Orfoton OMB cartridge problem

[bikerhifinut]

If you need a new stylus then it may be worth investigating a new replacement cartridge and right now the best value I can see out there is the new Audio technical VM95 range which starts at around £30 uk retail shop price for the basic conical stylus. all the way to a fancy shibata tip at the thick end of £200 but all on the same body. I think AT are rationalising their ranges so the new VM cartridges incorporate the low budget end upwards. I like the captive threaded mounting holes so no fiddling with nuts n bolts which aids mounting and set up immensely.
A new 5E stylus is £45! which considering a complete OM5E cartridge is £50 kind of makes one think twice! 'twas always thus though. Shopping around may find a better deal, but I have been pleasantly surprised of late with the prices and service from one of the bigger specialist dealers. Richer sounds are no cheaper in this case but that's possibly got a lot to do with the policy of Henley who are the UK agents for ortofon (and project) and they don't seem to like discounters. And in truth AT's prices are pretty keen in the scheme of things.
A.
Andy

[Martin Bush]

Photos attached of current situation. I now have the parts I need (bar the weight) thanks to norman and bikerhifinut.

I'm attaching pictures here as cant seem to attach to a PM for biker.

For anyone else reading I'm pretty confident a rewire is not needed. Also, the band in the background of one picture is just to hold the arm in place while moving the deck around

[bikerhifinut]

looks good Martin.
If the white wires long enough to reach the cartridge pin just solder one of those tags I sent on and bobs yer uncle. I am assuming the green wire is intact and its just the camera angle?
It'll likely work ok without the antiskate weight, don't ask me how I know! They are devils for getting themselves disconnected.
But a bit of silk thread or very fine monofilament fishing line if you have a pal who ties flies etc, and anything that weighs 3.5g on the end of it and you are away. I am not sure which of the 3 positions equates to the recommended 1.75g tracking force of an OM5E but I would go middle for diddle and see. Its a bit of a black art anyway and some cartridges respond differently than others.
I was listening to my sisters debut3/OM5E yesterday and it sounded very pleasant indeed, excellent speed stability and I even checked the accuracy with a strobe and it was spot on with neglible drift. You can get a better bass and HF performance with something like an Ortofon 2M but you'd be shelling out £100+ and that's a fair few records innit! And frankly I think anything further up the food chain than the basic 2M Red wouldn't give of its best in the Pro-Ject.
If for any reason I had to lose my faithful old Michell Gyro/Rega arm deck and use the Debut3 I would still enjoy the music being produced.

Andy.

[ajgriff]

I'm surprised to see that original Project bias weights with nylon thread are relatively inexpensive. SME charges over three times as much for a 3009 SII weight although it is camera chromed rather than painted matt black.

Alan

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by ajgriff

I'm surprised to see that original Project bias weights with nylon thread are relatively inexpensive. SME charges over three times as much for a 3009 SII weight although it is camera chromed rather than painted matt black.

Alan

£10.49 with free postage on Amazon, first ad I looked at.
At that price its a no brainer unless you have a neat tidy 3.5gr weight and the fine thread already to hand.
Probably costs 49p to make but hey ho spare parts always seem relatively very expensive whether its for your car or your stereo.
A.

[bikerhifinut]

Just had another look at those photos Martin and I can't see the green wire for the ground return on RH channel just the white LH hot and blue LH ground plus Red RH hot. Is the green wire there at least as a bit of tail that you can solder a short bit of the fine tonearm wire I sent you?

A.

[ajgriff]

Originally Posted by bikerhifinut

£10.49 with free postage on Amazon, first ad I looked at.
At that price its a no brainer unless you have a neat tidy 3.5gr weight and the fine thread already to hand.
Probably costs 49p to make but hey ho spare parts always seem relatively very expensive whether its for your car or your stereo.
A.

Yes and they're slightly cheaper still on eBay. Recently made one for an SME 3009 SII because I needed the heavier version which is now virtually impossible to find at any price, let alone a reasonable one. Used some brass rod plus fine nylon fishing line and ended up with a satisfactory replica without the camera chrome finish of course. I was going to offer to make Martin one for the cost of materials, postage and the price of a pint but that wouldn't have generated a worthwhile saving in this case.

By the way I have 99m of fine fishing line going spare if anyone needs a foot or two!

Alan

[joebog1]

A couple of things!!!

Where do you blokes get pricing for Ortofon carts? Please see attached scan. Multiply Aussie bucks to get GBP values.

I made anti skate weights by using a (camera chromed) English made 4BA spacer obtained from some ancient piece of test equipment. I use 2 pound fly fishing line and a tiny "dob" of black silicone. See attached pic of my SME 3009.

To add weight I fill the spacer with 0.35mm solder. To reduce weight I cut a little off.

See pic

Joe

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by ajgriff

Yes and they're slightly cheaper still on eBay. Recently made one for an SME 3009 SII because I needed the heavier version which is now virtually impossible to find at any price, let alone a reasonable one. Used some brass rod plus fine nylon fishing line and ended up with a satisfactory replica without the camera chrome finish of course. I was going to offer to make Martin one for the cost of materials, postage and the price of a pint but that wouldn't have generated a worthwhile saving in this case.

