Please help me I am in trouble with my new table..


Hello,

I have been waiting for my cartridge to arrive to set up my new Nottingham Spacedeck w/ Anna arm. This is the first time I have ever attempted to set up a table. I have been getting prepared for this for months. I had everything ready and just when I was almost done I broke a tonearm wire at the clip where it connects to the cart. I can't believe this. I was trying to be as gentle as possible having been warned they were fragile. I am beyond upset. Can someone please tell me how hard this is going to be to get fixed. Can I do it here? This is unbelievable. Please direct me to a thread or how I can get this figured out. I have been buying albums for the past 3 months and now I just feel like I am about to give up. Thanks and sorry for the complaining, just massively disappointed.
nicksgem10s
Hi there,
feel your pain !
a) can you solder?
b) if not find a local dealer who can
if you still have the tag & have any qualms about soldering give it to someone who can - there will not be much leeway so it has to be done right or you will be looking at having the arm re-wired, not cheap.
It's part of the joy of tables & when you get it up & running it will be worth it!
Si
I don't guess you live close enough for me to repair the problem?

If no, anyone with a little repair experience can reattach the cartridge clip. You need a fine point solder iron and a bit of patience :^).

You have NOT permanently damaged anything nor reduced the quality of your investment. Relax, just get it fixed and go on with the music.

Most of us have made this same mistake (or worse).
Thanks for the replies. Albert, I live in the suburbs of Detroit. I wish I did live near you. I don't know if I should attempt this project myself or not. I thought I could set up the table/cartridge without screwing up and look what happened. I would love to have someone local help but I don't know if that is possible. Would it be wise to have an electronic repair shop solder the clip back on for me? Do they have to be an audio dealer to do the job correctly? Thanks again. I feel better knowing that this can be fixed. I appreciate all of you. Thanks for the warning Simon, I would really like to avoid any additional expense for the repair.
Send it out and pay the $75 worth of trouble to get the arm repaired properly. I am sure with the small are of soldering, there is little margin of error. $75 investment for 1 hour of a good technician's time is not expensive, in consideration to what you have invested in your system.
Nicks,

Soldering the clip back is a five minute job, tops. If you have a local dealer with some solder experience they should be able to do the job.

If we keep this thread open for a few days, there may even be a fellow Audiogon member near you (Detroit area) that could help you out.

Did you purchase the arm separately and install it yourself? I ask, because if no one else offers (near you), ship the arm to me. I will repair and return the same day for cost of shipping only.
Here's what can be done in this situation:
Take a piece of solid-core cooper wire 12AWG and pry it at the end with pliers so that you will have a screwdriver-like ending.
Then take a thin wire i.e. 22...24AWG and affix the made-up solid core one to the soldering iron tip.
Try to pool the damaged wire from the armtube gently and than strip it a-bit deeper so that you can join clip and wire together easier. If you can't you'll just have to be more patient and careful not to loose this wire forever.
While holding the clip with tweezers dip the above described "adapter" end onto the solder and quickly touch the clip joined with an arm wire.
The solder should slide onto the joined surfaces.
I really want to thank everyone for the help and the offers to repair the damage. I talked to the person I bought the table & arm from (audiogon member) and he is willing to repair it for me. Enjoying this hobby is much easier with all the great people who participate. My wait will be a little longer than I originally thought. I am hoping the resulting sound will all be worth it in the end. Thanks again, especially Albert.

Hi Nicks,

I am in the Detroit suburbs too and spanking new member of audiogon, tho I have been reading up for a long time. If you still need help right away, go visit Harry @ Audio Dimnesions on Woodward in Royal Oak. Great guy.

He is about the only guy into real analog in the area as far as I know and you definitely want to know him. I am sure he can help you with a fix. If I stop there this week I will give him a heads up that you might stop by, in case you do.

If I can be of help, drop me a line.

I am just freshly getting into Vinyl and I have to tell you it is habit forming. Addictive. Practically living in these forums now. But having a great time and spinning records every day now.
don't worry about it. I did the same thing on my well tempered classic and was freaking out also. I stripped the wire, dipped it in flux and soldered the new clip on. no big deal. took all of 2 minutes. If you decide to do it yourself, buy a decent soldering iron and flux (is the key). The solder coats the flux in about 2 seconds and you are done. cover it with some heat shrinking plastic, and good as new.
Thanks for all the offers of help. The seller took great care of me & repaired the clip. I was lucky enough to have my only local audio friend come by last night & get the table setup. Now I am finally starting to see what the buzz is about vinyl. WOW. I do need advice on setting anti skate on the Anna tonearm. This was the only setting we couldn't get corrected. No matter where we moved the weight it still skates towards the middle of the table at pretty good speed. Am I missing something? Is there a secret to setting this on the Anna arm? Your help is always appreciated. Thanks.
I do need advice on setting anti skate on the Anna tonearm. This was the only setting we couldn't get corrected. No matter where we moved the weight it still skates towards the middle of the table at pretty good speed. Am I missing something? Is there a secret to setting this on the Anna arm?
Are you saying the arm does this when you try to play a normal record? If so you have a different problem than just inaccurate antiskating adjustment.

Please clarify and we'll try to help.