Bent the cantilever on my new Marantz TT15S1

I am the proud new owner of a Marantz TT15S1 with Clearaudio Virtuose cartbridge.
Picked it up Saturday for a good price. Traded my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon in with the buy.

When I came home I started "assembling" the table. Assembling was not to difficult but still not easy for a noob like me. When the table was assembled I went on with the tuning of the counterweight and anti skating... and then it happened....

I was ready with the tuning and dropped the needle for the first time on (thank god) an old test record. But when the needle dropped i heard a terrible sound coming from the speakers. I put the lever in the top position and looked to see what was wrong.

Then a terrible feeling hit me when i saw the cantilever was bended towards the inside of the cartridge. An 800 dollar cartridge gone....

In my despair i bended the cantilever back to, what it seems to me, its old position.

I dropped the needle again, and the record started playing. No distortion, no weird noises.

It looks like everything is good now, but I am still worried about what happened.

Do you guys think the cantilever is out of balance now and can hurt the records?
Everything sounds fine, but the cantilever was fully bended.

Please help.

 

Sorry to hear about your mishap, Fr1tsie. Not from personal experience, but if you do some on-line research, you'll find that your cartridge uses Audio Technica parts and although the CA stylus isn't supposed to be replaceable, it is apparently possible to fit the AT95E (or one of its improved aftermarket versions) stylus on there. So, if in a pinch, you may have this escape route open to you. Also, if you're able to remove the stylus assembly from the cartridge, I think you'll see a tiny screw (sealed with some lacquer) at the back of the cantilever suspension, typical for AT styli? If that's where the bending occurred (cantilever pulled out from the bushing, without breakage), it has been reported by some AT users that repositioning the cantilever and re-tightening the screw can fix a damaged cartridge. By bending it back, you may have already pushed the cantilever back in the bushing and it may well be fine (but it's bound to be a bit of a weak spot now).

 

Sorry to hear about what happened. That really sucks, I've been there.

I recommend when adjusting the counterweight, anti-skate etc. to lock the tonearm in the tonearm rest, or keep the cueing lever up. It may make it a bit more tedious, but will lessen the chance of any possible mishaps from happening.

Best of luck.

 

I would talk to the dealer. Do you think it is defective?

 

Yesterday I did a close inspection of the cantilever. I now see that it is still a little bend. I am unable to bend it fully staight without breaking it.
I played some records and noticed that the needle is gathering a lot of dust with each record that is fully cleaned. Never had that before.
I am afraid it still needs replacement.

I read about the replacing the cantilever with an AT95e one as stated by Antares. It looks like a possible route to go. But its tricky. And if i damage the suspension the element is gone... I can also send it to a dealer here which can retip it for approx 200 Euro. Maybe I am going for that route. It takes two months to repair it cause the dealer is very busy. I was thinking of buying a AT440Mla in the mean time so that I can enjoy my records.

 

The way I understand it, it should be possible to remove the whole stylus assembly (with cantilever, suspension and V-magnets). Maybe there's a cover on the bottom of the cartridge that needs to come off first. The AT95 type stylus assy's should then click right on, but to make it look more or less original, their "side flaps" can be trimmed off first.

If 200 is for a genuine CA repair, that sounds like a fair offer though. If it's for a 3rd party re-tipping service without too many references however, I'd be inclined to go the DIY route with a Hyper-Elliptical stylus from Thakker (for about 80 I believe).

 

I bought a 1 year old Marantz TT15S1 with a Clearaudio Virtuoso cartridge from someone who had a similar story.
http://www.sound-smith.com/ Was able to fix it with an upgraded stylus. The seller just wanted to give me full disclosure and even gave me the receipt. If I recall, it was somewhere in the 200-250 range, but worth it considering how nice a cartridge that is.

