Cartridge issue

[Adrian]

O.k. gents.... a quick query to see if anybody has had this issue before....

About 10+ years ago I purchased a Audio Technicia AT 33EV cart..... had it stored in a drawer for a while and then fitted it onto a fairly basic TT at the time.

All fine until it was noticed that one channel dropped out. I did not look too much into the issue at the time..... so I decided to box it up with the intention of getting it fixed / repaired at some stage. Needless to say I forgot all about it..as the AT33EV is a basic enough cart (300e at the time, but closer to 600e now). I got going down the Ortofon line instead for a few years and then switched to Clearaudio.

The other day... on rooting through the drawers I came across the AT box.... and there was the EV33 inside. I remembered I never got to the bottom of the issue, so with a multimeter I confirmed both coils were working o.k.

So I mounted the cart yesterday..... got it all set up etc etc.... and it was playing away in stereo no bother. Sound was acceptable.... had it's own soundstage / timbre etc... but nothing wrong with it. My impression was that there is better to be had.... but perhaps with a bit more tweaking I might get it to sound better, but not much.

Then after about 45 minutes of playing in stereo..... it dropped to mono. No hiss, crackle.... nothing.... just left speaker silent and right speaker playing music.

Dismounted the cart, fitted a Denon DLA 100 ( really beautiful sounding cart btw)..... got it all set up etc and I've been listening to stereo vinyl since then.

I suspect there must be a dry joint in one of the channels inside the cart assembly..... which had me thinking if any of you guys experienced this issue before? Other than a dry joint... I can't think of anything else..... static build up perhaps?

I'm not losing sleep over this one... as it is not a mega expensive cart ( although prices of stuff in the last 10 years has gone up big time). On another note.... the Audio Technicia webpage has some very interesting gear.... well worth a visit if you have the time.

[Brutus1968]

It could be either like you say, or a bad contact between the right channel pin of the cartridge and the cable lead of the tonearm. If the cable lead slides too easily on the cartridge pin you could try to gently close it a little bit. Most of the times pressing it between the thumb and index finger is enough.

Best