Zenith Microtouch

I am blaming the cartridge. A 1968 Zenith console which was my mother's before being given to me about 10 years ago and I have taken care of it since. Problem is the records no longer sound as well as they used to or even as well as the radio. I detect some distortion at mid frequency and medium to high amplitude, such as, Dean Martin's voice. Bass seems to have dropped off as well but only with the record player. I tested my theory on the cartridge by placing my finger on the back of the arm and I could feel the vibrations. I double checked that this is coming from the record by switching to the radio and then I could feel no vibration from the arm. The turntable has been cleaned and lubed, new stylus and the VTF checked. So I am blaming it on the cartridge having lost its compliance. I would replace it but how do I know that the NOS cart, due to its age, is any better. These carts are soldered to the leads to boot. Any ideas?

RecordChanger, if you have any words of wisdom before I proceed I would be most greatful. I really enjoyed playing this stereo.

Thom

Contact www.west-techservices.com. They have a lot of NOS cartridges and styli for all types of changers. You can also call them at 740-732-6056.

First off, whoever soldered the cartridge leads directly to the cartridge is a butthole, and should retire from being a handyman.
They can't take the heat of soldering, the elements become damaged.

Install a new cartridge the proper way.. with push-on clips.

On the other hand...

You MAY be thinking the wires are directly soldered because on some Zenith "floating cartridges" there's a push-in plug that goes into the back of the cartridge.

Three things to check:

1. Is the stylus force correct. These should track in the range of 2-3 grams equivalent force.

2. Is the stylus worn out?

3. Is the cartridge bad?

Mattech: the leads were soldered from the factory and I never thought that they could be the push in type and that the leads are soldered to those clips. I'll check. Thanks. The VTF is correct, the stylus is new and not defective so I am of the mind that the cartridge has lost it's compliance. If the leads are infact not soldered and are clipped to the cart I can then swap it out more easily. Thanks for the help.

Thom, there is a black colored assembly just forward of the "floating" hinge part of the clear cartridge body.
Removal of the cartridge is first.
Carefully spring the hinge on either side and free it from the tonearm head.
This black assembly with the terminals/wires can be gently pried straight back and off the cartridge.

There will be four metallic extentions with formed tips that contact the ceramic elements... do NOT bend these!
Replacing this black terminal plug is tricky... you MUST make sure, watching as you slide it back into the clear cartridge that those tips seat (grasp) on either side of each ceramic element and do not get bent improperly.... otherwise you'll lose sound.
I hate those cartridges for that design.

Some microtouch arms use a "tetrad" style cartridge held in a silver casing.. all that is needed is to pry the plug off the back.

Before all this, make SURE the needle is ok.. testing the rubber mount, try flexing the needle shank to the side and it should spring back to the yoke on the cartridge and sit in the "V" groove of the yoke... if not, replace the needle first.

Pop off the knob on top of the arm....there's a tiny spring on the shaft.. do not lose it.... some versions have a "C" clip as well.
slide the shaft out of the cartridge body.

If I get a chance this weekend I will give your suggestions a try. I am not unfamiliar with this cart and I have to say that the claims made by Zenith's Microtouch ads panned out over the years, in my opinion, and wow can it track a warped record. I know I remember it sounding much better than it does now. It's the clear floating type. I am also planning to recap it . Thank you for your help.

The little black cartridge plug mattech refers to did not come into use until 1970.
Your '68 should just have the little metal fingers that insert into the cartridge, careful, they are easy
to break off and resoldering is not fun.
I too had trouble getting my 1968 top of the line Zenith Z960 with belt drive micro-touch changer to sound like it used to, I had made reel to reel tapes
from it in 1970, so i had those as a comparison. i found most of the aftermaket replacement cartridges i tried named Arista,
Recoton & the like were truly wretched and had poor compliance requiring five or more grams to track properly.
I finally sourced a nos Zenith branded cartridge and it was the best of the lot, tracked properly, but it still didn't
sound quite as good as it used to, using my reel tapes for comparison.

