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Please help diagnose sudden turntable problem

Hi everyone,

I just encountered a very sudden problem with my turntable. I have a fairly new Marantz TT15s1 that was sounding great until yesterday afternoon. I noticed an unusual amount of static, but I chalked that up to the dry air from running the A/C for a couple of days. I used a zero stat gun, and that seemed to help a bit.

Today, however, the problem got significantly worse within the span of a couple of albums. Now, I have significant static and distortion, sometimes completely obscuring the music. It sounds like an amp being overdriven. I have tried two different phono amps and two different preamps, but in every case I get the same sound.

The Marantz has a captive tonearm cable, so I can even swap that out. It's a Clearaudio Virtuoso cartridge that looks to be in excellent shape. The stylus is not bent or damaged. All the leads are plugged in securely. I'm at a loss.

Any ideas would be welcomed. Thanks!
Scott
smrex13
smrex13 OP
423 posts
 
Well, the static never went completely away and is still causing pretty significant interference with music listening. The turntable and cartridge are only a couple of months old, so it's not a question of the stylus wearing out. And everything sounded great until a few days ago. There is no static with the volume turned down. I have tried the system with and without power conditioning and in two different outlets. There are no new appliances in our apartment, although it's an apartment complex so who knows what my various neighbors are up to.

I'm relatively new to vinyl, and I can certainly see why people shy away from it. I do prefer the sound to digital, but I'm at a loss right now.

Any other ideas would be helpful.

Thanks,
Scott
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
Scott, are you certain that when you tried the second phono stage and the second preamp that the symptoms were identical to what you have been experiencing with the system in its normal configuration?

And when you tried the second phono stage, are you certain that it was set up to be able to handle a high output cartridge such as your Clearaudio Virtuoso, without overloading?

In my experience as an EE, when a problem is unusually hard to diagnose, and experiments seem to point in different directions, or seem to exonerate everything, it is often the case that either two problems are present which happen to cause similar symptoms, or one of the experiments was flawed in some manner. And given what has been said to this point, I wouldn't rule out the phono stage as being responsible.

Best regards,
-- Al
smrex13 OP
423 posts
 
Al,

Thanks for the response. I actually tried it with three different phono stages: an Audion pre w/phono (tube), a Vincent (SS), and a Jolida (tube), and the result was identical. Perhaps the SS phono stage did a slightly better job of reducing the static, but it was very much present on every record. All three phono stages were set for MM, and they have all worked with my TT in the past.

Yesterday, I took the turntable back to stage 1 - realigned the cartridge, reinstalled the tonearm, measured the tracking force, cleaned the stylus, and added a Herbie's turntable mat. I wiped everything down with anti-static spray, and then hooked it all back up. The static came right back.

Very frustrated,
Scott
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
I'm still betting its a damaged stylus. That's not teh same as stylus wear which happens over time. Its usually teh result of sudden unintentional stress to the stylus. Something as simple as lowering onto a record too fast for example.

Examination with a magnifying glass by a trained eye might determine something if present but the only real way to know is to try a different stylus which assuming stylus is not easily replaced/removed a different cart with stylus for comparison. A spare cart to use when needed is standard equipment if one wants to be able to assure continued listening when a cart and or stylus related problem occurs.

Styly are very fragile devices. Over the years, and having worked with many tables and carts over teh years, I'd estimate that vast majority of issues relating to distorted phono sound tend to be stylus related, either sudden damage, wear over time, or both.
smrex13 OP
423 posts
 
Mapman,

It seems like a damaged stylus is the only possibility left, no? Unfortunately, the cartridge costs almost as much as I paid for the table, so I'm not quite ready to spend that much shortly after purchasing it. I suppose I could buy a cheap cartridge to see if the static is still there and then get the more expensive one if it solves the problem.

I've been on a terrible run of bad luck with new gear my last five purchases - turntable, amp, integrated amp, phono amp, and stylus gauge - all were either defective out of the package or broke down within a week. I've spent a fair amount shipping brand new gear to be fixed. This turntable has lasted a couple of months, so that's progress...

Scott
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