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If you're really, really struggling with the 1200 headshell, just do the screws upside down and put the nuts in the rails and hold them down with a finger/thumb until they catch. It's pretty fiddly any way you do it, but after a while it gets easier. Take the stylus off to avoid damaging it while you mount the cart, then put it back on for final alignment.
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Aug 13, 2012 10:53
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Yeah I would put the bolts in pointing upward. It makes it easier to adjust them later anyway. Obviously take the headshell off the tonearm...
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Aug 13, 2012 13:49
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Woo, got this poo poo screwed in! Do I need to have anything special to align this, or should the cardboard protractor with a spindle hole do for now? I assume just make sure I can get the needle to touch both points?
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Aug 13, 2012 22:37
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No poo poo, the little white plastic L shaped thing that comes with the 1200 is scarily accurate when used with that arm. If you bought yours second hand it is 100% missing. Maybe someone you know still has theirs.
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Aug 13, 2012 22:56
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Ron Burgundy posted:No poo poo, the little white plastic L shaped thing that comes with the 1200 is scarily accurate when used with that arm.
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Aug 13, 2012 23:10
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Stuntman posted:Woo, got this poo poo screwed in! Do I need to have anything special to align this, or should the cardboard protractor with a spindle hole do for now? I assume just make sure I can get the needle to touch both points? hehe  good luck dude, now comes the sperg time. you can print a protractor but I would suggest just getting one of these: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=technics+overhang+gauge alg fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Aug 13, 2012 |
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Aug 13, 2012 23:18
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Ugh, even screwed into both extremes, the stylus still undershoots the other point by a ton. Same general area, too, so I assume it's not a case of needing to put it in the middle. Am I gonna have to calibrate my entire loving tonearm or something?
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Aug 13, 2012 23:32
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1800 MkI or II? They changed the arm geometry between revisions. I've heard that Technics are supposed to be both Stevenson and Baerwald so I really don't know what to believe anymore. e: The MkII has an almost identical arm to the 1200, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same assembly. To reiterate what I said further up, I've had more success (better sound) using the Technics alignment tool that I have with a protractor. They are $3.75 at KAB https://www.kabusa.com  YMMV Ron Burgundy fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Aug 14, 2012 |
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Aug 13, 2012 23:54
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I'm not sure if it's an MkI or II, but if it helps, it doesn't have any lettering mentioning that. Just says "SL-1800". Also, I can't find the alignment tool on that website, could you give me a direct link?
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Aug 14, 2012 00:19
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The site's written in JS so the direct links are obscured, but if you click on "Everything Technics Starts Here" picture front and centre. It's the last item listed under the Headshells category on the Technics page. Overhang/Alingment Tool. You will be fine for both versions with this tool.
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Aug 14, 2012 00:56
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Stuntman posted:I'm not sure if it's an MkI or II, but if it helps, it doesn't have any lettering mentioning that. Just says "SL-1800". Also, I can't find the alignment tool on that website, could you give me a direct link? Mk I :  Mk II : 
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Aug 14, 2012 06:14
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Not sure if you know, but you'll never get it to line up without turning the platter for the second dot. This drove me nuts the first time until someone told me. You just want to make sure when you look down from above that the sides of the cart body are lined up with the lines on the protractor at both points, but you do have to turn the platter to get the second one.
