RCA's, Cartridge Connection, or Stylus?

[Chelan]

So everything worked fine when I played this weekend like usual, but then I go to practice a bit tonight & I got a problem. Don't know what the solution is though. I use TSD2, with Technics M3D, MK1 Timecode, and Ortofon DJ cartridges/needles (the blue ones).

My problem is that a track would not play in Traktor. The track would just keep skipping over the same 1 second part of the song at the beginning and the needle was not moving on the timecode. The software says left channel missing so I checked to make sure my rca's are plugged in all the way. It still skips. So then I change the stylus and seems to work a lot better, though the 2 circles in the calibration still sometimes seem to look like they are bending or "folding" a bit at times. But Traktor no longer said anything about missing left channel after putting the new stylus on.

The weird thing is I tried switching timecode records from deck to deck with the same results on the deck that wasn't working right (still skipped on different piece of timecode), but they both work fine on the other deck, and even tried the stylus I just replaced on the other deck and calibration worked fine.

I would say the needle I just replaced I have only used about 10 months. That seems kinda short lifespan to me. How would I know for sure when to replace? My other thoughts are maybe rca's might need to be replaced - they are the originals from 99, though they really probably have just under 500 or 600 hrs on them. The one other thing I tried was cleaning the connection between the tonearm and cartridge with a dry q-tip, though that seemed clean in the first place.

Any ideas or thoughts here? I can't figure out why one table plays fine with the exact same timecode and needle while the other suddenly does not. Thanks to all who took the time to read this probably longer post then it should have been.

[Flash101uk]

well youre looking in the right direction. I would have said the tonearm connections too, but a dry Q-tip will not clean them properly, if at all.

People recommend aluminium polish with a dremel to get the shiniest contacts. I use a fibreglass pen on every set of decks that give me greif: http://www.maplin.co.uk/abrasive-fibreglass-pencil-3932

Works like a charm.

[durtyjerzy609]

i use a pencil eraser to clean contacts in the tone arm... works a treat.. just make sure you give a good puff or air in em to get out the debris

[Chelan]

So looks can be deceiving as far as tonearm (cleanliness) connection go? Because it looks pretty shiny and clean in there.

What about rca's? Besides a frayed or obvious crimp in the cable, how would I know that it is time to replace it?

[Flash101uk]

Youre running the old stock technics cables yeah?

I had to squeeze mine into an oval shape to get a reasonable connection, it kept dropping the left deck! Ive had no problems since.

[Chelan]

Yep, they are the stock cables. From the first time I plugged the into the Audio 6, a couple of the cables never have had a solid tight fit, but always made the connection.

But lately, the left side on one deck and the right side on the other sometimes comes a bit loose. Most always it's because it was not quite all the way in or worked its way out because of not fitting on tightly.

I'll try giving it a little oval shape to make due for now. If I do change RCA's, any real benefit from not using stock?

[killerfanatics]

I'm having similar problems. Mine says right channel missing on deck B. It was playing fine, then started acting up. Checked cables, removed and cleaned out needles and nothing changed. It was doing this before, but it just stopped on its own. Now it's back and hasn't gone away. I made a video of the problem. Sorry for the shakiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88kwJ...wMsVV1O6IxVdMN

[Patch]

The track would just keep skipping over the same 1 second part of the song at the beginning and the needle was not moving on the timecode.

Sounds like your record is scratched, mate. Try turning it over...

[Chelan]

To killerfanatics: Your problem seemed a little worse then mine was. Did you solve it yet? Mine seemed to go away on it's own thus far and I still have no clue as to what may have been causing it. When I took my gear to my last gig and set up, it seemed to be working fine and is back to working normal at home too. I'm still suspicious of a RCA cable kinda on my end.

That being said, anyone know what controls the Decoder Gain inside or Traktor Preferences? Is it the recording itself, RCA connections, needle wear? What ultimately determines that?