Damaged cartridge is the only thing I can think of.
I would also reboot the mcintosh preamp just to rule out the phono stage glitch.
Turntable Hum Issue.
Yesterday my system developed a hum when playing vinyl records. Not the standard 60 HZ hum or buzz but a sort of resonating hum or howl around 120 HZ. Nothing with the system has changed in years which makes this more difficult to troubleshoot. Yesterday I played a recent garage sale find record and around 45 or greater on the volume level the hum appeared. I can replicate the sound by resting the stylus on the record and tapping the turntable base and/or tapping the console that it sits on. Otherwise, dead quiet. Other records I have had for years are now doing the same thing.
Set up is: VPI Classic table with an Audio Technica OC9XSL Moving Coil Cartridge with 2 Grams Tracking Force. Preamp is a McIntosh C49 using built in Phono Preamp. A picture of the console it sits on should be in my System Profile. House is hardwood floor and built in the 1940’s. I have no idea where to start. I was thinking on moving to a Moving Magnet Cartridge. Perhaps less gain might help the problem. With that said, what is a good middle of the road MM Cart around $500 give or take a bit?
I still would like to solve the root cause as I do kind of like that Cartridge. I thought the VPI table was heavy enough to isolate that type of issue that is why I purchased it. Feet, isolators, etc… did not work in the past with other tables.
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Can't explain why it suddenly appeared in your system, but I had similar issue with VPI tables - Aries 3, Avenger. For me, it was an isolation & feedback problem for sure. The table's mass doesn't help here. I also found it a LOT worse with 3D arms (even Fatboys) than the older metal unipivots, which I actually liked quite a bit. Classics came with metal arms (quite a good one on the Classic 3), but just in case you upgraded to a 3D arm - that will be a contributing factor. Cartridge didn't matter much (I cycled through many MC's). HW40 feet (or anything equally squishy) are somewhat effective. A Townshend platform or pods will be much more effective. It was very frustrating. It affects higher playback volumes and it can hit a runaway point. |
I know you said nothing has changed in the system but I will still ask - have you added a light or other item that has a wall brick or transformer? I had a clip on light that created this type of hum. It had been in my system for quite some time before it happened. Unplugging items one at a time is an easy enough test. |
I had a similar issue. I corresponded with Jim Hagerman, who made my phono stage. He has a very systematic approach summed up in his paper www.hagtech.com/pdf/eliminatingnoise.pdf. His approach solved my problem. All the best. |
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