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Turntable woes

Hi, is it a white transparent Ortonfon system you have on there, the deck came with it ?
As a matter of fact a friend of mine owns a Hifi shop and is selling mainly Project decks.
And one of those white MM systems was quite distorting from new..

I have a suspicion that they might have had a batch of thise white-ish Ortofon MMs with an issue from the factory.
It's mainly the higher frequencys and it does sound a bit as if there could be dirt, but there is none.

They should take the system back and offer replacement, I'm pretty sure the issue is known at Project, but has not popped into public in a wider scale as far as I'm aware.

A (lesser) red cured the problem immediately, but the white one should be a better one from the specs when in perfect working condition.
And the white one was indeed on a X1 as far as I remember.

So back to the dealer & a little bit of noise, they should handle that for you.

Edit: Alright, I just saw you got it from the classifieds.
In this case I would contact the Project distributer in your area.
Project is trying to get theit foot into the door with imo quite nice products the moment
& I don't think they need bad press or feedback by customers with an issue that's commonly known within the dealers at least.
I'd be astonished if they would not offer you a replacement, bc it's known this system often has distortion issues from the factory.
Good luck.
 
You can pick up a really cheap - but plenty good enough to test with - AT MM cart, from reading on here a few people have bought one just to have a play around with, probably a cheap way to rule out/identify the cart as culprit.
 
It's the generator btw, bc my friend wondered if it may just be the needle or it's suspension and just picked the needle from a red and pushed it into the body of the white one.
But the light distortion stayed...so I think they screwed up something while winding the generators of those,
and I think not just one, but a whole load of it.
Perhaps if they had passed the quality test, they would have become bronces or something and they choose to give them out for free with the decks while underestimating the issue a great deal..?
That is my speculation, or thoughts, mind..not any kind of knowledge or information.
(If they offer a complete replacement, I'd be cheeky and try to keep the needle and hand out only the generator, bc the needle itself is perfectly fine and you'd have one shot free, then)
 
torstoi said:
Hi, is it a white transparent Ortonfon system you have on there, the deck came with it ?
As a matter of fact a friend of mine owns a Hifi shop and is selling mainly Project decks.
And one of those white MM systems was quite distorting from new..

I have a suspicion that they might have had a batch of thise white-ish Ortofon MMs with an issue from the factory.
It's mainly the higher frequencys and it does sound a bit as if there could be dirt, but there is none.

They should take the system back and offer replacement, I'm pretty sure the issue is known at Project, but has not popped into public in a wider scale as far as I'm aware.

A (lesser) red cured the problem immediately, but the white one should be a better one from the specs when in perfect working condition.
And the white one was indeed on a X1 as far as I remember.

So back to the dealer & a little bit of noise, they should handle that for you.

Edit: Alright, I just saw you got it from the classifieds.
In this case I would contact the Project distributer in your area.
Project is trying to get theit foot into the door with imo quite nice products the moment
& I don't think they need bad press or feedback by customers with an issue that's commonly known within the dealers at least.
I'd be astonished if they would not offer you a replacement, bc it's known this system often has distortion issues from the factory.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

That is definitely sounding a lot more like it. It is the white-sh light grey S2 MM stylus.

I'll contact them but I'm a bit at a loss how to word the problem as I'm sure they'll try to fob me off with well the turntable is second hand or I've somehow damaged the cartridge.
 
Bingo, that's it.
Well, no..I guess they won't, not the distributer I think.
You can tell them they know this problem well, bc they do..it's an open secret among dealers.
I think they'll try to get this from the table as quick and silent as possible.
It should be in the bronce range if I'm not wrong, so I'd perhaps just ask if they don't wanna offer a propper bronce instead for all the hassle you've had with it up to now.
Well possible they just do it.
 
White Zombie said:
That is definitely sounding a lot more like it. It is the white-sh light grey S2 MM stylus.

I'll contact them but I'm a bit at a loss how to word the problem as I'm sure they'll try to fob me off with well the turntable is second hand or I've somehow damaged the cartridge.
Click to expand...

Dear Project,

I love my new Project turntable but I do seem to be having some issues with the cartridge. I understand there has been a faulty batch of Ortofon cartridges and I know it’s not your fault but if I send you mine would you be kind enough to replace it as I am not in a position to go out at present.

Yours etc.
 
So replacing the stylus with a red or blue ortofon isn't necessarily going to fix the problem?

Not that I was really hoping to have to shell out nearly £200 on a new stylus
 
fegs said:
Would poor set up cause “crackling” though?
I don’t know the answer because I’ve only ever set one TT up, just a thought though
Click to expand...
It's a real puzzle from everything you have wrote. I would contact a project dealer near you to have a look at the turntable.
 
Snufkin said:
Dear Project,

I love my new Project turntable but I do seem to be having some issues with the cartridge. I understand there has been a faulty batch of Ortofon cartridges and I know it’s not your fault but if I send you mine would you be kind enough to replace it as I am not in a position to go out at present.

Yours etc.
Click to expand...

Let's see how I get on :)
 
White Zombie said:
So replacing the stylus with a red or blue ortofon isn't necessarily going to fix the problem?

Not that I was really hoping to have to shell out nearly £200 on a new stylus
Click to expand...
No, it's not the stylus (needle)..it is the generator, the body itself that's wrong.
So a new needle probably won't help at all.

So you need the entire system new, not just a new needle.
 
You could buy a basic AT for £40, lots of reviews and setup guides online, gives you a baseline and will prove if the deck/arm/stage is 100% OK. I bought one to get a Techy up and running before moving to a 33 PTG, it is way better than you’d expect for forty quid. It’s handy to keep as a spare or sell on pfm for £30 after you get the Project cart sorted out if it is faulty.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/cartridges/type/moving-magnet/at-vm95e
 
..which the other way round means your needle is perfectly fine probably,
in worst case you could try to land a worn out/ shot/ bent red/ blue/ bronce s/h
and have a nice cheap runner with your needle inserted.
 
