Turntable setup repairs (DIY)

[yuichi]

Not exactly sure what the issue is, but I swapped the cartridge and my setup still sounds like shit, so gonna attempt to swap the RCA cables and solder them on.

Might go try a different receiver as well after that.

Any DIY folks out there as far as turntable/setup repairs?

 

[yuichi]

Any repair shops or used audio equipment in the Los Angeles area you might recommend are welcome as well.

 

[DJRELAX]

I'll assume we are talking 12's, if so, you can do it. I've done 3, first things I ever soldered. Taking out all the screws and not losing them is worse than replacing the RCA's. You can even buy the RCA's pre-soldered, makes the swap a little easier, and eliminates your ground wire.





I just bought a 6' monster cable and cut it in half, flipped my 1200 over on a pillow and gutted it. Take it slow and it will be fine.

 

[parallax]

Before you do anything, make sure you are 100% certain that the issue is the turntable(s) and not your mixer, speaker, amp, loose cables, etc.





Rule out every possibility first.

 

[DJBombjack]

YouTube is your friend here - plenty of good instructional videos, like this:

 

[asstro]

I have some experience with wiring and soldering guitar parts but I tried to do the RCA's on one of my 1200's by following the video posted above and totally fucked the job. I went wrong by using a heavier gauge RCA cable which didn't want to fit in the tight space where it connects inside the table. I tried to desolder and resolder a few times and ended up stripping one of the PCB traces. In the end I had to ship it off to a proper repair guy to have the PCB replaced along with the cable.

 

[yuichi]

'Bout to go in on this shit next week hopefully. The soldering part definitely seems tricky.





Also, should I opt for more high-priced RCA cables??

 

[DJBombjack]

IMO, decent OFC and shielded cables are always a good choice. Doesn't have to be anything heavy as it's signal cable, not power.


And don't get burned by elaborate marketing verbiage. Any online supplier can sell you a great 'unbranded' cable for a reasonable price. This is also known as 'Avoid Monster Cable'.





This place is great: http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=120&cp_id=12004&cs_id=1021814

 

[TheForce]

So both my 1200's start to lose sound out of one channel and after checking everything else decided to replace the RCA cords to which did not solve my problems. Am I looking at wiring with in the tone arm or something internal?

 

[Duderonomy]

TheForce said:So both my 1200's start to lose sound out of one channel and after checking everything else decided to replace the RCA cords to which did not solve my problems. Am I looking at wiring with in the tone arm or something internal?




Checked everything includes the mixer, right?





Have you tried licking the headshell-to-tonearm connection points? Channel-loss is one of the symptoms. Unscrew the headshells, and give the connection points a good lick. Re-attach, see if your stereo comes back. This is usually the first thing I check (and the easiest fix).

 

[Horseleech]

Duderonomy said:


TheForce said:So both my 1200's start to lose sound out of one channel and after checking everything else decided to replace the RCA cords to which did not solve my problems. Am I looking at wiring with in the tone arm or something internal?




Checked everything includes the mixer, right?





Have you tried licking the headshell-to-tonearm connection points? Channel-loss is one of the symptoms. Unscrew the headshells, and give the connection points a good lick. Re-attach, see if your stereo comes back. This is usually the first thing I check (and the easiest fix).




The contacts were my first thought also, and I guess licking is an OK 'in club' fix, but at home I would definitely use alcohol or contact cleaner if you have it.

 

[asstro]

Jesse DeVille said:IMO, decent OFC and shielded cables are always a good choice. Doesn't have to be anything heavy as it's signal cable, not power.


And don't get burned by elaborate marketing verbiage. Any online supplier can sell you a great 'unbranded' cable for a reasonable price. This is also known as 'Avoid Monster Cable'.





This place is great: http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=120&cp_id=12004&cs_id=1021814




That Monoprice cable is the exact one I had such a hard time getting to fit back in my table. It is a lot thicker than the stock cable and there is a clip that you will see in the video that will not accommodate the extra width. Or at least I couldn't get it to fit, which is where I ran into the problems I had. In general Monoprice has really high quality cables though, I use them for all my RCA and speaker cables and they have been great, for really good prices. Definitely avoid Monster!

 

[DJRELAX]

http://turntablelab.com/products/technics-1200-1210-pc-board-soldered-rca-combo-by-ca-tt-black





or





http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-Cable-CRA202-Dual-RCA/dp/B000068O0W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424144644&sr=8-2&keywords=hosa+rca

 

[yuichi]

ended up stripping one of the PCB traces.

Annnddd, I fucked up.








Probably will leave this kind of shit to the pros next time.

 

[asstro]

 

[GatorToof]

Dude,





I wouldn't trust anybody else to work on my technics. Yeah the bottom screws are a annoying.





You can salvage that PCB. Just short the hair-thin, tone arm wires to the RCA cables.


I use sections of fancy shmancy mic cable called mogami for my RCA's. The have both channels and a ground shield. Make sure they are the same length as the original cables so the impedence is the same.





If you don't take the time and DIY you are going to have to pay.

 

[yuichi]

You can salvage that PCB. Just short the hair-thin, tone arm wires to the RCA cables.

Not sure what you mean by this. Can you elaborate, and explain for a dummy.

 

[GatorToof]

I'd be delighted to.





PCB = Printed circuit board. It is a compact circuit similar to many other larger electrical connections made from you components to you mixer -> amp -> speaker.


A replacement PCB is about $10...it will look clean, however, you can save that $.





Part of the circuitry on the board tore off b/c you pulled on teh cable before the solder was completely melted.





That is okay. Take a 3 cm piece of solid core phone cable, trim 2 mm of insulator off each end and solder one end to the green lead, then loosen the ground screw and wrap the insulated part of the cable gentle under the screw so it is anchored to the board and the other end is in the vicinity of the damage PCB circuit. Make sure not to tighten the ground screw so much that it cut through the insulator and electrically connects to the ground. Now simply solder the appropriate RCA cable to the phone cabled and it will connect you to the green tonearm lead.





hope that helps

 

[GatorToof]

Make sure to use a zip-tie to hold the RCA cables to the PCB so it does pull on the soldered joints.





good luck

 

[JimBeam]

I've made the same mistake before.


The pcb's in technics are pretty fragile and the solder starts to harden up pretty quick when you de-solder to pull tonearm or RCA wires. if you ever find yourself making this repair again, get one of these


http://www.amazon.com/Desoldering-Vacuum-Solder-Sucker-Removal/dp/B003FHYL7I/


so you can make sure the contact point is completely free of solder before you pull the wire, otherwise you'll end up in the same situation, where you're pulling the tracks off the weak PCBs. The tracks are printed/adhered on to the board, so once you pull them, the board is useless. You can short the connections, but imo, it's better to have everything as it should be w/ a new PCB and a snug zip tie so you don't yank the whole thing out if you tug on the RCA cord.


A pointer on soldering the very thin tonearm wires to a new PCB-- do it the correct way, where you're heating new solder on the very clean PCB contact point and then place the exposed end of the wire into the solder as it hardens-- it's tricky, but it's much better than having your iron still on the contact point which heats up the wire so much that the paper-thin insulation starts to melt off (ask me how I know...)