Fidelity HF12 - worth doing anything?

[Peter Rabbit]

Did buzz test which suggested amplifier ok. So tried cartridge from Tellux and confirmed, though not usable as shape results in inadequate contact with record. So now need to decide if want to spend more than player worth on a good replacement. Think about it for a bit so not likely to update anytime soon if at all.

[usradcoll1]

Originally Posted by Peter Rabbit

Phew Techman, quite a lot here.
1) It wasn't clear which connection you were talking about in post 35 and still isn't. Do you mean all other connections to the "pot "?
2) I'm making hard work of this because after never having done anything like this in 70 years it IS hard as far as I'm concerned.
3) Agree my soldering skills need improving but only soldering of mine on this is the reconnection of the resistor/green wire to tge pot.
3) Taking my time with multimeter so only been using diode/continuity position in ohms setting and dc setting for checking batteries (though not smoke alarm which is wired to mains).
4) no, haven't ordered a Chinese cartridge- got an issue with anything from there that costs so little, including postage, suggests very cheap labour.
5)I've an old Tellux player that I can probably transfer cartridge from for test purposes even tho won't fit arm as permanent replacement.
6) Tidied up the lump of solder so no contact with casing and motor running quite well again.

Regarding your #4 statement, Those Chinese cartridges seem to be rather good for the money! Even in the US, they're getting rather scarce, so if you want one that's where you have to go.
Dave, US radcoll1

[Peter Rabbit]

Dave, Thanks for comment. Do you know what brand name/ identifier is best to use to search for these? Quite a few different types and prices coming up just using "Chinese cartridge!"

[Edward Huggins]

Type in to your search engine "Red Generic Chinese Pickup Cartridge".
If you do buy one of these, bear in mind it will only give a low sound output through your basic amplifier and the LH and RH channels will need to be bridged as this is a stereo cartridge. You can buy from for £1.14. It can be fitted (on a purely temporary basis) into the BSR tone arm using Blutak.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by usradcoll1

Those Chinese cartridges seem to be rather good for the money! Even in the US, they're getting rather scarce, so if you want one that's where you have to go.
Dave, US radcoll1

That's absolutely correct!

You might think that the quality will be very suspect and that they will sound bad and probably spoil your records, but no, they're actually very good and the stylus seem to be perfectly made.

You have to remember that it's as Edward says in the above post, that these are medium output stereo ceramic cartridges, so the output will be low compared to the same type of crystal cartridge, but crystal cartridges haven't been made for many decades and so are now virtually unobtainable. Also, as Edward says, you'll have to bridge the two channels from the cartridge, although you'll get away with just connecting to a single channel for old mono records, and yes you can stick them in with Blutak as a temporary measure.

Another point is that they are not a twin stylus cartridge, so only have one stylus to play LP vinyl type records. If you want to play 78s then you'll have to buy two and use the stylus out of the spare to play them, making sure you mark it as such, as it's not a good idea to play vinyl record with the same stylus that you play shellac 78s with.

You'll need a stylus pressure gauge to set the weight of the pickup head when you fit a replacement cartridge, as the new cartridge will be a different weight to the original, look on ebay for one. The weight adjustment is by the spring that hooks in the set of holes in that metal strip that you can see under the arm in one of your previous photos, it wants to be around 5g weight at the stylus tip.

The original type of cartridge is a high output crystal type which have been out of production since the late 1960s, so are now totally unavailable. The nearest equivalent cartridge is the BSR that I've already mentioned in previous posts, but these are old stock from decades ago and being only medium output, they'll be a little low for your particular player, but you'll get away with it on loud records. These are now selling for around £40 as the stock runs out, so in my opinion not worth the expense for your particular player.

I believe that the Chinese black and red cartridges are probably no longer being made and it's just old stock being sold off, so I would advise forum members to stock up while they still can. I would advise the OP to get two to play around with. You can also get a replacement stylus for these, but they're the same sort of price as a complete cartridge. It says in some adverts that these are a diamond stylus, but I suspect that they may be just sapphire the same as the ones in the actual cartridge - someone should buy one just to confirm.

