Broken cartridge?

[Cryder]

Hey guys, I've got a pair of Ortofon Blues that I got with my turntables and the R channel in one of them has stopped working, they've got new "S" styli and I've swapped them in between both tables so I'm pretty sure it's the actual cartridge. I'm new to vinyl so I don't know if there's some trick to get it working again, or is it toast and I need to buy a new one? Thanks!

[DTR]

When you say you've swapped them, have you swapped the stylii from cart to cart, or swapped the carts from table to table?

[djdavidvaux]

worth a shot but, take off the whole cartridge, lick your finger and rub it against the gold contacts. its either that, or your wires in the cartridge are bad or frayed...

[dskreet]

^I wouldn't do that. That could damage the tonearm contacts, maybe not right away but over time.

[Cryder]

Both, swapped styli and also swapped carts between decks, still the same issue. I take it that since everything's internalized on the concordes that it's pretty must doneski then, yeah?

[DTR]

Yeah, sounds like the cart's dud. But like DavidVaux said, it is worth giving the contacts a clean just in case. Use a pencil eraser though, no dribble.

[Jason Cerna]

worth a shot but, take off the whole cartridge, lick your finger and rub it against the gold contacts. its either that, or your wires in the cartridge are bad or frayed...

bad practice and should never be done. if you need to clean the contacts use an eraser, qtips and isopropyl alcohol or a proper cleaner like Caig Deoxit contact cleaner (can get this at radio shack).

[Cryder]

So I hit them with some deoxit I forgot I had lying around and it seems to have helped the problem for now, but in the meantime I did some research and it seems like this is a common problem with Ortofon carts so I ordered up some Shure whitelabels which are apparently designed specifically to keep this sort of thing from happening. Thanks everyone for helping decrease my noobness in the world of vinyl!

[DTR]

this is a common problem with Ortofon carts so I ordered up some Shure whitelabels which are apparently designed specifically to keep this sort of thing from happening.

:uhoh:

I used to use Whitelabels but I had no end of problems with faulty stylii. Other than that they were great carts so I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

What's the common problem with Orts that you read about? Back in the day Ort carts had domed contacts that would apparently push the tonearm contacts too far in and make a bad connection. Later the carts were modified to have shorter, flat-headed contacts. What ones have you got?

[Estacy]

, but in the meantime I did some research and it seems like this is a common problem with Ortofon carts

I had the same problem with one of my Concorde PRO elements, it was faulty out the box. under warranty I got a new one

[Cryder]

:uhoh:

I used to use Whitelabels but I had no end of problems with faulty stylii. Other than that they were great carts so I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

What's the common problem with Orts that you read about? Back in the day Ort carts had domed contacts that would apparently push the tonearm contacts too far in and make a bad connection. Later the carts were modified to have shorter, flat-headed contacts. What ones have you got?

These appear to be modern ones with flat heads. The common problem seems to be one of the channels dropping out completely, and when I tried to fix it that would typically make it worse. Age may be a factor with the carts themselves, I got them with my tables so I have no idea how old they actually are. I play 80% control vinyl 20% real vinyl so ultimate sound quality takes a backseat to a good strong signal, I know folks are passionate about their cart choices but I just need something I can depend on in front of a crowd!

[mostapha]

:uhoh:

I used to use Whitelabels but I had no end of problems with faulty stylii. Other than that they were great carts so I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

Weird. I only had good experiences with them.

[dskreet]

^ Me too, great sound quality, no issues for the years I had them.