 now😳


I've just heard MM is more susceptible to capacitance issues when they are present.
 
Jbraswell said:
I don't blame you at all. Since going to MC, I've never looked back.
Problem is I have 5 now😳


I've just heard MM is more susceptible to capacitance issues when they are present.
Click to expand...
It’s true that MM carts can experience a cut-off of high frequencies when capacitance is too high. Alternatively, capacitance can be used to shape the sound of a cartridge that is too hot in the high frequencies. My phono does have DIP switches to gradually add capacitance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top