New RCA cable for Philips GA-212

I recently bought a Philips GA212, and when I connect it to the receiver it seems like the connector is screwed up. It makes a lot of noise and (huge) hum when it's touched or moved. I seems like it might not have a good connection (like the connector or the wiring inside has gone bad). I tried to give it a wipe with Deoxit-soaked Q-tip before using it. Does it matter what kind is used as a replacement (just so long, of course, as it fits through the slot in the TT base)? Can I just lop off one end of any old 3 ft. RCA audio cable? Is there any place that might be better than another that anyone can recommend to buy a new one? Thanks in advance for the help.

That sounds like a grounding issue. Is the ground wire present? If so, do you have it connected to your phono pre-amp? If it's present and is connected, then it might have a break in the wire or where the wire is soldered to the ground tab inside the turntable. Might also be an issue with the cartridge, stylus, or tonearm wiring.

skriefal said:

That sounds like a grounding issue. Is the ground wire present? If so, do you have it connected to your phono pre-amp? If it's present and is connected, then it might have a break in the wire or where the wire is soldered to the ground tab inside the turntable. Might also be an issue with the cartridge, stylus, or tonearm wiring.

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I haven't followed up on any of the above, but I think I may have a worse problem now! I stopped for the evening after experiencing the above issues. Well, last night I hooked up an old pair of Pioneer speakers I picked up at a thrift store ($14.99). When I tried to A/B them against another set of speakers (Infinity SM-82) there wasn't any treble. I opened up the Infinity's and it appears that both tweeters have stopped working. I pulled them out and don't think it's an internal connection issue. And I tried them on another receiver and got the same result.

So did I blow them, or could it instead be something shot in the circuitry that's attached to the backside (actually, the inside) of the connector plate on the rear of the speaker? Can I test them by disconnecting them from their present cabinets and connecting just the tweeters to the speaker connection on the receiver--just to see if they produce sound?

I'm with skriefal- double check that ground wire. And I wouldn't muddy the water with the speaker issue- ask on the speaker forum, you may get better responses.

Yes, please let's do one issue at time? You can get help on the speakers at SPEAKERS or INFINITY. The TT we can help you with here.

The turntable interconnects (patch cords) can be anything that cures the hum. But for best response, it is best to use Video grade co-ax as it has the lowest general capacitance. You can use generic cable fro Wal-Mart or Target of something if budget is an issue.

skriefal said:

That sounds like a grounding issue. Is the ground wire present? If so, do you have it connected to your phono pre-amp? If it's present and is connected, then it might have a break in the wire or where the wire is soldered to the ground tab inside the turntable. Might also be an issue with the cartridge, stylus, or tonearm wiring.

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So where should I start? At this point (both in terms of technical knowledge and equipment--no measuring devices, etc.) I guess I'm limited to visual inspection and general cleaning. The ground wire looks to be attached solidly (checked inside too). It was missing a couple three strands that were probably snipped whenever someone last stripped the end of the wire. (I'm pretty sure the ground screw on the receiver had a good bite on what was there, but I don't know if a reduced number of strands in the wire could cause problems or not.)

Here are a few pics of the cart and headshell parts.




I'll try a little Deoxit on all connections to the cart (Shure M91ED) and all the metal tabs in the headshell and cart holder. As can be seen in the pics, the metal piece on the top of the headshell is unglued. And I seem to recall reading in another post here or somewhere else that the contact this "plate" makes with the thin metal tab that protrudes from the under side of the headshell can affect its performance (although at the moment I can't remember exactly what it was). I'll need to glue it down when I'm finished. Any suggestions on what adhesive to use here? (I have another 212 with the same problem--the loose plate, but no similar grounding problems).

The area around the stylus is pretty dirty, as is the slot it the cart when the stylus is removed. Is it safe to try and clean in and around that part of the cart? Is it safe to *carefully* insert a pipe cleaner or balded Q-tip or something?

And lastly, once I finish the cleanup, is it safe to connect it again? I sure can't afford to blow any more speakers! Thanks for all your suggestions and help.