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Aug 14, 2012 07:05
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So I recently got an Audio Technica AT-LP120 (1200 clone w/ USB) and I had it hooked up for a while but recently moved and am trying to figure out the best way to configure it. At the moment I'm looking for a stand for it that could also hold records and potentially a receiver if I decide to pick up a vintage receiver. The way my AV is setup right now my record player is next to my media stand (sitting on the floor). I have my TV, PS3, Boxee Box, all plugged into my Pioneer VSX-1020-K receiver and it's playing through a 3.1 speaker setup with Aperion Intimus 5B bookshelf speakers, an Aperion center channel, and a Velodyne sub. The homeowner had also installed 3 pairs of speakers on the ceilings, 1 pair each in the living room, dining room, and kitchen which are all near each other. The banana plug panel for these 6 speakers comes out right behind the turntable and receiver. I'm not currently using these speakers for anything but I'd like to get them hooked up. My options as far as I can tell are to either hook up the turn-table to the receiver and just use it with the Aperion speakers as I was before, or buy a vintage receiver that I can use to hook it up to the speakers on the ceilings (ideally figuring out a way to utilize all 6, not sure how possible that is w/ older receivers) or spend more time futzing with figuring out my current receiver to see if there's a way to use those 6 speakers as a 2nd zone (perhaps with a switch or something) so I can switch back and forth between listening to records on the Aperion's (like if I'm hanging out in the living room) or listening to records on the ceiling speakers if I'm doing something in the kitchen or say have friends over and people are hanging out in different rooms of the house. I guess what I'm looking for advice on is... if I were to go the vintage receiver route, how difficult would it be to get it configured to utilize 3 pairs of speakers on the ceilings? Is anybody more familiar with newer receivers that could tell me approximately how difficult it would be to use my Pioneer for switching speaker configurations back and forth between the 3.1 system for movies and stuff in the living room and the ceiling speakers for music in other rooms? I'm also looking for suggestions or inspiration for a really simple turntable stand that can hold records. I'm thinking of building something myself really simply with veneered plywood but would love to get some ideas of what else is out there. also, also... I'm looking for a suggestion for a record cleaner/brush. I was looking at the audioquest antistatic brush but not sure if there's something better available I should get instead. Thanks for any help figuring this out!
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Aug 16, 2012 07:48
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Have you ever tried the ceiling speakers? They generally sound like trash when I've heard them, I'm not sure I would spend money trying to get them hooked up.
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Aug 16, 2012 14:19
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alg posted:Have you ever tried the ceiling speakers? They generally sound like trash when I've heard them, I'm not sure I would spend money trying to get them hooked up. they're nothing great, no... but I guess I just figured the ability to have music playing in all rooms of the downstairs of the house outweighed the mediocre sound quality. I believe they're KLH bookshelves, I believe something like this If I owned the house I'd definitely replace them with some better mountable bookshelves but seeing as it's a rental I just wanted to see if I couldn't make use of them for the time being.
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Aug 16, 2012 16:14
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I have a pair of bookshelf speakers. I used to either sit them on the floor or on top of something since I have yet to buy some stands for them. I wall mounted them to get them out of the way for now. They lost quite a bit of their bottom end definition being wall mounted.
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Aug 17, 2012 17:28
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So my cartridge (Shure M97xE) has a "stabilizer brush" on it, what's it supposed to do and does it succeed at doing that? Also, I have a Shure V15 VMR cartridge (probably about 30 years old) that was on the turntable when I got it, but the stylus broke off. The only stylus I could find was from a company called JICO and it cost like 3 times what I bought the M97 for. Is it worth the difference to get a stylus for it?
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Aug 18, 2012 04:17
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Scored a set of Marantz Imperial 5G speakers for $10... only problem is one of the tweeter cones is pushed in. Anyone know where I can pick up a replacement tweeter?
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Aug 18, 2012 05:37
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eggsovereasy posted:So my cartridge (Shure M97xE) has a "stabilizer brush" on it, what's it supposed to do and does it succeed at doing that? At one time the V15 was Shures TOTL cart, I've got a Type II and I'm going to get a new stylus here
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Aug 18, 2012 17:20
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eggsovereasy posted:So my cartridge (Shure M97xE) has a "stabilizer brush" on it, what's it supposed to do and does it succeed at doing that? The stabilizer wipes off some of the excess dust ahead of the stylus. It just cleans it a bit, but it's still a nice feature.
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Aug 19, 2012 05:39
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It is in theory also supposed to stop the stylus bearing the brunt of excessively warped records. Then again if you have records that are so warped that the stylus physically drops into the dales, you probably shouldn't be playing them.
