Hum!

[topspeed]

My tt has developed a hum and I can't track it down. It happens with the needle of the Ortofon 2M Red touches the vinyl, regardless of the tt being turned on or not. I've checked the ground wire on both the cart and the tt as well as all interconnect connections. I even tried switching ic's out to see if a cable went bad to no avail. My friend thinks the cart or stylus has gone awry, but it's only a couple of years old.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[JohnMichael]

I would first check to see if the stylus is properly seated in the cartridge. The 2M series clip in place unlike my OM20 that is held by friction. Next I would check the cartridge clips. If one clip is too close to another it could create hum. Of course checking the ground wire to make sure it is making good contact. In some situations no ground wire produces less hum so I would check them out. My final thought on the table is it would need a good shielded IC cables. When I tried using my DNM Reson IC's the non shielded cable picked up the closest country radio station.

As far as trouble shooting your system for hum I noticed your phono preamp has a USB outlet if I am reading correctly. I would disconnect it from the computer to hear if that helps. Repositioning the phono preamp may also help. If it is too close to a large transformer hum can be generated. When listening to vinyl I turn off all my sacd/cd player and any fluorescent lights.

I know I have repeated some of the things you have already tried but it is just my thought process on what I would do. If the turntable and cartridge are fairly new and under warranty I would let the dealer figure it out. Trying it in someone else's system might also help diagnose. Good luck.

[topspeed]

I would first check to see if the stylus is properly seated in the cartridge. The 2M series clip in place unlike my OM20 that is held by friction. Next I would check the cartridge clips. If one clip is too close to another it could create hum. Of course checking the ground wire to make sure it is making good contact. In some situations no ground wire produces less hum so I would check them out. My final thought on the table is it would need a good shielded IC cables. When I tried using my DNM Reson IC's the non shielded cable picked up the closest country radio station.

As far as trouble shooting your system for hum I noticed your phono preamp has a USB outlet if I am reading correctly. I would disconnect it from the computer to hear if that helps. Repositioning the phono preamp may also help. If it is too close to a large transformer hum can be generated. When listening to vinyl I turn off all my sacd/cd player and any fluorescent lights.

I know I have repeated some of the things you have already tried but it is just my thought process on what I would do. If the turntable and cartridge are fairly new and under warranty I would let the dealer figure it out. Trying it in someone else's system might also help diagnose. Good luck.

Thanks, JM! How exactly do I check to see if the stylus is seated in the cartridge? Does the entire plastic case come off?

I already checked all of the pins, grounds, and ic's. I'm going to move the preamp next and see if that helps.

Speedy