Chuck Shivers Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Hey guys, I own a Pro-Ject Debut III. I upgraded to a 2M Red cartridge but the new cartridge is too heavy for my counterweight so I stuck some magnets on the back of the counterweight to balance things out. Fast forward a month later, I now have a the MOTHER of all hums coming out of my speakers, my turntable is completely unlistenable. Ive ordered some new RCA cables to see if that fixes the problem, but im wondering if I fucked everything up with those magnets. Anyone out there have a firm grasp on the science of magnets and turntables that could tell me for sure? Thank you in advance, Chuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinch Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Is there a possibility you might have unplugged the ground wire? If the magnet had any kind of a negative impact, it would be instantaneous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Shivers Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 41 minutes ago, slinch said: Is there a possibility you might have unplugged the ground wire? If the magnet had any kind of a negative impact, it would be instantaneous. Aah, I see. It certainly was not instantaneous. It was a slow build for sure. Ground wire was not the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjorn Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Do you have your old cart? Try putting it back on and ditching the magnets. That might isolate the issue to your 2M Red. slinch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Shivers Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 1 hour ago, bjorn said: Do you have your old cart? Try putting it back on and ditching the magnets. That might isolate the issue to your 2M Red. That's definitely a good idea. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gryphon Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) It looks unlikely that the magnets have caused the problems directly. Magnetic fields are not going to act more than 10cm from the weight so the magnet will not act on your cartridge. However, the extra weight will act on your bearings maybe and/ or the declicate wires coming out of the arm and going into the turntable . It is possible that you have managed to move one of those or maybe rub some of the insulation off over time. There is another possibility...if there were electronic components under the place where the magnet were fixed then you could have caused a change in them with the magnetic field of the magnet.....this could maybe cause a hum........The last possibility is the grounding issue mentioned above. Edited October 5, 2016 by The Gryphon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Shivers Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 8 hours ago, The Gryphon said: It looks unlikely that the magnets have caused the problems directly. Magnetic fields are not going to act more than 10cm from the weight so the magnet will not act on your cartridge. However, the extra weight will act on your bearings maybe and/ or the declicate wires coming out of the arm and going into the turntable . It is possible that you have managed to move one of those or maybe rub some of the insulation off over time. There is another possibility...if there were electronic components under the place where the magnet were fixed then you could have caused a change in them with the magnetic field of the magnet.....this could maybe cause a hum........The last possibility is the grounding issue mentioned above. Thank you. I'll double check the wires under the arm, but I'm pretty sure they're all secured. The weight of the magnets helped balance out the tone arm for sure. I was more worried about magnifying the wires inside the tone arm. The magnets are very small, smaller than a watch battery, BUT they're VERY strong. I just wanted to make sure a magnet couldn't flat out ruin a cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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