Phonoland

Hello!

I'm new here and I've browsed the forum a little and you guys are doing a great job!

I have a question about a record player I've got. It's one of those suitcase/portable players. The brand name is Fleetwood (I think it's Canadian, I'm from Canada btw...). The cartridge seems to have been replaced a while ago and it's an Astatic 612. It's supposed to track at 8g and, honestly, it sounds like absolute garbage and doesn't track records very well. I'd like to know which cartridge should I use to replace this one. I saw the BSR SC12H, but it's very hard to find one in Canada with a mounting bracket (on e-bay) and most of them are in the UK and shipping is very expensive. Now, what should I look for? (The Astatic 612 sounds very, very bad, I know it's ceramic and it will never really sound extremely good, but I've got an Astatic 719 in a VM changer that sounds a lot better).

The problem I have is not knowing what type of amplifier this unit has.
Sensitivities are involved here. = input levels.
The cartridges you're decribing are vastly different animals, some crystal, other ceramic - having way different output levels.
In most cases, substituting a ceramic for a crystal type won't work, or sound right.

That said, I can't give you any accurate advice until I know the amplifier involved.
A schematic would be helpful.

Sorry! I just checked and you're right! I thought it was a ceramic cartridge... I don't have a schematic for the amplifier, but would pictures help?

Thanks

Picture, a model number..... anything about the amp.