[nkoulban]

Hi all,

I think I may have damaged my new Audio Technica OC9 II cart or my phonostage... gulp. I forgot that my phonostage was on,
I pulled off the cart tags and aligned the cart, then I put the cart tags back on and now now sound. Actually, If I run the amp right up I can hear a faint sound. By having the phonostage on while I was doing this could I gave blown the coil in the cart or somehow damaged the phonostage? How likely is it that I may have blown the cart?

Any advice from experienced vinyl spinners would be most welcome.

 

[wuwhere]

Cartridges generate only in the millivolts. Is this a moving coil cartridge? Can your phono preamp handle moving coils? They have very very low output.

 

[jsaliga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkoulban /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any advice from experienced vinyl spinners would be most welcome.

Double check your connections. I know it sounds obvious but I recently changed turntables and when I first mounted my Benz MC cart to my new SOTA turntable I was having problems with not getting any sound. The head shell wires that were installed were crap.

Long story short I ordered a new set of head shell wires and problem solved.

--Jerome

 

[nkoulban]

The cart is a MC and I have set my Phonostage to MC. I'll track down any potential wiring issues as well. How likely is it to blow a MC cart anyway?

 

[wuwhere]

Sounds like a connection problem or at worst a bad cartridge. Is it possible for you to have the cartridge check by the store you bought it from?

 

[Stephen Murphy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkoulban /img/forum/go_quote.gif The cart is a MC and I have set my Phonostage to MC. I'll track down any potential wiring issues as well. How likely is it to blow a MC cart anyway?

Carts, even MCs, don't "blow" like fuses. You can easily snap off a cantilever or break off one of the baby-hair wires that connect the coils to the posts, but you can't fry it. As others have said, check that your tonearm connectors are nicely connected to the cart's posts. Also check for blown fuses in your phono stage if you shorted out the wires when you were connecting the cart with it turned on.

 

[Publius]

Preamps don't have DC offsets large enough to do that sort of thing. Even if you threw a gigantic static charge across it I doubt it would be an issue. I agree with everybody else; definitely have it RMA'd.

 

[nkoulban]

Thanks for the advice, at least I know I have not blown it. I had another close look and sure enough a bent cartridge tag.