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Old HK T-45 vs. a New Turntable

post #1 of 7
3/25/11 at 9:23am
Thread Starter 
I recently got my dad's old Harman Kardon T-45 Auto-Lift Turntable from his garage and some of his old vinyl. After ordering a new belt and cannibalizing an extension cord for grounding, I set it up to run through my Yamaha RX V667 and Polk RTiA7's. While everything is technically working, the sound quality is TERRIBLE. There's a ton of feedback and static to the point where listening to an LP is intolerable.

Should I try to fix this? What might be the culprit? I'm hesitant to go ahead and buy a new cartridge and stylus and find out that there's something else that's the problem. Or should I just go and buy a new turntable all together? I'm still going to listen to mostly digital music, so don't really want to spend more than $200 on a new player. Would a new entry-level player sound better than the old T-45 or is it worth it to try to fix it? If so, which is a good model to go with?

I'm also not sure how great of shape the records that I'm listening to are. I've tried several of his, and while some sound better than others, they're all bad.

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks!
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post #2 of 7
3/25/11 at 10:58pm
Don't know anything about that Yamaha, but Yamaha does have some good feedback with some of their tt's. Are you familiar with tt setup, etc? You do have it in a phono input, correct? You've done the set up for the cartridge as far as the anti-skate, etc.? And you have cleaned the records of all the dirt, dust, etc.? These are just some of the things I thought of off the top of my head.

After re-reading your post, you sound like you do know a little about tt's having replaced the belt and cord. But, I thought that I would ask anyway.

Good luck
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post #3 of 7
3/26/11 at 3:50am
I have a T-60 - older, but a few steps up. I'm not sure the difference between 45 and 60 (might be floating platter, and better arm) but I suspect you'd have to pay more than $200 to get a new table better than the one you have.
You can download service manual and instructions here
http://www.vinylengine.com/library/h...rdon/t45.shtml

Hard to tell from your description, but my guess is "static" is caused by dirty record, or, damaged cartridge (or maybe improper setup). I'd put a new cartridge on it. Sorry no specific recomendations. I guess someething reasonably priced and popular. Set up the table properly. Clean the records well.

I'm not sure what kind of "feedback" you are getting. A turntable is not like a CD player, it has to sit solidly on all four feet. If you are getting electrical feedback it could be a faulty cable. The grounding cable should go to the phono preamp, or receiver, not to a proper ground (maybe you are creating a ground loop?).
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post #4 of 7
3/26/11 at 6:16am
Clean off the records and buy a new cartridge. If you're still not satisfied, buy an Audio-Technica LP-120 turntable, and use the new cart on that. Here's a review of the 120.
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post #5 of 7
3/26/11 at 11:47pm
Assuming that we're talking about this Yamaha RX-V667:
http://www.openaudio.co.kr/images/20...7_rear_big.jpg

There is no phono input, and there is no common point ground - so you can't hook a turntable up to it unless your turntable has a built-in phono preamp (and it would have to be enabled in that case and there is no ground wiring involved there (and I doubt your turntable fits into this; call it a hunch)).

I have literally no idea how you've connected this, especially with "an extension cord" involved.
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post #6 of 7
3/27/11 at 8:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by walbert View Post
Assuming that we're talking about this Yamaha RX-V667:
http://www.openaudio.co.kr/images/20...7_rear_big.jpg

There is no phono input, and there is no common point ground - so you can't hook a turntable up to it unless your turntable has a built-in phono preamp (and it would have to be enabled in that case and there is no ground wiring involved there (and I doubt your turntable fits into this; call it a hunch)).

I have literally no idea how you've connected this, especially with "an extension cord" involved.
The T-45 does not have a built in preamp. You'll need a phono preamp first. Try that before a cartridge. Audiogon is a good source for used, and NAD is a great value.
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post #7 of 7
3/27/11 at 9:13am
Silly me. It did not even occur to me that the OP might be using a record player without a phono preamp (either built in, or, external)

Here is good deal for $44
http://www.needledoctor.com/Needle-D...3-Phono-Preamp

edit: for even cheaper, see
http://www.phonopreamps.com/
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