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Aug 19, 2012 05:53
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Hey guys, let me know if this is in the wrong thread - it's not exactly vintage stuff but it is 2.0 related. Setting up a 2.0 system for playing music on, currently pc > behringer uca200 (cheap dac I am trying to replace) > 2x20w ta2020 t-amp > some old sharp bookshelves. I will probably add a small mixer and a source switch at some point, plus maybe a cd player and turntable. Most of my experience is with powered monitors for production etc, so I'm a little unclear on component setups. I will only need a preamp if I add a source with low output, such as a turntable, right? I'm most interested in reproducing sound as intended, so I don't want one just to colour stuff. I would like to get some new speakers for under $200 (au, unfortunately). I would like them to have a very flat, even frequency response first and foremost. I am keeping an eye on ebay etc for a pair of ns-10s as they seem to be well regarded in this respect, but getting a pair for less than $400 seems unlikely. I would be happy with something much smaller and consumer oriented, as long as they're not scooped or boosted or whatever. Smaller form factor would be a massive plus (I was looking at some cambridge audio satellites, but they only go down to 140hz which seems pretty unacceptable without a sub). I'm not bothered if they are new or secondhand or vintage, whatever gets me the best bang for my buck. Thanks!
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Aug 21, 2012 00:55
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For anyone in or around central Kentucky, Pop's Resale (http://www.popsresale.com/) is definitely worth checking out for vintage audio gear (turntables, receivers, speakers, etc.) and records. Not thrift store prices but still reasonable and most of the stuff is in good shape and tested I think.
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Aug 25, 2012 19:58
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Picked up an Onkyo TA-2022 cassette deck from my dad this weekend. Tapes play fine, but the sound is sort of distorted and fades in and out. I remember this happening in the 90s on my boombox, but I didn't really care about it back then. I cleaned the heads, could it be that I need to demagnetize it? or change the belt...
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Aug 26, 2012 23:46
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Bad playback, fading and drop outs can be caused by the head alignment being too far off that of the machine where the tape was recorded. If it does it to all tapes even pre-recorded ones, maybe investigate the head azimuth. A head demag would be my next step too. I've also see a dying NR unit cause slow fade in and out but this is very very rare.
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Aug 27, 2012 02:54
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MMD3 posted:
This will let you drive the 3 in ceiling speakers off 2 channels of any amplifier. http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Channel-4...#ht_1376wt_1159 I use something similar for my whole home audio setup. I used to run them off the powered "Zone 2" of my Onkyo amp, but wanted to use 7.1 which my amp didn't support while running powered Zone 2, so I picked up an 90's era Pioneer pro-logic reciever at the thirft store that I stuffed in the closet, then I slave it off my Onkyo on the Zone 2 preamp outs. I can select the input going to the slave reciever off my main amp, and can play 2 different or the same source in both places. But...your Pioneer should be able handle a powered Zone 2 output since you are not using all 7.1 channels on your main setup. Mighty Horse fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 21:51
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Mighty Horse posted:This will let you drive the 3 in ceiling speakers off 2 channels of any amplifier. awesome, thanks! this definitely looks like it would do the trick. it looks like it has some extra channels for input though... not sure I understand how that's supposed to work.
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Aug 27, 2012 22:01
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2 Channels (4 wires) from your amp's zone 2 output to the "input". Speakers go to one zone each...you will have 1 zone left over, which is an excuse to add some speakers somewhere else. The connections labeled "output" are a pass through to run to another speaker selector if you needed more than four.
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Aug 28, 2012 14:17
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Mighty Horse posted:2 Channels (4 wires) from your amp's zone 2 output to the "input". Speakers go to one zone each...you will have 1 zone left over, which is an excuse to add some speakers somewhere else. aha, gotcha. not sure how I didn't figure that out considering they're labeled output  thanks!
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Aug 28, 2012 15:57
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Yesterday I finally got around to replacing a bunch of burned out lamps in my HK 430. Two of the ones behind the tuner dial were out, so the numbers looked all uneven. And the dial needle itself has been burned out ever since I bought it. The ones behind the dial were these fuse type lamps, so they were really easy to replace without any soldering at all. Just remove a couple screws to gain access and snap the new ones in   It's nice to see it fully functional now: 
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Aug 29, 2012 16:52
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Wow, I've never seen lamps like that before. At first glance I was like oh yeah festoon lamps whatever, but they are actually legitimately exactly the same as fuses, probably even made on the same equipment.
