Hi all. Just got my first what some would call audiophile TT. Its a Sota Saphire. It came with a Alphason Tone arm. I had to put it all together including install the tonearm and that took several hours tring too get the height right and adjusting the stylus weight. What a PITA this is on a all manual arm.:bash: I needed a cartridge so I robbed my old TT of its Grado gold MM cartridge.
Anyway I'm done snivelling about that but here is where the bummer is at. When I powered it up it buzzes, :wtf: I'm not sure if its a 60 cycle hum or not. It does increase with the volume knob. It does not have to be playing for it to happen. With the volume all the way down it can not be heard. At about 1/2 volume it is so bad it gets into the music. Also the buzz or hum gets louder just by placeing my hand close to the cartridge. I have it grounded where the Sota has its ground lug. I had it hooked to a fisher 400 and had the ground going to a screw on the chassis. After about 15 min. it started to make a sound simular to a siren on an ambulance.:yikes:. I think that was the fisher but I must say I have never herd that before. I changed the ground wire to a larger wire hopeing that would help. It did not.:no: Next I thought maybe try it on something SS so I broke out a Kenwood KA 7100 integrated amp. Same thing Buzz or hum whatever you want to call it. What is the problem:headscrat What if I miss-wired the cartridge.:scratch2:

Sounds like a wiring ground loop issue with the cart and/or the tone arm.:scratch2:

Sounds like a wiring ground loop issue with the cart and/or the tone arm.:scratch2:

Avionic, That is pretty much one and the same. The tonearm has a 5 pin Din plug that connects the little 4 wires from the headshell to the RCA plugs. The Grado cartridge is not color coded. It just has letters that don't line up very well to the pin layout.
What would the result be by crossing the L+R grounds????

If you have a multimeter you should check the continuity of all the wires from headshell to the rca plug. This will also enable you to be sure which wires are + and - as well as left and right.

Maybe try removing the cart and see if it is still present? Make sure the TA cart leads are separated.

If you have a multimeter you should check the continuity of all the wires from headshell to the rca plug. This will also enable you to be sure which wires are + and - as well as left and right.I concur..:scratch2:Nice TT by-the-way...

If you have a multimeter you should check the continuity of all the wires from headshell to the rca plug. This will also enable you to be sure which wires are + and - as well as left and right.

That I can do. Now if I could just get a pin layout to the grado. Stay tuned.:D

The search engine on AK is your friend :-) Check here for the correct pin layout:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=96193&highlight=grado+pin

Best of luck and congrats on the Sapphire - a fine TT.

Jeff

:music::music::music: Yep I was batting 1000! Not only did I cross the grounds, I also crossed the L+R channels.:nono: Just sign me up for the big dummy of the month club.:D. I was just refuseing to admit I was that much of an idoit. O'well live and learn. Thanks for all the replies.:thmbsp:
ZZ Top never sounded so good.:yes:

Grado carts hum on tables without shielded 120V motors take a look at this thread.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46091&highlight=grado+hum

Grados are an unshielded cart and from what I can tell hum more ofter then not.