What could be wrong?

Thanks for everyone's responses. I figured out what was wrong. It appears the connection from the cartridge to the tonearm cable was the culprit. When I originally attached the very thin tonearm leads to the pins on the cartridge, I just slipped them on; they are a bit on the loose side I'll be the first to admit. Obviously the connection wasn't very good, causing the sound from the left channel to fade out. All I did to fix the problem was just wiggle the connections and everything was ok.

So how do I prevent this in the future? I was thinking of using a pair of needle nose pliers and just crimping the connection to make it fit tighter. I'll only do this as a last resort because the cartridge pins are SO small and I don't really want to damage anything. Are there any other options for me? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

calgarian

Michael Fremer suggests using a toothpick to push into loose cartridge clips and then GENTLY squeezing the clips with needle nose pliers to close them down abit. You will have to remove them from the cart pins first, I know it seems obvious, but .............. Good luck.

You fixed it by cleaning the connections. Its a good idea to unplug and plug everything once in a while to clean.

The old toothpick trick works perfectly. It prevents you from squeezing the clip too much and flattening it out. A round wooden toothpick works best, just the shape you want and it "gives" a little.

Don't use needlenose pliers unless you also use a light touch. Finger pressure is often enough IME. Like any electrical connection, clean surfaces and a snug fit do work best.

After the above, contact cleaner followed by an enhancer will ensure a trouble free and sonically superior future.