Troubleshooting TT & Cart problems

Tweakers' Asylum

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I'm learning as I go with this old Onkyo TT. I figured I'd attack the problems that are most apparent to me and see what I can improve. There are two obvious problems with the sound: Sibilance, and Hum.
I'm conducting all my tests using HD650 headphones and two separate receivers that have phono inputs. I'm pretty sure the sibilance is an issue with the stylus/cartridge/tonearm complex. My plan to attack the sibilance issue was to first try aligning the cartridge & cleaning the stylus & record as best I can. Then maybe replace the stylus. And then maybe replace the cartridge. I can't replace the tonearm, but could perhaps tweak it. I have nothing to lose.
The hum happens only when the motor is running. It's in both channels, and gets worse when the cart is nearer the spindle.
In addition, I notice some other hum that happens when I move my hand close to the cartridge. This hum is more noisy and lower level than the motor hum.
Since I've read that Grado carts can be bad with hum, I now have two reasons to replace the cartridge. I see the Shure m97XE frequently recommended, and I can afford it, so I'm leaning that way.
Is this basically the best approach? I'm not expecting miracles, but just want to get my feet wet with this, and see if I can make some improvement.

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The Cable Cooker

Topic - Troubleshooting TT & Cart problems - pixpop 12:23:42 12/30/04 (3)

Re: Troubleshooting TT & Cart problems - alley-kat 23:34:20 01/01/05 (0)

Motor ground - jnorv 20:05:50 12/31/04 (0)

Re: Troubleshooting TT & Cart problems - Lou S 00:44:19 12/31/04 (1)

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