[Cold Brains]

Background: I currently own a Pioneer PL-570 turntable, which based on its appearance is probably a 1980s/early 1980s model. I bought the turntable used a few years back to play my collection of thrift store records that had been sitting around in my closet and it continues to do a fine job...

Moving on. To connect the source to a receiver/phono preamp, the PL-570 has a built-in cable on back (about 3 ft) with standard RCA connectors on the other end (in other words, the cable is not detachable from the turntable). And, there are no other possible outputs or connectors for making a connection to a receiver/amp. Fine. Not a problem.

The Question: What I'm puzzled about is an extra wire coming out from between the right/left channel RCA cables (the cables are joined until near the end) that I haven't been able to figure out the purpose for. This mystery wire is small gauged and terminates in a single horse-shoe shaped prong/connector. Presently, the wire is just dangling free and the turntable seems to work just fine, but I'm curious about the wire's actual purpose. What the heck is this thing? Any ideas?

EDIT: Ok, I figured out the mystery wire is the ground wire, but the back of my receiver (which has a built-in phono preamp) doesn't have a spot labeled for the ground wire. So, now what?

 

[Herandu]

'What Now'? is simple. Get a screwdriver and undo one of the screws on the back of your receiver. Scratch away about 2mm of paint around the screw hole so that you can get to see the bear shiny metal. Now screw that horse shoe down in that spot. And there you have it: a ground point from TT to receiver.

 

[J.D.N]

Yup, it is indeed the ground wire. It there a lot of noise coming through the system when you turn the volume up?

 

[Cold Brains]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.D.N /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yup, it is indeed the ground wire. It there a lot of noise coming through the system when you turn the volume up?

Wow, I feel like such a bonehead!

I never really noticed noise/hum before because a) I never heard the turntable grounded and b) I've only recently starting using headphones on the full-sized stereo set-up (before that I used exclusively speakers and at lower volume). But, now that you mention it the noise is soooo obvious during the quiet points, especially using headphones. I've also done a couple needle-drop recordings in the past that sounded super-noisy, but, again, I thought that was par for the course. I just didn't know better...

So, I followed Herandu's advice, removed a screw on the receiver and sanded around the hole to expose the steel. Screwed down the ground wire... and much, much cleaner sound. Night and Day.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

~AC