Below is a link to one of the Chinese cartridges as an example of what's available:-
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Turntable...MAAOSwUTZcwCp4

[Peter Rabbit]

Thanks very much for these comments which I will follow up. As I said right at the start I wouldn't mind getting this unit doing something but not at any price- I've a decent 70's Realistic Lab-500 turntable with spare Goldring and Shure cartridges linked to an Pioneer amplifier for playing Lps. The Fidelity was a random pick-up for next to nothing and for looks far more than quality.!

[leslie5555]

I can vouch for the Chinese red and black carts I have used them and they sound very good with no problem with tracking ect

[Peter Rabbit]

Final question, I hope, I see these cartridges have 4 terminals whilst player only has 2 pick-up cables, 1 red and 1 black. Presumably I will need to connect cartridge terminals together in some way to effectively produce only two outputs. Do you know which cartridge terminals go to each other to achieve this ?

['LIVEWIRE?']

With any stereo cartridge, the two channels are connected in Parallel -i.e. the two Positive terminals are joined together, as are the two Negative terminals. There should be indicators on the cartridge body as to which is which. This can be done by soldering a short length of thin wire to each of the two existing pickup leads with suitable terminals to connect to the pickup. On no account solder wires to the cartridge pins as the heat will immediately destroy the cartridge.

[Peter Rabbit]

Noted 're not soldering to cartridge. Do you have any recommended source for "suitable terminals " and how to describe these, size etc. Shops selling stuff like this are as rare as hens teeth these days so I guess internet search will be necessary.

[Station X]

Some decks have four wires running along the arm with two of them tucked back short of the cartridge. It's worth a check. If there are four wires you can do the bridging on the tag strip under the deck.

['LIVEWIRE?']

P.R., correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure you said there were only 2 wires in the pickup arm. Having said that, some manufacturers who fitted a mono cartridge from new, made provision for converting to a stereo one by fitting four wires in the arm and tucking the two unused ends into the space behind the cartridge. If this was done the 4 wires were taken to a tagstrip under the deck. If so, the two pickup positive leads, often red & green, could be bridged by soldering a short length of wire from one to the other on said tag-strip. The two negatives were usually bridged at the factory.

[Peter Rabbit]

Definitely only 2 wires, red and black. Red gies to switch, black to chassis.

[Edward Huggins]

I hope that red wire does not go to the "switch". I think you will find that it goes to one of the 3 tags on the side of the Volume Control potentiometer.

['LIVEWIRE?']

With only two wires, as Edward says, the red one will go to the volume control and is the signal lead. The only practical way , short of fitting two more wires in the P.U. Arm, of which I know, is to solder an extra short lead, terminated in the correct P.U.Tag, to each wire, then connect these to 1 channel of the cartridge, and the two original wires to the other. Musonic and others sell sets of 4 short leads, ready terminated, intended for use in detachable headshells. These would be ideal .

[Peter Rabbit]

Thanks for correction - yes, red connects to a tab on the volume control "potentiometer" (another lesson!)
I'll follow up re wired connectors and have a go when cartridge turns up (which looks like being some time yet.)

[Peter Rabbit]

Cartridge received and installed just using original wires to 1 channel and happy to say working ok. Sounds pretty good and from my point of view not worth risking soldering additional short wires and connectors to use other channel at this stage.
May now get second cartridge purely for 78's.
In meantime, thanks for all help and information with this.

[Edward Huggins]

If you are only using the player for old 45's (and 78's) that's fine, but if you play Stereo LPs on this, I'd remember you will only hear one channel and some recorded content will be missing.

[Peter Rabbit]

Thanks Edward.
Yes, I understand this and have decent equipment for playing my stereo Lps. But also have quite a few mono LPs, EPs and singles that will be fun to play on this old kit.