It seems as if the cartridge is defective.

There should be a path for static to bleed off internally inherent in the cartridge, and that does not seem to be happening.

Bumping this old thread, hoping vinyl_daddy checks the forum still... did you ever find a solution?

I have had this problem with 2 Hana SH carts now. The first one started with this exact problem after about 75h in. The distributor replaced it under warranty. The second has now developed the same issue after about 200h. It is infuriating.

Let us know if you've made any headway solving this.

Cheers

vinyl_daddy wrote:

I've been an amateur vinyl and analog enthusiast for many years now, and am finally discovering this forum for help and to learn and share with others.

My set up:
Old Yamaha 65 watt / ch SS Stereo Receiver
Pro-Ject Audio DS2 Tube phono preamp
Pro-Ject Perspex Turntable
Hana SL moving coil low output Cartridge
Old Yamaha bookshelf speakers (soon to be Klipsch Forte iii)

My issue: I recently installed a new Hana SL MC low output cart in lieu of my Ortofon Bronze. Now, Any album I play results in aggressive / loud "crack" "pop" noises, sometimes like a machine gun 3-5 pops rapid fire in a row. Usually as soon as the stylus hits the record, intermittent and random when playing, and at the dead space at the end of the record. I've tweaked and adjusted the cart settings, loading, VTA, tracking force etc, with no resolution. static in my listening room has never been present or an issue. If it's static, it is not on the records or the platter, but rather building up at the stylus / cart itself somehow. I'm playing the same setup and the same records as I did with my bronze mm cart that never resulted in any cracks or pops. My DS2 has been adjusted accordingly for the MC cart. Cart is recommended at greater than 400 ohms. I've tried it at many settigns. I'm running a gain of 60 but have experimented with many levels.

Another strange thing, is if you get down close and lightly blow air at the stylus, it fires off like a loud popping machine gun as well.

Anyone have any ideas when could be going on with my new cartridge? Can a cart generate it's own static electricity? The tone arm has an internal ground wire to a grounding post at the rear of the turntable which is then grounded to the post on my DS2 preamp.

Thanks for any help!!

Thanks very much for the detailed reply, very appreciated. I have to admit I was hoping you would say "do this!" and my problem would be fixed. It sounds like we're in exactly the same boat however. These violent static discharges are completely ruining my listening experience, even if they are as infrequent as once every 10 minutes. I'm sure you know what I mean.

I too have literally swapped out everything but the TT and arm, with no luck. I had 200 hours of joyful listening after replacing the first SH, and naively thought I was in the clear. But this problem has returned and dogged me for the last 50h or so of play time. Like yourself, I got a loan of an Ortofon 2M and once installed the discharges disappeared, only to return within the first 5 mins of putting the Hana back in place. So frustrating.

Anyway, thank you for your response. It's good to know I'm not alone in this. I hope for your sake the issue has resolved itself permanently.

Cheers!

Exactly the same thing happened to me. I took a brand new Hana cartridge out of the box. Aligned the cartridge and spun the record only to hear that loud pops as soon as the stylus hit the record. I cannot accept that there isn't any remedy for that. While waiting for a feedback from dealer I found this thread. I tweaked headshell wires, changed the platter mat, connected TT to the amp with different phonostage but no rhyme or reason.

Don't know if this will be helpful or confuse the issue even further. That being said, take a look at what Neil Antin has to say about TT mats in Chapter 6 of his March 2021 second edition of his paper "Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records"; specifically, about the "Triboelectric Effect" (static electricity) on page 42. You can access this paper free through thevinylpress.com. The entire paper isn't an easy read but very informative. Good Luck!

For everyone distressed by static pops. After a few weeks, loud static pops are all gone. I was mystified by my Hana cartridge behavior. I am a physicist by trade but a researcher outside the field of electrostatic by profession. I cannot offer any reasonable explanation other than saying that the combination of a previous cartridge (MM) + TT electronics + platter matt had a parasitic capacitance where the electric charge was stored (perhaps due to bad TT plater grounding). After Hana installation, it took some time until this charge dissipated (or reached a different equilibrium). Furthermore, if the combination of TT components + cartridge have self-capacitance and can hold a charge it is quite possible that when I was spinning my records with an old cartridge for several years some sort of residual distribution of electric charges was created on the surface of each record and resulted from electrostatic interaction with tonearm/cantilever/matt (styli are made from industrial diamonds which are insulators). Simply by playing my records a couple of times with a new cartridge, these residual charges changed or adjusted, hence no more static pops.

Long time listener, first time caller.
I have this same issue today on a brand new SL1220GR+ Hana ML on Rega Fono MC
I temporarily switched to a backup pre (mani2) and I cannot replicate the issue.

I'm perplexed...seems like the capacitance issue maybe?