Ferguson 3010 replacement cartridge

[Techman]

Originally Posted by ITAM805

there's insufficient output vs more than enough hum pick up?

If you really do have a lot of hum with low audio as the volume control it turned up to maximum I would have said that you've got a faulty cartridge. If you've soldered the wires onto the cartridge tags while they were on the cartridge then heat from the soldering iron will have damaged the cartridge - always keep heat from a soldering iron well away from a cartridge.

[ITAM805]

hi Techman, I used tags so no heat on the cartridge. I did wonder if the cart is not putting out the expected voltage, is there a way of testing it I wonder, scope or perhaps a meter with peak hold?

I've also a transistor Fergie which by contrast is as loud as a loud thing with low hum level

[Edward Huggins]

The cartridge might be down. Well worth getting another as they are cheap enough. There are a range of variants of these Chinese catridges. Ideally, source a BSR X5M if you can. This is without doubt the best cartridge for your player and will require no bridging.

[BRASSBITS]

Originally Posted by ITAM805

hi Techman, I used tags so no heat on the cartridge. I did wonder if the cart is not putting out the expected voltage, is there a way of testing it I wonder, scope or perhaps a meter with peak hold?


I've also a transistor Fergie which by contrast is as loud as a loud thing with low hum level

what cartridge is in the fergie if suitable try swapping them round

[ITAM805]

Thanks BRASSBITS, I did consider doing that but I reasoned mistakenly the transistor player (3044?) would have a low impedance cartridge fitted - but I opened it up and surprise, it was BSR X5M So I swapped them over and it works a treat now, sounding louder although still more hum pick up than I'd like, but perhaps I'm expecting too much from a valve player, memories of a Dansette Tempo come to mind

I fitted the Chinese cartridge in the 3044 and it work well too, this player is still louder than the 3010 but it also has a couple of niggles that I will post in another thread...

[Edward Huggins]

The hum level in your player can be improved. How intrusive is it - can you still hear it with the record playing? On this model there should only be noticeable hum, when close to the speaker, toward the last 15-20% of the volume control's travel. Mine was as good as it gets with a UCL82/UY85 type amplifier and I never found it an issue.

[ITAM805]

Hi Edward

"How intrusive is it", when a rock track is playing then of course it's inaudible but I'm rather fastidious about noise so maybe it's just "normal" hum for a vintage valve player? As I said, the transistor player is much quieter and unobtrusive. I scoped the speaker terminal of both machines with the volume up full, not scientific but one can see the valve noise is somewhat higher

I should mention I have recapped the HT and the player is silent with the volume down. I'm interested to hear what can be done to improve matters?

[Edward Huggins]

You now have the ideal cartridge in the BSR X5M. Then check for adequate screening around the volume and tone controls and the tone arm screened cable to the volume control. Try moving around the mains cable away from any signal pick up points. Is the autochanger motor plate earthed to the amp chassis? Were the replacement smoother and reserviour caps the same (or higher value) as compared to the originals? Yes, the transistor amplifier may well have less hum, but these early germanium amps can be very noisy.

[ITAM805]

The wires from the cartridge are unscreened all the way to the input capacitors, so I'll replace with mini screened cable. I'll need to check the earthing but it's all original as much as I can tell. The replacement caps are 2x 47uF and a 33uF, the original were 2x 32uF and a 22uF, I think?

[Edward Huggins]

The "input capacitors" suggest that there are two mains isolating caps. Does this mean it has a 3 wire mains lead then? A screened cable should greatly improve things. Those slightly larger value smoothing components sound ideal.

[ITAM805]

Yes 2 isolating caps, and just the old fashioned red and black 2 core mains