Phonoland

Hello. I recently mailed in a cartridge to be repaired by west-tech services for my Magnavox Micromatic record player ( Model Number: 3RP660). There are three wires coming out of the tone arm that connect to the cartridge, a red, silver, and white wire. I am not sure which wire connects to which prong on the repaired cartridge. There is a R prong, middle prong, and L prong. Does anyone know? Does it even matter? Thank you for your help.

Why don't you contact West-Teck ? It's a stereo cart., I would guess that one wire would be "com" to both "grounds" and the other two colors would be the "hots" (R-L) for both channels. You may "play around" with the different wires till it "sounds right"--doing so should not do any harm. Ron Rich

Thanks Ron for your reply. I asked West-Tech and he thought the white wire was the ground wire, but wasn't sure. I don't know a lot about record players and after I messed up the cartridge it has taken me a lot of work to get it working again so I am just trying to be extra careful and I wasn't sure if it would hurt the player to put the wires on the wrong prongs.

Hi,
One way to be sure is if you have the back off...look under the player and look for the wires coming from the tone arm...follow those to their connection. You will then determine ground connection. The bracket is marked L & R...match those with cartridge.
Bill

Does the silver wire have any insulation? If not, it is the ground shield.

With those colors, red is usually right and white is left.

Thank you all for the replies and help. I tried taking off the back of the record player and following the wires back but couldn't figure out anything new. In regards to the insulation, one of the wires had a little piece of plastic right around the tip of the wire. It was either the silver or the white one, I can't remember which one. It was the only wire that had a piece of plastic around the tip. Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a ground shield?

I ended up just guessing on the wires and I put the red wire in the middle which sounds like it is not correct. The player sounds pretty good though. If I had the wrong wires connected would I notice that that sound wasn't good? Thanks for all your help.

Just guessing--
Is the "silver wire" a "braided", or "bare" wire ? --and it has the plastic cover ? If so, it's the ground---
The other two are the Left and Right channel wires, and won't make any difference as to which goes to the R" or "L" on the cartridge.
Ron Rich

If you remove the C-clip and turntable platter, you will see how the wires are connected. The ground wire will have a little "jumper" wire to link both channels.

OOPS, I TAKE THAT BACK....I WAS THINKING OF A VM CHANGER. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona