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  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

Turntable record player advice please!

pinkpapaver

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Messages
3,967
Location
the west midlands conurbation
Hi folks, my record player has finally caputted. I need a new one, am going. To spend no more than 200 nearer to 150 so I have more money for records. I don't dj, I have separates already, but while I'm on the subject can someone point me in the direction of bi wirable speakers and amp? Gonna be my reward for not buying heroin. Love it. Music. Can't beat it. I listen to all sorts of music and if poss have a usb thing on it. By the time peeps have replied I may have been out already and be spinning the vinyl once more. CDs just don't sound as good. I love albums. Great art.
 
Ntheres so many out there and some very nice looking very pricey stuff. If I'm honest my technics sl bd 22 as never as good as I pretended it was and always made a weird humming noise. Can't believe the price of it on eBay.
 
^ That is the exact same model I have up in the loft too. :)

And it also hums a bit when I plug it into the receiver amp. Not sure what the problem is, exactly. Possibly using the wrong speakers... I gave them to charity a few years ago during a house move. Slightly regret that now. :|
 
Ntheres so many out there and some very nice looking very pricey stuff. If I'm honest my technics sl bd 22 as never as good as I pretended it was and always made a weird humming noise. Can't believe the price of it on eBay.

One of the tricks I learnt from my gigging days to reduce speaker hum was if you have several powered audio components connected together (e.g. pre-amp, power amp and effects board, or turntable and power amp etc.), then disconnect the Earth lead from all the mains plugs except one. As long as one component is earthed and is connected to the other unearthed components, it should still be safe yet drastically reduces that fuckin annoying buzz. I'm not sure why this works, or even how safe it really is - perhaps Julie can elaborate - but this was seemingly common practice back in the day...
 
I just assumed you'd be able to buy a used SL1200/1210 for that sort of money by now. But then I looked on eBay and now I'm actually considering selling my rarely used pair of MK2 1210s :/
 
Any exposed metalwork must be connected to signal earth, in order for it not to introduce hum when touched and to maintain the integrity of the shielding around the signal cables. But, unless extra special precautions are taken, that exposed metalwork also needs to be connected to mains earth; otherwise, a live wire could come adrift from its terminal and contact the inside of the metal case, with potentially very nasty consequences for anyone who might come into contact with the outside of it. So the signal and mains earth connections need to be joined together somewhere; usually in the final power amplifier, since this is by definition the least sensitive part of the circuit to electrical interference. But other manufacturers have other ideas .....

You get problems when there are multiple possible earth return paths for the input current. Ideally, there should be only one way back to the pick-up cartridge: along the outer shielding braid around the inner core by which it arrived. But if you create an earth loop, with two possible return paths i.e. via the signal and power earths, and there is a poor connection anywhere around that loop, then it can pick up hum and introduce it into the mixer inputs.

Disconnecting the mains earths from all except the power amplifier breaks up any possible earth loops, but it then relies on the signal earths to provide safety earthing for the mixer and decks. Under fault conditions, the safety earth might have to withstand enough current for long enough to blow a 13 amp fuse. If the outer shielding braid around one of your interconnecting cables burns out before the fuse, it's goodnight Vienna unless there is an RCD somewhere in the power circuit supplying, ultimately, the unfortunate DJ / MC / selector / member of public asking for a request. And since you don't know how the venue is wired up, or when the RCD -- if there is one fitted at all -- was last tested, it makes sense to provide one of your own. Fortunately, plug-in ones are available that will provide protection for anyone using an appliance downstream of it, in case anyone has been doing anything daft like disconnecting mains earths to try to get rid of a hum loop .....

In short: Fit a plug-in RCD on the extension lead you use to power all your equipment, and make regular use of the "test" button.
 
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