By the way I have 99m of fine fishing line going spare if anyone needs a foot or two!

Alan

With guys like you, Martin should get it all up and running and inside a decent budget.
I have been in touch again with martin and we are waiting to find out if he can get at the end of the green RH ground wire in the tonearm as it appears to have been broken/snapped off, the 4th wire in the photo is the black chassis ground/earth wire which is soldered to a stud/tag on the end of the headshell section of the arm.
martins got enough parts to pretty much do everything up to and including a complete internal rewire, which I fervently hope won't be necessary.

Andy.

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by joebog1

A couple of things!!!

Where do you blokes get pricing for Ortofon carts? Please see attached scan. Multiply Aussie bucks to get GBP values.

I made anti skate weights by using a (camera chromed) English made 4BA spacer obtained from some ancient piece of test equipment. I use 2 pound fly fishing line and a tiny "dob" of black silicone. See attached pic of my SME 3009.

To add weight I fill the spacer with 0.35mm solder. To reduce weight I cut a little off.

See pic

Joe

very nice job Joe, I think that's the least of Martins problems though.

So ortofons are about half the UK price in Orstrilia?
This doesn't surprise me as the UK importer/distributor is very strict on discounting, I found this out some years ago, when buying a MC30 Supreme from a well known and usually competitively priced UK online/postal dealer. He had the hard word so to speak and was effectively blocked from sourcing his ortofons outside the UK and was also accused of providing sub standard "grey" imports. Well the grey import bit was true enough I guess but the shop owner assuered me when I phoned up and asked the direct question that his ortofons were perfectly good and on spec, merely he was buying from a wholesaler that wasn't taking a big cut. Anyway he was rather disgruntled with the way he was treated and now no longer sells ortofons.
This I suspect is not just restricted to one brand, say wht you like about eBay and other online retail outlets but it's blown open the way that markets operate in cartels. My opinion only, not a statement of fact.
I'll drop you an email Joe, it's been a while. Hope conditions over there aren't causing you too much grief.

A

[Nickthedentist]

Yes, I've found Ortofon cartridges very rarely available at much less than their RRP.

[ajgriff]

I don't know whether or not Joe's catalogue is current but the prices now being quoted for OMB 5 cartridges by some Australian suppliers are more than double those shown in his attachment. If you can get them at those prices Joe I'd buy in a stock. You could make a healthy profit on re-sale!

Alan

[bikerhifinut]

Originally Posted by ajgriff

I don't know whether or not Joe's catalogue is current but the prices now being quoted for OMB 5 cartridges by some Australian suppliers are more than double those shown in his attachment. If you can get them at those prices Joe I'd buy in a stock. You could make a healthy profit on re-sale!

Alan

Oh so true!

the OM range is pretty much discontinued now in favour of the 2M.

only the OM1, 5S (spherical tip) ,5E are now in their main line up. kind of makes sense as the next step up the range falls into the 2M Red price point andfor me the "M range does present an audibleimprovement.
I now use a 2M bronze instead of the previous ortofon MC equivalent as a more affordable replacement and have been very impressed to the point of gobsmacked at its capabilities. Still think they are over priced though, the equivalent AT MM carts are a good bit cheaper and also highly rated. The ortofons are a breeze to mount and align though and I often think that bad alignment is the reason why many don't think much of vinyl replay all else being equal. I have had a few very modest turntables through my hands belonging to family and friends and all really improved after an hour with the protractor and electronic stylus force gauge. but I stray OT.

[Nickthedentist]

Also, all those ceramic cartridges in Joe's attachment look too good to be true too.

[Martin Bush]

This post is just a quick update re the missing wire. I found it barely visible just inside the arm hole.

The picture just shows what I've managed to pull out. Theres about 3mm so I am going to have a go at soldering on an extension. It wont be pretty but it's all i can do i think.

See if you can spot it. That's the best picture I can get with any sort of focus.

[ajgriff]

How is the wiring secured at the other end? Presumably it's soldered to some sort of tag strip underneath the plinth. If so it might be possible to unsolder the green wire temporarily at that end so that at the headshell end the wire can be pulled through further to make it easier to add the extension. Important not to pull it through too far so that it gets lost at the other end of course. Once everything's sorted with the cartridge tags the green wire can be re-soldered to the tag strip. Just a thought.

Alan

[Martin Bush]

It's an excellent thought. However I've soldered on a tail now with a connector on the end. A very tricky operation but it's done. Looks ok to me... for now

[ajgriff]

Job done! That's the important thing.

Alan

[Martin Bush]

Yes, exactly! anyone who has read my threads or knows me will know I have very little time to do this sort of thing, so I have ploughed on while the going was good.

So now I have a full compliment of wires with plugs on. I only hope my connections are good. At this scale I didnt want to do too much prodding when it looked like I'd made the joint.

[bikerhifinut]

well done martin!
ok well if possible I'd put a bit of the thin shrink wrap over the joint once you are satisfied theres continuity right through to the phono plugs. And maybe a thicker bit quite short around all 4 wires at the end of the armtube to give a wee bit of extra strength?

I hope it all comes together now Martin, if it does you have a very nice turntable that should sound very good in any system

Andy.