Replacement Stylus is weirdly quiet

I recently replaced my Ortofon 2M bronze stylus that was starting to go, and decided to just continue with the same model, since I really dug it. I brought it in to a shop to get it properly aligned and all that stuff and when I got it back the sound was eerily quiet. Whereas I'd normally need to put the volume to about 9:30 to get a nice blasting volume, I'm having to go to a straight 12:00 to get the same loudness. Aux and radio is EAR SHATTERING LOUD when at that volume setting.

I tested it with another receiver, it was also very quiet on that too, so it's not me being stupid and plugging it into the wrong phono input, it must be the new stylus. I want to stress that the sound is actually very good, if anything I think it was aligned better than the last time I had it done.

I don't quite understand what's wrong, and I can't wrap my head around needing to have that much more volume just from changing out styli, especially from the exact same model. I'm mostly worried about it screwing with the Signal/Noise Ratio, especially for my needledrops. Any ideas?

 

It may not be in all the way.

 

Unfortunately it feels like it's pushed all the way in, and didn't want to budge with any pushing. Local HiFi shop said it was a very strange thing to happen. Guess it's time to contact NeedleDoctor.

 

Ortofon has been pretty quick to respond to the couple of emails I've sent them. Maybe ask them directly and get their take on it?

 

Barring any inadvertent "changes" by the shop, they need to try another stylus in your cartridge.

Doug

 

I replaced my Bronze stylus. Although I didn't notice any change in loudness, I did notice they sounded different. The new one was much better at handling siblance.
Looking at both under a 40x magnifier, I also see that the new one was not mounted square to the canteliver like the older one was.

 

I emailed Ortofon, they said to send it on in, which I suppose is my next step. Judging from how Ortofon didn't give much in the way of advice and pretty much instantly suggested to send it in seems like it might be a problem they've seen lately. Thanks for all the suggestions/help. But man is that frustrating to have problems with receiver and turntable back to back.

 

I highly doubt there is something wrong with the cartridge or stylus, given you ran the cart and loved it. I have had the stylus out of my Ortofon 2M Bronze and reinstalled it with no issue. How much could go wrong with inserting a stylus? This one is too alignment specific and firmly loads into the proper location... Best of luck.

 

Well, I'm at a complete loss. I got my a replacement stylus directly from Ortofon, and it's the same problem (I was told that the stylus was "within tolerances", and got one with a "higher tolerance"). My Old stylus is much louder than the new one, and to get the new one to a proper listening volume requires me to go so loud on my receiver I'm getting background hiss and hum between songs. I'm at a complete loss of understanding of this phenomena, and really frustrated. Even more so since my speakers are about a foot away from my ears.

Seems my options are to get a completely new cartridge, ditching the much-loved Ortofon Bronze because it just won't be loud enough anymore

or get a Phono Pre Amp with slightly more gain, completely adding 600 minimum to my budget, as well as completely messing up my set up, being only one aux channel available, making it incredibly inconvenient to switch between Mono vinyl, Stereo vinyl, and a CD player.

Probably will just end up returning it to Needle Doctor and having to go to actual hifi stores and try new cartridges, thanks for all the suggestions guys. Just, what a month. Receiver breakdown, new needle troubles, and a stolen car. Hopefully march will look up, knock on wood.

 

Jeez, that's crazy ... doesn't make sense to me either ... good luck!

 

I guess the new stili are not up to spec. Time for another brand of cart ? Pity because you were fine with it's soung. German precision ? Meh.

 

weird problem.
Did the shop replace only the stylus or the whole cartridge ?
If ortofon did not drop the output voltage ( and based on their homepage, they did not) i guess the cartridge is not the culprit.
( please don't get this wrong, but do you trust the shop where you got it installed? )
Did you check the wiring/cables ?

 

The shop replaced just the stylus, not the cartridge/driver itself. I do trust the shop I got it done at. The stylus itself sounded amazing, better tracking and cleaner than the old one ever was. It's just too quiet, even after getting a replacement from Ortofon themselves. The driver itself is fine, switching out the old and new stylus. Also I checked the wiring, and it's spot on according to the manual.

 

any change to your loading set up?

 

Assuming you mean capacitive load, there's nothing to actually change. The Bronze has a recommended load capacitance of 150-300 pF (which I am probably incorrectly assuming that the styli themselves can vary between load capacitance), could that much of a change cause any amount of volume difference? I've never had to deal with load capacitance, since I've never had a real problem with the phono stage like this, so I really don't know and would like to. Perhaps I'm looking at this the wrong way, and may need to go for an external phono pre instead of of a higher output stylus.

 

Are you sure the shop got all of the leads attached appropriately (white to white, blue to blue, etc.)?

What are the phono cables from your arm/table plugged into, a receiver? If so, what brand/model?

 

You have a major problem that minor tweaks will not resolve. Just simply changing the stylus should not result in such an extreme loss of loudness. Even if the new replacement has design change, (perhaps a smaller, lighter magnet for instance) the change in output (loudness) would not be that extreme. It seems to me you have another problem not related to the replacement stylus.

I will list a few troubleshooting suggestions:

1) Try another cartridge. This may require the purchase of a second used headshell from ebay and a cheap cartridge. If the loudness is still very low, the problem is not the Ortofon cartridge.
2) Purchase a cheap generic replacement stylus that fits your cartridge, check the loudness level, If still very low, then the problem is not the Ortofon cartridge nor the replacement stylus.
3) What turntable are you using? If it has a detachable headshell, your headshell pins may be oxidized. They can be cleaned with a very small amount of automotive rubbing compound on a Q tip, then follow up with isopropyl alcohol. Make sure there is no fuzz stuck on the pins.
4) If you disconnected the cartridge leads, be sure they are reconnected properly. If the two hot leads and ground leads are crossed, the output may be very low on some cartridges/ phono preamps, depending on the circuit type.
5) Check your cables. =However= The fact that both channels equally low in loudness negates the likelihood the problem is in the cables.
6) Your phono amp may have an issue, however again, unlikely both channels would malfunction equally.
7) This may seem silly.. check your amp controls that relate to the phono inputs, such as "Impedance" or "phono level" or "Ceramic Cartridge/ Moving Magnet/ Moving Coil" switch. Your cartridge is "moving magnet" with an input impedance of 47K.

With a record playing, and volume control very low, try jiggling the input or function control. switch back to "phono. Listen for static or erratic volume. The problem may be a dirty function switch.

Again, the difference from 9 O'Clock to 12 O'Clock is abnormal. A difference to 10 O'Clock to 10:30 would be reasonable given a design change by Ortofon.

I hope this helps,
Steve VK