Fuzz from Speakers, but No Music from Turntable!

[Alex B]

Hey y'all,

I am setting up an old Technics turntable and unable to get music to come out of the darn thing. I have my turntable, with RCA cables running into a pre-amp, and that pre-amp with RCA cables running into an amp. The amp has speaker wire running from the back into a pair of un-powered speakers. I twisted the speaker wire and tucked it into the tabs on the back of the amp. On the speaker end, I inserted the wire into two pairs of banana plugs and stuck those in the speakers. The polarity should be correct, but the banana plugs are girthy and only go about halfway into the respective speaker inputs.

When I try to play vinyl, the speakers emit fuzzy distortion noises, so the electricity is getting from the turntable to the speakers. But no music plays. All you can hear is the needle running through the grooves and the soft sound of unamplified music from the table.

The pre-amp, amp & speakers are new. The only causes for concern that I can pinpoint are:

(1) Something wrong with the table / cartridge, where the phono signals aren't reaching the pre-amp.

(2) The fact that the banana plugs only go about halfway into the speaker inputs.

Any suggestions / advice would be appreciated.

 

[lovinthehd]

A phono-specific pre-amp? Or? What make/model? Try using a bare wire connection to the speaker instead of banana plugs.

 

[Alex B]

It's a phono-specific pre-amp. Pfantone PRE-600 (https://www.amazon.com/Pfantone-AMP-2-PRE600-Phono-Preamp/dp/B000928M4U) to be exact.

I used a bare wire connection to the speaker instead of banana plugs, and there was no difference. Still fuzz / distortion, but no music.

 

[lovinthehd]

What turntable/cartridge?

 

[Alex B]

The turntable is a Technics SL-B20 and the cartridge is an Audio Technica LS 450/LT

I tried to run the table about an hour ago and noticed that the needle was skating across the vinyl as well. Bought a new needle today that I thought was compatible. It's a 4212-DE.

 

[lovinthehd]

You bought a replacement stylus or a new cartridge? This post is about the result with the new one or old one?

Seems you need to go thru cartridge setup perhaps.

 

[Alex B]

Bought a replacement stylus today. Apologies, should have specified.

This post is about the result with the new one. The old stylus was bent and had to be replaced.

 

[lovinthehd]

Download the manual if you don't have the paper copy and go thru the cartridge setup routine would be my next step.

 

[TLS Guy]

Bought a replacement stylus today. Apologies, should have specified.

This post is about the result with the new one. The old stylus was bent and had to be replaced.

If it is skating across the record, then your turntable is not set up properly. Setting up a turntable is a finicky arduous task. Turntables are NOT plug and play and not for the non technically inclined and unskilled.

 

[Mike Ruby]

Your TT uses a p-mount cartridge and accordingly it doesn't take that much to set up. No protracting is necessary. It is critical that you track at least 1.5 grams with that cartridge. It is possible to set up without a tracking force scale, but it's a cheap tool that is a good thing to have. Also make sure to turn the anti-skate to 0 grams while you adjust the tracking force.

 

[Mike Ruby]

It's been a while since I've set up a technics p-mount TT. I'm not sure you can even adjust the tracking weight, but I do believe that you can adjust the antiskate. I would set the antiskate for 1.5g's