Amber Audio said:
You could buy a basic AT for £40, lots of reviews and setup guides online, gives you a baseline and will prove if the deck/arm/stage is 100% OK. I bought one to get a Techy up and running before moving to a 33 PTG, it is way better than you’d expect for forty quid. It’s handy to keep as a spare or sell on pfm for £30 after you get the Project cart sorted out if it is faulty.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/cartridges/type/moving-magnet/at-vm95e
Click to expand...

It's funny, but I was nearly about to suggest exactly the same, even down to the specific system, the AT95E..
It'll be better than your system now easily...and will get you started straight with very little outlay,
whatever the solution to your problem may turn out..
You can hardly do anything much wrong with the new entry range of AT.
 
One thing that I don’t think has been mentioned is capacitance. MM carts need to be loaded right and the modern Ortofons need to see exceptionally little capacitance, really little more than the arm cable. As such if the phono stage is adding capacitance, as so many do, it may well sound bright and scratchy due to a resonant peak in the 6-12kHz range. Add to that a fairly cheap stylus profile and high-mass tip and any surface noise present will be hugely exaggerated.

PS The ATs need low capacitance too.
 
Sounds like a duff cart to me. could be just way out arm set up also. If stylus is mounted wrong on rondel or damaged in some way it can trawl along the bottom of the groove in all the crap or ride up on the "shoulders" of the groove and this could be much worse on some records than others depending on groove depth etc.
 
That's a fair point, Tony,
but as my mate swapped the white one with a red from the same family, the problem was entirely cured.
So I think that capacitance specification should concern the entire family of same-style MMs,
which to me thus makes this unlikely being the issue in this very case.
ps ..the stylus profile of the white one is not exactly cheapish, it's one of the better ones I think, which makes the deck a bit of a bargain provided the cart is ok, of course.
 
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Tony L said:
One thing that I don’t think has been mentioned is capacitance. MM carts need to be loaded right and the modern Ortofons need to see exceptionally little capacitance, really little more than the arm cable. As such if the phono stage is adding capacitance, as so many do, it may well sound bright and scratchy due to a resonant peak in the 6-12kHz range. Add to that a fairly cheap stylus profile and high-mass tip and any surface noise present will be hugely exaggerated.

PS The ATs need low capacitance too.
Click to expand...

Again I'll happily admit my lack of knowledge on such things. I just set the Dynavector up according to the manual without fully understanding what exactly it means

https://www.dynavector.com/pdf/P-75mk2_emanual_v2.pdf

All I know is the jumpers are in where they should be.

I don't even see capacitance mentioned in that manual?

The Pro-ject cartridge has the following recommendations;

Recommended load capacitance 150 - 300 pF
Recommended load resistance 47 kΩ

But I can't find any reference anywhere of what the load capacitance is of the Dynavector phono amp, it only gives the 47 ohms resistance rating.
 
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Ordered the £40 Audio Technica cartridge. Hopefully bottom things out.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions folks, much appreciated.
 
http://i.prntscr.com/nHfHeFYPQKybKJVaDWBWlg.png

You set it up like this.. (and probably already is as I see it?)

It looks as if the P75 doesn't offer capacitance choices.
Honestly I did not even know it offers the possibility of using MM systems with it,
as I only know it as a very decent phono-pre for MC systems.

I don't think the capacitance is such a great issue compared to the issue with your damaged cartridge.
The P75 is a very capable and valuable MC phono-pre, of which you don't use too much of it's potential the moment.
At Project (for example) there is rather small and very cheap stages dedicated to MM only, which offer to dial in different capacitance, should you want to play around with that and try to squeeze a bit more out from your MM.

Selling the P75 and getting a smaller MM only stage would leave you with some money spare,
on the other hand the P75 is quite a nice stage and the X1 is easily capable of handling a nice MC, should you like to try that.
I'd be tempted to get some entry level DV MC and enter unicorn diamond farts territory..
Always a nice journey..
 
torstoi said:
http://i.prntscr.com/nHfHeFYPQKybKJVaDWBWlg.png

You set it up like this.. (and probably already is as I see it?)

It looks as if the P75 doesn't offer capacitance choices.
Honestly I did not even know it offers the possibility of using MM systems with it,
as I only know it as a very decent phono-pre for MC systems.

I don't think the capacitance is such a great issue compared to the issue with your damaged cartridge.
The P75 is a very capable and valuable MC phono-pre, of which you don't use too much of it's potential the moment.
At Project (for example) there is rather small and very cheap stages dedicated to MM only, which offer to dial in different capacitance, should you want to play around with that and try to squeeze a bit more out from your MM.

Selling the P75 and getting a smaller MM only stage would leave you with some money spare,
on the other hand the P75 is quite a nice stage and the X1 is easily capable of handling a nice MC, should you like to try that.
I'd be tempted to get some entry level DV MC and enter unicorn diamond farts territory..
Always a nice journey..
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the way I've got it set it up. Although I could never understand how they have JB 5 & 6; 1-2 Open, 2-3 Short. 2s open and short?

Nope certainly no mention of it but again I didn't think it would be an issue. I had a look at the Pro-ject phono stages at the time but the P75 seemed to be quite a highly recommend and popular one at my sort of level with the Pro-ject one's not so highly regarded.

If this AT cartridge comes in and all I can hear is Steve Harris and the sounds of waves on the quiet interlude bit of Rime of the Ancient Mariner as opposed to pure unlistenable crackling and noise then I'll be happy and reconsider my cartridge choices:)
 
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