 

I can't say enough about Soundsmith. Excellent service.
Tim

 

Well this table is turning in a complete nightmare. I am ready to trow it out of the window. I contacted the supplier. He asked for a photo of the bended needle. In order to make a good picture I had to remove the cartridge. Well, the wiring on the cartridge was stuck. I had to use some force to remove it. Well one of the wires snapped of. The tonearm is hard wired, so i guess i can trow the whole thing away. Man, do I hate this table!

 

I had a Virtuoso ebony wood from a TT-15 retipped by Soundsmith and it was better than before. However since you are in Europe that may not be the best option for you. Soundsmith does excellent work, but they do tend to have a back log. The headshell leads are a bit easy to break as you discovered. The person I sold my TT-15 to was able to solder the lead back on after he broke it setting it up. The tonearm is basically ClearAudio so a dealer may be able to repair it fairly easily.

 

damn sorry to hear about your turntable mishaps. Hope you get it all sorted out.

 

Take a deep breath and follow up with your supplier. I'm sure things can be worked out to everyone's satisfaction. Live and learn but don't break the turntable or you'll have nothing to show for your hard earned money.

 

It doesn't sound like a reliable unit, or perhaps you got a crappy one. But still, at that price, it should be working very well. Contact the supplier or manufacturer and see what they can do. And if you have any doubts about your needle, I would have it replaced, or at the very least inspected...good luck!

 

Thanks for all your positive answers. Unfortunately my dealer couldn't do anything about it. Now I know why the table was sold for such a good price. They haven't got the technical support to fix it or come with a new solution.

I brought the arm to a good dealer in my city. This man has much experience with turntables. He is going to look into the problem and tries the solder the snapped of wire back on. This week i know if he succeeded.

If he didn't.... I am going to pull out a fair amount of extra money for a possible rewiring of the whole arm.

 

Dave, that's not a fair comment. The OP has admitted he used force on the thin cartridge wires - of course they're going to pull off. It also sounds like the tracking weight wasn't set properly to cause the cantilever damage and "correcting" the cantilever wasn't a good idea. I would suggest the OP suck it up, get Soundsmith to repair the cartridge and get a professional to set the turntable up.

 

I measured the tracking force repeatedly with an Shure tracking force meter. The values were good. And the second time I dropped the needle (after bending the cantilever back) the needle didn't bend. I think the bending happened before the time... Yes I am a noob at this point, but they said it was an easy install. I don't agree with that! The dealer in my city said to me never to mess around with these things and always let the dealer set it up for you.

But in the end it was my own fault, so hoping for the best.

 

Well, as I said maybe he got a faulty one. It happens.

But it doesn't look like that's the case, so anyway, no problem.

 

Yep, it will take a delicate hand and some suitable tools to solder the cartridge clip back on, but there's no unrepairable damage done. It's a (albeit expensive) lesson learned and hopefully you'll still enjoy your turntable for a long time to come. Vinyl is a bit of a journey, with ups and downs and a lot of experience to gather along the way.

 

Indeed Antares, I learned my lesson I am just a beginner in the vinyl world. But I love it to much to give it up. For the moment I am forced to play Cd's. I really miss the sound of the LP all ready. Hoping to get back on track next week.

 

That's cool, you gotta start somewhere. At least you're still giving it a go instead of giving up!

 

If the cartridge was indeed damaged by lowering the stylus normally, then yes, it was faulty. It's also possible that the cantilever was damaged during set-up. At that point, the turntable should have been returned.
Traps for young players:
- always used the (hopefully) supplied stylus guard. Cartridge damage during set up will happen.
- always remove cartridge connecting wires with a flat blade of a jewellers screwdriver to help slide the connectors off. Never pull on either the wires or the connectors.
- you can't fix a bent cantilever by straightening it - the cartridge needs service.
- normal usage of a cartridge will not damage a cantilever.

 

I bought and set up one of those turntables 2 years ago and - thank my lucky stars - have not had one iota of trouble with it. If you ever get your issues worked out you will be thrilled with the purchase. I have my fingers crossed for you!