Turntable issue


I haven't had much luck finding an answer to this question so hopefully it's not something that's been asked a thousand times.

Yesterday I turn my preamp on, place a record on the player and I can hear every touch of the tonearm I make. It clicks when lifting it out of its resting position and when I screw or unscrew the record clamp this at is also very audible through my speakers. Also I'm now hearing a hum that was never present before.

I understand that the cartridge picks up vibrations and turns them to sound but this has never been something that was clearly audible before. I'v never heard siuns coming from my speakers when screwing the clamp on our off.

Thanks for any responses.

MMF 5.1SE
Project Tube Box S
jsouth72
I know your phonostage has 3 different gain settings. Try the lowest one. Not sure if that's your problem, but it's very easy to check.
1. Both speakers or one of the two?
2. I doubt this is purely a grounding problem, although the hum problem might be separately related to grounding. Again, is the hum in both speakers or only one? And is it really "hum", defined as 60Hz or 120Hz tone, or is it "buzz", which sounds higher in pitch and is really a mixture of frequencies?
3. My thought on the fact that sounds made when you handle your tonearm are transduced into the speakers is perhaps a microphonic tube. Most likely culprit is the first tube (input) of the phono section. That's typically a 12AX7, and it supplies much of the gain of your phono stage. Check that there is good acoustic isolation between your tt and your phono stage or preamplifier.

Like someone else said, I would also say that if the problem is in one channel, then you can check hypotheses by swapping tubes from one side to the other.
Swapped the tubes out with a pair of reissued Mullards. Anyways mostly everything has gone away. When I tap the player I no longer hear it through my speaker, I cant hear the clamp being screwed...very slight hum when nothing is playing but only if I turn the volume up high.

Thanks again for all your help
"very slight hum when nothing is playing but only if I turn the volume up high."

That's normal tube rush. Glad you solved the problem.