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Tonearm Grounding Problems.

I need some suggestions concerning my Orbe/Graham 2 set-up. Since buying this combo I have had major grounding problems and I cannot seem to get them solved. Of course this was not helped by my Graham bellying-up either. My electronics are Naim if this helps.
My major problem is that if I wiggle my tonearm cable I get sharp pops and loud bangs to occur. I have tried 4 different cables and separate phono stages but nothing helps. I have tried cheater plugs to float the ground and a separate grounding wire attached to anything I can think of but it does not help. At issue is wheteher it is the arm the preamp or my house wiring. It is not the Ruby 2 or the arm wand that I know for sure. But because I have had trouble with the arm before it is the major suspect.
What is causing the discharges and how can I defeat them? Any ideas? I assume that the fifth pin of the mini DIN conneccctor inside the Graham is a internal ground for the arm. What exactly is it connected to?
gerardff
alexc's avatar
alexc
265 posts
 
How good is the connection between the RCA jacks on your Naim gear and the RCA plugs on your cable? I gave grounding problem withthe RCA jacks on my Linn Linto and the cable I am using because the RCA jacks on the Linn are short by audiophile standards and the silver RCA plugs on my tonearm cable don't grip them tightly enough..
extremephono
123 posts
 
First you should have a multimeter to test for signal continuity.

Do you have MC or MM? And do you use a Naim phono card ?

1) Assuming that the continuity for all the DIN to RCA is fine, check whether the center DIN (physical ground) is NOT connected to the negative shell of RCA/BNC.

2) Check that the Orbe power supply and ground is NOT connected to the center pin.

3) Detach the cartridge leads from the cartridge end, make sure that none of the leads are shorted or cross with another (assuming a torn lead jacket inside, they may short with another lead or ground.

I am assuming you are using MC card, not step-up transformer.

Send further e-mail to me I will try to help.

www.extremephono.com
gerardff OP
78 posts
 
Thanks for the relpies;
I do not think it is a contact issue between my RCA's and the preamp. I say this because I have tied into the preamp using three different inputs all using a different style of connector involving diffenernt phono connects. All have the problem.
I will attempt to do the system checks utilizing my multimeter. But I am not sure how to carry out some of the meas. that are mentioned. I sent an email to Xtremephono, as mentioned, regarding some details of his suggestions. I hope they are not too lengthy!
GerardFF
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