Buzz stops when I touch tonearm

Hey guys,

I have an Audio Technica AT-LP120 turntable with a Shure M97 stylus hooked up to the built in preamp on a NAD 316 BEE v2 amp.

Until recently I heard no buzz coming out of my speakers. But now for some reason I hear a very slight buzzing sound (I have to turn my amp up pretty loud to even be able to hear it) and if I put my hand on the tone arm the buzzing stops. I know this is typically a grounding issue, but I just kind of wondered if you guys have any ideas as to why this would start happening all of a sudden.

I really appreciate everyone on this forum, and thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

I believe the phono leads are detachable.
Try another set.
Poor screening will cause this as impedance is high on phono making this
A requirement.
I find mogami leads excellent.
Cd being line level would be ok with leads currently in use.
Expensive leads not always suitable
I had same issue on my TD150.
You could try a wire held temporary from tonearm to amp ground.
Ground wire usually connected to base of tonearm.
By curing problem by touching
Arm ( your body is acting as ground)

 

The leads actually aren’t detachable but I will try to ground it. Thanks!

 

When you touch the tonearm you're connecting your body to the tonearm ground, effectively making your body a giant shield (it's not actually becoming a path to ground). Since your hum is very low level and you have to turn up the system to hear it and it goes away when you ground you're body to the arm (and theoretically at that point you're standing close to the cartridge), my guess is that your body is shielding the cart from some nearby source of induced hum. But it's pretty hard to troubleshoot low level hum in a phono system from afar.

 

That makes sense. I recently put one of those 1ArcadeUp Mortal Kombat machines next to my turntable - perhaps that is causing the issue? I will investigate - thank u sir

 

Video game console to turntable: “Finish Him!”

 

I learn something from this thread.
Thank you Chervokas.
One is never too old to learn.

 

Why do people keep buying these turntables when:
1. The anti-skate is bad, they revised the spring to make it a different bad;
2. There is no ground wire;
3. The tonearm length and assembly is sloppy and installing the same headshell and cart on different AT120s will give you different alignments;
4. The preamp when turned off still loads down the cart;
5. The inside looks like a science fair project:



(compare to the insides of a Technics SL-Q3 fully-automatic ... it was hard to find a pic of the insides of a Technics, while googling "AT120 Hum" alone gets you tons of threads and pics)

 

Well for me I just didn’t know any better. I bought my turntable before I discovered this forum. And really I didn’t expect for this thing to develop into the obsession it has! So yeah my next upgrade is a turntable - or maybe a DAC. Kinda reminds me of this Hunter S quote:

“The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. Probably at the next gas station.”

 

I hate you

 

Try reversing the AC plug on either the turntable or the amplifier. Harby forget to mention the cogging issue and the cue lever drops the arm like a rock. I've had my AT-LP120 usb for three years. The only problem I've had is the cue lever damping fluid issue. As long as I track below 1.5 grams the A/S works fine. There are many reasonably priced high compliance cartridges that will track .75 to 1.2 grams. Overall a very nice turntable at a entry level price.

 

Yes, the problem appears to be that you have a turntable. I would recommend you try one of these:

sorry, sometimes I can’t resist

 

I love it. My 5 year old son is now obsessed with the Beatles and seeing each characters Fatalities - hmm not sure if I’m a good father or not!

I will try this when I get home. Thanks!

 

Ive been thinking about going this direction as well. After being around this forum for awhile, sound quality has become much more important to me (go figure). And as much as I love vinyl, the cost + maintenance is starting to get a little insane. Haha thanks for the post

 

You may want to experiment with placement of your TT and any components with a large transformer on your rack. The relative positions of these components can greatly affect induced hum.

 

Have another beer. Get your buzz back!

 

On a small budget (I assume it by TT model you choose) sound-wise digital IMHO is a much more sensible choice.

 

Haha, its funny you said that - when I read the post topic again to myself I thought the same thing! That IS a depressing thought, tho...the records are always better with a buzz.

Small budget indeed, although originally I really didn't expect to get into vinyl that much or I would have forked over a LITTLE more cash (also admittedly my ignorance had much to do with my TT choice). I do enjoy the sound of vinyl - recently acquired the Beatles Mono Masters and damn I really dig the sound some of these tracks put out. And looking on discogs at the price of a lot of CDs really makes it tempting. I also want to get a DAC so that I can output audio files to my amp. Cheap CD player + decent DAC? Kill two birds with one stone?

I am going to experiment with the suggestions I've gotten so far on this thread when I get home. Thanks for your time posting.

 

I had this issue and the problem was my ground wire from the turntable cables worked loose from the ground screw on the back of my receiver.

 

If you haven't seen it yet, I use this stuff in the damping well of the arm lift on my LP120. Works great.Silicone Damping Fluid For Tonearm Cueing Mechanisms, Damping Troughs and Monopivots

 

Hey guys when I got home tonight I ended up moving some stuff around and moved the arcade machine and the hum is gone. Feel like this was a stupid question, but thank you everyone who posted suggestions.

Good man!

 

When a hum or buzz appears out of nowhere, the first thing to suspect is a connection problem. The connections can become oxidized, not necessarily visible, even though everything can appear normal. The turntable connections are susceptible to this kind of problem, and can appear suddenly... and again, even though oxidation is a slow process.

Turn off the pre-amp, disconnect all turntable leads and reconnect. This should take care of the problem. The act of disconnecting/ reconnecting "scrapes" off some of the patina, and restores intimate electrical connection. The best, of course would be to clean with micro-polish with Meguire's Ultimate compound, on a Q tip stick, (cut off the cotton ball) then follow up with isopropyl and air dry.

When connecting any RCA connector, turn to the left 90 degrees, then during insertion twist to the right 90 degrees. The twisting action helps to make a good connection.

If the turntable has any connections internally which are not soldered, these should be reconnected or cleaned also.
I believe the AT-120 has a detachable headshell. clean those contacts too.

Be sure to have a can of compressed air as a final clean. It is important to be fussy.

 

Thanks for this information man. My issue seems to have been resolved, but this is good stuff to know.