I finally modified it to use a modern ortofon Om magnetic, this was not easy. The ortofon is about the onlymodern magnetic small enough to use, you have to saw off its top mounting plate and then it can be installed in the Zenith
floating cartridge bracket (after removing the ceramic cart from the bracket of course). I now can track at
1.5 grams and the sound is better than ever.

You do have to add a small preamp to do this and the amp and preamp should be recapped for best performance.

Thank you Orthophonic for the response. The only thing keeping me from converting it to a magnetic cart ( I was going to try a P-Mount AT or similar) is the desire to keep it original. I got a TAE brand replacement cart along with an Astatic and or EV, all NOS, but I don't hold out much hope for them. Compliance will probably be the issue. I am going to connect one of my many turntables with magnetic carts and a preamp just to satisfy my curiosity. My turntable is the VM rim drive cleaned up and lubed but comes complete with the usual rumble although it has always been trouble free.

I looked at P-mounts and I believe they may fit if you do away with the hinged bracket and mount directly to the headshell.
The beauty of the ortofon is that with the mounting plate sawed off, it can be mounted in the hinged bracket to retain the floating cartridge that keeps the tracking weight the same when playing a stack and it also looks original
and with the plate sawed off doesn't weigh much so balance and weight are easy to adjust.
I even attached the little button stylus indicator to this assembly to retain original looks.

It would probably work with the rim drive changer but might pick up a little more noise and I don't think
you could track as low as 1.5 with that changer, probably 2 to 2.5 as original.
The belt drive changer is silent, no rumble and the arm in the belt drive version pivots on jeweled bearings for lower friction that makes it work very well with the upgrade.

But maybe you will have better luck with NOS replacement cartridges than I did.

A P-Mount would be major surgery on one but might be doable. But the arm might not like tracking that light. The stock cartridges on this series are fine. They track well and gentle on records. The best US made changer ever installed in a compact or console in my opinion. Wish the others were as gentle on records. Nice, simple, well engineered classic changer and the best of the old VM changers.

Wow. This is an old post but I must agree with you Kent. This is, in my opinion, one of the sharpest looking changer I've seen. Still going strong too.

Kent T wrote:A P-Mount would be major surgery on one but might be doable. But the arm might not like tracking that light. The stock cartridges on this series are fine. They track well and gentle on records. The best US made changer ever installed in a compact or console in my opinion. Wish the others were as gentle on records. Nice, simple, well engineered classic changer and the best of the old VM changers.

I have a Zenith 960 with turntable with the clamshell 45 adapter. If I turn the volume up high with the turntable turning, I get a lot of "pickup noise" (as if a microphone was laid down on the base of the turntable. Is this normal? If the tonearm is just sitting in its rest holder, it is as if the whole tonearm is a microphone picking up the vibration if the motor, etc. . If I squeeze the tubular part of the tonearm with my fingers ((or the head of the tonearm), it helps dampen it a bit. Does this turntable need repairing or is this just how it is and is normal?

lautegl wrote:

Kent T wrote:A P-Mount would be major surgery on one but might be doable. But the arm might not like tracking that light. The stock cartridges on this series are fine. They track well and gentle on records. The best US made changer ever installed in a compact or console in my opinion. Wish the others were as gentle on records. Nice, simple, well engineered classic changer and the best of the old VM changers.

I have a Zenith 960 with turntable with the clamshell 45 adapter. If I turn the volume up high with the turntable turning, I get a lot of "pickup noise" (as if a microphone was laid down on the base of the turntable. Is this normal? If the tonearm is just sitting in its rest holder, it is as if the whole tonearm is a microphone picking up the vibration if the motor, etc. . If I squeeze the tubular part of the tonearm with my fingers ((or the head of the tonearm), it helps dampen it a bit. Does this turntable need repairing or is this just how it is and is normal?

Those deluxe Zenith changers were of high quality, but of course age takes its toll on them.
Rubber parts deteriorate over time and should be replaced.
Oil/grease dries out over time.
All this contributes to poor operation.

Thom wrote:Wow. This is an old post but I must agree with you Kent. This is, in my opinion, one of the sharpest looking changer I've seen. Still going strong too.

On my parents Y940 (Voice of music changer), it would play a 45 over and over again which was a nice feature. I find on the zenith z960 changers, this isn't possible. Am I missing something?