Oh yeah, one other thing: I also tried to swap out the 45 touch button bulb. The bulb worked when I put it in the 33 side, but the 45 button doesn't light and the table doesn't turn either. (So I guess the bulb's good, but something else is haywire with the switch.) It does run at 33 and both the 33 and stop buttons and lights all work.

Crack in RCA plug

Something else I just noticed. Besides being pretty crappy looking (i.e., very corroded) in general, the outer sleeve portion of one of the RCAs is cracked. You can see it pretty clearly in this pic.

Puddintane said:

when I connect it to the receiver it seems like the connector is screwed up. It makes a lot of noise and (huge) hum when it's touched or moved.

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Puddintane said:

once I finish the cleanup, is it safe to connect it again? I sure can't afford to blow any more speakers! Thanks for all your suggestions and help.

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I never expected your hum and your blown speakers to be related. Is the amount of hum affected by the volume control? When you turn the control up and down does the hum level go up and down as well? If so, keep your volume down while you're troubleshooting and you won't blow any more speakers.

If, in fact, the hum is the same loud level no matter where the volume control is set we need to know this.

I see the crack in your RCA cable. That doesn't bother me TOO much at this point given that, if the other jack is ok, you've 'probably' still got a good signal ground. I'm thinking your hum is a chassis ground problem, one that the repair of the ground wire will solve.

Blast said:

I never expected your hum and your blown speakers to be related. Is the amount of hum affected by the volume control? When you turn the control up and down does the hum level go up and down as well? If so, keep your volume down while you're troubleshooting and you won't blow any more speakers.

If, in fact, the hum is the same loud level no matter where the volume control is set we need to know this.

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The "hum" wasn't a constant. I had just connected the "new" old Philips TT, put on an LP, and it seemed to be working okay. I can't remember exactly when/why the hum issue occurred, but I was doing something with the connectors (reseating them or something). I'm not even sure I had a record playing at the time. But somewhere in that "process" the "hum" occurred, but it was more like the very loud kind you hear as when your ground wire is touched to or comes loose from the grounding post (it was more like the kind to which you respond in an instant, "Holy crap!"). And I hit the volume immediately. Right then I had a phone call, so I just shut it down for the night and disconnected the TT to troubleshoot. And the next day when I was testing the "new" speakers (some thrift store Pioneers) I noticed the tweets were gone on the Infinity's (which had been working without problem to that point). And so here I am.

I just finishing going over all the cart/headshell contacts and connections with Deoxit, and I stripped off a good end on the ground wire. To be honest I'm a little gun shy about hooking it up again. I guess I'll try it out with the "new" Pioneers. If they blow I guess I'll just be out $14.99 (fact is, the woofer is already ripped out in the one I opened for inspection).

I just checked the owner's manual for the Philips 212, and for the cart wiring they specify:
white to L (left channel);
red to R;
blue to LG (left grd);
and green to RG.

When I took apart the cart to inspect/clean it (and I just reconnected it the same way) here's how it was/is connected:
blue to L;
red to R;
green to LG;
and white to RG.

Obviously they don't match.

You can straighten out the miswiring but gut feeling says that's not the reason for the hum.

To troubleshoot something it's call and response. Hear the problem, if slightly intermittent (sounds like yours is) manually force it to happen, find the problem, do something to attempt to fix it, and confirm that it's fixed. Try to force the problem again if it was intermittent. If the problem is gone, or you can no longer force it, it's fixed.

I have a feeling something is loose, not miswired. Get a handle on what it takes to make the problem happen time after time.

Blast said:

You can straighten out the miswiring but gut feeling says that's not the reason for the hum.

To troubleshoot something it's call and response. Hear the problem, if slightly intermittent (sounds like yours is) manually force it to happen, find the problem, do something to attempt to fix it, and confirm that it's fixed. Try to force the problem again if it was intermittent. If the problem is gone, or you can no longer force it, it's fixed.

I have a feeling something is loose, not miswired. Get a handle on what it takes to make the problem happen time after time.

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The big problem is that the first (and last) time this happened it blew the tweeters in my speakers. That's a hard way to test for the problem!