Tim Freeman

I recently became the proud (second) owner of two Vestax PDX-2000
turntables with Ortofon Concorde DJS cartridges and styli, and great
as they are, one of the cartridges has been ripping ugly holes in my
sets - in many positions in the tone-arm it emits a loud mains buzz
and no music at all in the left channel, while the right channel is
unaffected. It will only relent after large (a lot more than a few
weeks ago) amounts of fiddling with its screw-holder (on the tonearm).

The problem obviously seems to be the connection between the cartridge
and the tonearm, and if I swap the cartridges, the cartridge carries
the problem with it, the second cartridge is always fine. Visually
though, both look completely identical. Does anyone have any idea what
I could do about this besides shelling out £50 for a new cartridge?

I tried cleaning the connection with toothpaste (stop that sniggering
at the back) as recommended in one of these forums and it seemed to
help for a bit, but only for a few hours.

Ulrich

That's a very common problem with Ortofon integrated carts. The only sure
cure, is new carts. Shure, Stanton, or Ortofon if they use headshells.

FWIW I use Shure SC35C carts, in Technics headshells.


"Tim Freeman" <tim_233@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:72212942.0502171606.60508cd8@posting.google.c om...
> I recently became the proud (second) owner of two Vestax PDX-2000
> turntables with Ortofon Concorde DJS cartridges and styli, and great
> as they are, one of the cartridges has been ripping ugly holes in my
> sets - in many positions in the tone-arm it emits a loud mains buzz
> and no music at all in the left channel, while the right channel is
> unaffected. It will only relent after large (a lot more than a few
> weeks ago) amounts of fiddling with its screw-holder (on the tonearm).
>
> The problem obviously seems to be the connection between the cartridge
> and the tonearm, and if I swap the cartridges, the cartridge carries
> the problem with it, the second cartridge is always fine. Visually
> though, both look completely identical. Does anyone have any idea what
> I could do about this besides shelling out £50 for a new cartridge?
>
> I tried cleaning the connection with toothpaste (stop that sniggering
> at the back) as recommended in one of these forums and it seemed to
> help for a bit, but only for a few hours.

Robert Gault

This reads like an open ground line in the left channel. Perhaps at the
point where the cartridge connects to the shell?

Be very careful with the connectors between the cartridge and shell (if
that is how the Ortofon is connected) because I have seen the plastic on
a Shure cartridge disintegrate at this location after some 20-30 years.

Tim Freeman wrote:

> I recently became the proud (second) owner of two Vestax PDX-2000
> turntables with Ortofon Concorde DJS cartridges and styli, and great
> as they are, one of the cartridges has been ripping ugly holes in my
> sets - in many positions in the tone-arm it emits a loud mains buzz
> and no music at all in the left channel, while the right channel is
> unaffected. It will only relent after large (a lot more than a few
> weeks ago) amounts of fiddling with its screw-holder (on the tonearm).
>
> The problem obviously seems to be the connection between the cartridge
> and the tonearm, and if I swap the cartridges, the cartridge carries
> the problem with it, the second cartridge is always fine. Visually
> though, both look completely identical. Does anyone have any idea what
> I could do about this besides shelling out £50 for a new cartridge?
>
> I tried cleaning the connection with toothpaste (stop that sniggering
> at the back) as recommended in one of these forums and it seemed to
> help for a bit, but only for a few hours.

Mark D. Zacharias

I've seen lots of defective Ortofons - open coils inside.

Mark Z.


"Tim Freeman" <tim_233@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:72212942.0502171606.60508cd8@posting.google.c om...
>I recently became the proud (second) owner of two Vestax PDX-2000
> turntables with Ortofon Concorde DJS cartridges and styli, and great
> as they are, one of the cartridges has been ripping ugly holes in my
> sets - in many positions in the tone-arm it emits a loud mains buzz
> and no music at all in the left channel, while the right channel is
> unaffected. It will only relent after large (a lot more than a few
> weeks ago) amounts of fiddling with its screw-holder (on the tonearm).
>
> The problem obviously seems to be the connection between the cartridge
> and the tonearm, and if I swap the cartridges, the cartridge carries
> the problem with it, the second cartridge is always fine. Visually
> though, both look completely identical. Does anyone have any idea what
> I could do about this besides shelling out £50 for a new cartridge?
>
> I tried cleaning the connection with toothpaste (stop that sniggering
> at the back) as recommended in one of these forums and it seemed to
> help for a bit, but only for a few hours.