Ortofon Rhondo Red : Is it an cartridge issue ...

[dillihifi]

Dear all,

I had purchased a Project xperience 2 with arcyclic platter and Ortofon Rhondo Red cartridge second hand. After acquiring the TT I had assembled the AD797 based phono preamp with help and toubleshooting by Sachin and Omishra.

It was sounding beautiful and recently when I playing records I got some distortion. Is the cartridge gone ? Do I need to replace the same so soon ?

Guidance Please

 

[malvai]

It is most likely a cartridge alignment issue. Realign the cartridge and it should work.

 

[jls001]

+1 to what malvai said.

You can do a few things:
1) Check that the catridge screws are firmly tightened. Don't over tighten them, though.
2) Check that all the four wires are firmly attached to the four pins of the cartridge.
3) This sounds obvious but clean your stylus. Any grit stuck in the stylus drastically reduces the ability of the cartridge to faithfully trace the groove. It results in a veiled sound. This is especially true of tiny lints getting stuck on the stylus.
4)
If the above does not cure your problem, inspect the tip of the stylus with a magnifying glass (an analog guy's essential tool).

As a last resort you can remove your cartridge and remount it, then do proper balancing and VTA adjustment, followed by null point and overhang adjustments.

BTW, you haven't mentioned the nature of the distortion. It would help if you described the nature of the distortion.

 

[reubensm]

Dear all,

I had purchased a Project xperience 2 with arcyclic platter and Ortofon Rhondo Red cartridge second hand. After acquiring the TT I had assembled the AD797 based phono preamp with help and toubleshooting by Sachin and Omishra.

It was sounding beautiful and recently when I playing records I got some distortion. Is the cartridge gone ? Do I need to replace the same so soon ?

Guidance Please

Go in this order:

1) Examine the stylus for clogging. It may have accumulated dust. If yes, just clean it
2) Examine the stylus under a magnifying glass. It may be worn. If yes, replace it.

From experience it is very rare that the cart is not bolted tightly to the headshell. On the contrary, if the headshell is not firmly held by the tonearm wand, then this issue can happen. Hope you have a tight fit for your headshell.

You have not mentioned whether the distortiion is all over the record or only on the later tracks (inner grooves). It the start of the record plays alright and you get distortion as you get closer to the label, then it can be worn stylus, tonearm misaligned (especially the over hang and anti skate) or even a damaged stylus.

 

[omishra]

+1 to what malvai said.

You can do a few things:
1) Check that the catridge screws are firmly tightened. Don't over tighten them, though.
2) Check that all the four wires are firmly attached to the four pins of the cartridge.
3) This sounds obvious but clean your stylus. Any grit stuck in the stylus drastically reduces the ability of the cartridge to faithfully trace the groove. It results in a veiled sound. This is especially true of tiny lints getting stuck on the stylus.
4)
If the above does not cure your problem, inspect the tip of the stylus with a magnifying glass (an analog guy's essential tool).

As a last resort you can remove your cartridge and remount it, then do proper balancing and VTA adjustment, followed by null point and overhang adjustments.

BTW, you haven't mentioned the nature of the distortion. It would help if you described the nature of the distortion.

+1, you nailed it. :thumbsup:

 

[dillihifi]

Thanks for all the replies. Well the distortion is all over the record it is not an inner grove distortion. Will try out the suggestions and post two results.

 

[dillihifi]

Well it seems to be a phono preamp problem. Just pushed all the components of the phono preamp seems the lme 49990 chip had a little play. Just pushed it in and checked the connections / all cables between input and output. Then cleaned the stylus with a brush and fired it up.

And it all fell in place. It was sounding as before. Most probably the phono was the culprit. Thanks to all for chipping with their ideas.