Topic: TSKB - Turntable problems, would appreciate some help

[tenesejedd]

Hello folks,

I'm very new to the vinyl game. My wife had some records and last weekend we went garage saleing and scored 18 more records and a turntable. Its a decent table for a garage sale. Yamaha TT-500U. The problem I am having is that there is no sound coming out of the right channel. I swapped cables and channels and have confirmed that my preamp and receiver are not the problem. I took the turn table apart to see if perhaps a wire had come loose from the phono jack, but everything looked intact. I took the stylus and cartridge off the tone arm and cleaned them with a little electronics cleaner in hopes that maybe there was a bad contact somewhere (this guy was obviously a smoker by the way that turntable smells). That didn't help either.

Could there be a problem with the cartridge perhaps? Its an Audio Technica cartridge and stylus. Is there anything else I should try? I would like to try and save this turntable as it seems like a decent unit. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[mfrench]

have you tested the continuity of the tonearm wires?
Is it a removable headshell?

[tenesejedd]

it does have a removable headshell. I should be able to test that with my digital multimeter right?  Do the wires from the tone arm run directly to the rca out?

[mfrench]

The arm wires should connect directly to the rca's, yes.
A multimeter will tell you a ton in this. If there is a short, or a break, you'll know it. If not, then its the cart. Some of the removable stylus input slides do break down with time, so it might just be the cart.
Check both the internal arm wand wires, and the headshell leads to the cart.

[tenesejedd]

I tested the headshell and the tone arm back to the RCA's and the put the headshell on and tested the entire unit and all leads passed current through.

It is safe to assume that i need a new cartridge? If so, can you recommend a decent yet economical replacement. It has a P mount style cart. This is definitely not an audiophile table so I don't want to spend a ton of money on a new cart and stylus.

Thanks!

[mfrench]

It surely sounds like the cart or stylus need replacing.  Did you try re-seating the stylus in the cart?
I wish I could suggest something, but I'm not so familiar with p-mounts.
I've heard good things about ortofon as being a good affordable solution, and having p-mounts, but know nothing of the p-mount vs other model numbers.

good luck!

[tenesejedd]

I've taken the cart off and taken the stylus off the cart a couple times but it didn't help. I'll try replacing the cart and see what happens

Thanks for your help