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Aug 29, 2012 17:08
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I replaced the output tubes in my Philips EL-6400, and now it hums more than before. I'm thinking that the power supply caps are degraded sufficiently that hum is picked up in the input stage, and this was previously largely ignored because the output tubes were so degraded.  Anyway the supply filters consist of two dual-caps, probably 400V. The plate supplies for the phase splitter has a dual 25µF cap, and the plates for the push pull output have a dual 50µF cap. There's also a smaller 25µF cap that looks like biasing for the output. I don't think it's likely I'll find direct replacement for the dual metal-cap caps, I think they're either screwed in directly or socketed. But: there's room enough that I can put a few caps across GR1 in the schematic, how much is too much for a ~20W amplifier? I don't want to put too much, since it might damage the transformer during the inrush.
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Sep 6, 2012 11:59
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First and foremost, working around any amp is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. Vacuum tube amps are even more dangerous since they use high voltages. The filter caps can hold a charge of several hundred volts even when the unit is unplugged. All it takes is 100mA to defibrillate your heart. Use extreme caution or find a knowledgeable tech. Dual caps are quite easy to come by. JJ makes tubes and multi-section capacitors. F&T is a German brand of multi-section capacitor. Antique Electronics Supply here in the States carries them both along with tubes and other misc things. I used to order tons of stuff from them when I was building vacuum tube guitar amps. I have a stereo amp kit I built years ago. The B+ was only 290 volts and the main filter cap is 400uF. It has pretty impressive bass. One of the mods for the old Dynaco Stereo 70s was to bump up the filtering for the main cap to increase it's bass. You could probably double the filtering to the B+ and the screen supply if it has one. You could probably quadruple the filtering to the negative bias supply to further reduce hum. I never used less than 100uF in the half-wave rectified bias supply in a guitar amp. Depending on what kind of caps are used to couple each stage to the next, they may need to be replaced as well. They can leak a bit of DC into the next stage causing hum. I've seen epoxy encased coupling caps from the late 1930s that were split wide open and completely out of spec. I assume those are EF86 pentodes or one of their varients for the input tubes. Getting good replacements for those that aren't microphonic due to their larger internal structure will be a chore. I don't believe the transformer would be in any sort of danger to self destruct unless it's on it's last legs. Since this is a solid state rectifier, you can use just about anything with it. Vacuum tube rectifiers were the ones you had to be careful with. A GZ-34 rectifier could only be used with say 50-60uF because of the inrush current and a discharged cap is almost like a short until it charges up. Since this is a design from the 50s, I wouldn't be surprised if it used germanium or selenium diodes for the rectifier. It probably wouldn't hurt to change that out too. Selenium diodes will give off toxic smoke if they burn out. You're probably getting more hum since your output tubes aren't matched. If the currents running through the output transformer aren't equal, the hum could be from the mismatch. An EL81 is an odd tube. You'd probably have to ask around larger tube vendors for a matched pair which would cost extra. I think the going rate is $18-20 for a single tube so something like $45 for a matched pair would be about right. Some places charge $3-5 for matching services. Paperweight fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 6, 2012 22:05
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Thanks for the thorough reply, I have already done work on this amplifier and in general I have done professional CRT TV repair a few times. I'll try to find new double caps, maybe I can get a model/socket type number and find exact matches, but it's still fairly practical to do an upgrade across the rectifier, since it's a big open space internally. I should have mentioned, the output tubes are EL-81s, and I have two more of those (also new), so I guess I could try swapping around. I didn't do measurements but I think it's got more distortion now. I guess if I connect a spectrum analyzer and play a sine wave into a load with the different matchings I can find the best combo. The EF-40 input tubes aren't in use now except for B3 in the schematic, I have a few spares though. The others are for the record player input, normally I use the line-level input and the preamp stage is not heard. I appreciate the tips on cap sizes, I have some 400V caps designed for the primary of a SMPS, those should work nicely for the ~280V B+. The rectifiers are all modern silicon based, it was one of the first things I modified after I acquired it, and make no mistake: I over-specified the hell out of them. I'll give the caps another going over with the ESR meter to try to find any bad coupling caps but I think those are all in pretty good shape. Thanks, I'll report back with what I find, or my post mortem, whichever. longview fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 09:08
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I have a Philips 35mm projector from the same era, and the electronics are a nightmare. The power supply unit is like a rats nest, with lots of bare wires. I couldn't find (at the time) a replacement 5V DC rectifier tube, so I had to buy a very expensive solid state replacement.
