Logic points to the tonearm cabling I feel.
I said that in post 133 - I’ve actually had this and it produced the same results as described, but in my case I could reproduce it by manually moving the arm to and fro (a lot) along with up and down. When I ripped it all apart I found there were the 4 wires from the cartridge to the connector, plus a fifth, much shorter one which “touched” the arm tube and was joined to one of the signal grounds (to ground the arm tube) - that short wire looked fine, but was broken inside it’s insulation - I suspect because it was a “garden shed manufactured” type of device and the builder had been over-excitable with the wire strippers and had broken the wires when stripping the ends ready to make the joints. The strands were touching each other most of the time, hence only an intermittent issue.
It may be possible to check this with a multi meter if you can access both ends of each of the wires - a break would show as a needle movement if you were measuring resistance. If you do this remeber to disconnect from the cartridge and phono amp before testing or you’ll be putting DC into either/both.
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Interesting, thanks for that.
After much searching today for the old ATOC9 cart I’ve remembered I put a load of stuff in the loft. I’ll get it down tomorrow and while the XX-2 is off I’ll get the multimeter out too - not that I’m proficient using one.
Also, I thought you were referring to the tonearm cable rather than the cabling in the arm itself.
We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Well I have the ATOC9 on the arm and set up, just waiting for the all clear on the storm front to power up the system.
Does anyone use an ATOC9 with a Superline and if so what resistance plug do you use? I have a 453ohm air plug for the XX-2 but it looks like I may need to drop it to either 100ohm or 220 ohm.
Regards,
SteveO.
There was a fairly recent thread to which Richard Dane replied:
Cheers for that. I tried searching the old Superline loading thread to no avail. I’ll leave things as they are for a starting point at least. I doubt the cartridge will stay in place for long. The info in the box with the cartridge says 20ohm but most info I could find on t’internet, people preferred either 100 or 220 ohm.
Cheers,
SteveO.
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Right chaps, this could be an interesting development.
Just done 2hrs with the ATOC9 and it has worked flawlessly, albeit a little underwhelmingly. That isn’t entirely fair to the ATOC9 though as the resistance on the Superline is set up for the XX-2. That isn’t what has piqued my interest though …
Now I don’t have much of a clue what I’m doing with a multimeter but I’ve picked up a few pointers from this thread and a couple of YouTube videos. Don’t ask me why I did it but I was about to bin the copper gasket @Richard.Dane suggested I try seeing as it didn’t cure the problem when I decided to stick the multimeter on it. One side read “1” and the other side “0”. I gave the “1” side a scrub with some wet and dry and now both sides are reading “0”. I’m guessing one side had a coating that prevented it from performing it’s intended job.
Now I’m in a quandary, do I stick with the ATOC9 for a few weeks and see what happens or put the XX-2 back on and see if the gasket does the trick.
Regards,
SteveO.
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The xx2 is your go to cartridge, so i would put it back in
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In light of the gasket continuity issue, I would put the XX-2 back on and re-do the tests.
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Actually Richard, I woke up at 6am and have done just that. Sadly it was my first thought on waking.
Having an early morning listening session right now.
Regards,
Steve O.
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Right, I’m trying not to have a Eureka moment here - I’d be foolish to think the problem was solved after 3 albums when the problem has gone a couple of weeks before now before appearing like a bolt out of the blue again.
BUT …
I’ve been using an XX-2 for just over 10 years and my only criticism has been the surface noise - there’s not a lot but over the course of 40 years in this mad hobby I’ve had quieter.
All of a sudden it’s vanished. Was that noise a minor manifestation of a static problem all along? I’m hoping if the gasket has improved the earthing to an audible extent on replay it might prove enough to prevent any static build up and subsequent arcing.
I know I’m getting a bit carried away but after 9 months trying to get to the bottom of this I so want a solution.
Will keep you all posted.
Regards,
Steve O.
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Seconded
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Thanks for that guys.
For the first time I’m feeling like I’ve actually done something that could have solved the problem as opposed to merely hoping, and I really enjoyed yesterday’s listening. Every other time I’ve listened to vinyl for the last nine months my enjoyment has been tempered by the expectation of a loud crack.
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And it’s back to the drawing board.
I’ll take the XX-2 out and put the ATOC9 in and listen to that until such time I can I can draw a conclusion.
Awwww, that’s a damn shame…I’m sorry to hear that (no pun intended). Awful, waiting for the crack. Can understand how it would ruin enjoying your music…
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So the xx2 cartridge is the problem then, you know that now. Maybe a rebuild? If that can be done on a dynavector.?
Sorry you didn’t get the result you were hoping for, looks as if the removal of one cart to swap for another then back had a short window of cure, but long term, no luck. Keep the ATOC9 on and keep up with the testing.
Scott
I’ll only be able to point the finger at the XX-2 if the ATOC9 manages to avoid the cracks when given a decent run in the arm. It only in situ for Friday and got 3 albums before I put the XX-2 back in after finding the continuity issue with the copper gasket.
I’ll power down tomorrow ready for Friday’s thunderstorms and refit the ATOC9. Then we’ll see if it gets past the 20 albums the XX-2 managed between Saturday and Tuesday …
Well the ATOC9 is back in place but sounding very much lacking in lower frequencies. I’m currently using the loading plug for the XX-2 (453ohm) - will dropping down to 100ohm will improve the bass or do I have that the wrong way round? The data sheet with the cart states minimum 100ohm.
Also, I tried inspecting the cart with a magnifying glass to see if I could spot anything that may cause an arc or something. All looked fine but I did notice that the part of the cart that fixes to he arm is non metallic in nature so I’m thinking the addition of the gasket wouldn’t have had any impact.
I’ll keep listening and report back.
Regards,
Steve O.