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Sep 7, 2012 10:57
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I just finished work on it, here's a link with some pictures: tumblr All the capacitors have the correct ESR and value with a cap meter, even the electrolytics. I found that the output hum voltage was lower with a certain pairing, it seems to sound better too, but I didn't bother trying to get THD measurements nor do any real listening tests. For this round I found I had two large high power 400V 470µF capacitors I removed from a decommissioned switch mode power supply, they fit in pretty well if I say so myself. I put those across Gr1. For the Gr2 rectifier I put in a 120µF electrolytic in parallel with the old one. I'm not sure if there's any point in trying different configurations like wiring one capacitor to pin 8 on the output tubes, but this did reduce the main B+ ripple voltage from 2V RMS to about 50mV. Edit: And after doing some listening tests, the hum is pretty much completely gone, dominated by the hiss from the EF-40 now, and it has a very nice sound compared to before. Second edit: I fixed a better indicator lamp, since the old one broke and I never liked how it shone white light through the back: tumblr again From the front it looks exactly like the old one except slightly brighter right in front, so I may need to put in some kind of diffusor, through the grill it looks better IMO longview fucked around with this message at 21:25 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 11:42
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Anyone knows where to get spare parts for Technics 1200? Preferably in Europe (a dealer in Norway would be fantastic, maybe too much to hope for!) but if you got a good one in the US maybe I'll try that one.
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Sep 10, 2012 12:26
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Hopefully this is the right place for this post. I recently fixed a vintage receiver I bought a while back and I have a few questions about using it. The ports for the speakers on the back appear to be a 2-pin din, but the speakers I'm looking seem to be RCA. Is that a thing? Is there anywhere I could purchase a speaker cable that is 2-pin din on one end and RCA on the other? Here are some pics: The ports on my receiver  The speakers I'm looking at  My second question is, I'm wondering if there's a way for me to hook up a more modern source to this receiver. It has inputs as pictured below. I know I can't hook anything up to the phono, but can I rig something into the tape input for an mp3 player? I'm really not interested in the whole records thing. 
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Sep 10, 2012 21:29
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So I just read the manual for my preamp (David Hafler DH-110) and it says the load capacitance of Phono 1 is 120 picofarads and Phono 2 is 220 picofarads. What does this mean? I have it plugged into Phono 1 right now, is more picofarads going to hurt it if I move it to Phono 2 to see if sounds different? I have a Shure m97xe stylus and Acoustic Research ES-1 turntable with stock tonearm if any of that matters.
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Sep 10, 2012 22:10
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Ghostnuke posted:Weird speaker/receiver connection junk I've seen those 2-pin din jacks on very old receivers before, but the speakers that belonged to them usually had permanently attached wires on the other end. I think your best bet is to rig up your own wires with bulk RCA connectors on one end. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10424&cs_id=1042404&p_id=6212&seq=1&format=2 As for the 2-pin din end, those are pretty much obsolete. You might have to modify the receiver to accept raw speaker wire. Or you could attach spades to the ends of the wire and bend/file them down to fit. These are what spade connectors look like:  Or just try to jam the loose wire into the holes at the very least :P What kind of receiver is it, by the way? If you aren't terribly attached to it for any reason, it might be better to find something a little newer (anything from the 70s or newer will accept standard speaker wire and have an aux input for an mp3 player) BANME.sh fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Sep 10, 2012 |
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Sep 10, 2012 22:16
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