Top 10 Technics SL-1200MK2 Turntable Questions & Answers

once you soldered to circuit board place - this might help Advanced Tonearm stuff Tightening the suspension on your tonearm Some TT's have tonearms which seem to be loose. If you grab the tonearm and pull it gently back and forth and it seems loose you can tighten it. It shouldn't move at all. A loose suspension can severely affect it's performance - from jumping needles to binding. It's pretty easy to tighten the suspension. You'll need a small flat screwdriver and a large one. Use the large one to loosen the outer locking screw on the top of the pivot point. Now use the smaller screwdriver to loosen up the smaller screw. Put a drop of oil where the bearings are (under that top support on the other end of the adjustment screw) so that it doesn't bind. Now tighten the small screw slowly until it just contacts the bearings. Adjust the tightness so the tonearm doesn't wiggle if you pull on it but leave it loose enough for the tonearm to pivot freely without binding. Adjust carefully and don't overtighten otherwise the bearings will be damaged! When done, tighten up the locking screw. Tightening up the headshell locking ring Have you put on your headshell, twisted that knurled tightener at the end of the tonearm as tight as possible and have found that the headshell still moves around? What will happen is that the headshell won't sit parallel to the record but may be tilted as a result of twisting of the headshell. This usually occurs when you change headshells a lot or if you've had your turntable for a while, and can contribute to needle jumping so here's what you do to fix it. First read 3.2 on base disassembly. Remove the rubber base. There will be this big piece of hard black plastic covering almost everything. You'll need to remove it. To remove the tonearm assembly look for three screws (all formerly under that black plastic) and unscrew them. Be careful not to drop the tonearm when you remove that last screw! Now, remove the tonearm assembly from the rest of the 1200, and look at the bottom of the tonearm where the headshell is put in. There will be two tiny philips screws there. Get a jewelers screwdriver of the CORRECT size and tighten those up. Put the headshell on and try wiggling it to make sure everything is right. Now put your tonearm back on and close everything back up. hope this helps peace DJ Nyce

need to know if it powers up. Does it try to spin, do you hear it trying to spin? More than likely the on/off switch went bad. No, I am not referring to the ON/OFF knob. THere is a switch this engages when turned. The part is S601. You might also want to replace the Start/Stop switch as well. If neither work, then the issue is on the main PC board, and probably IC101, or IC201 with the problem. At this stage, you will have to have a service tech look at your unit.

It's more than likely your tonearm or your RCA cables. Does the sound come in at all? Try wiggling the RCA cables. If no sound whatsoever, then more than likely it's your tonearm, and will need to be replaced.

Tonearms for this model are available HERE, however, I don't recommend trying to replace this yourself, as it is rather complicated, and you could cause more damage to the unit.

- DJ PRO AUDIO
www.DJPROLAB.com

Here's some information for you. Since your unit is a SL1210MK2, it may be harder to determine the age of the unit:

It is possible to tell the year (and the month) when the SL-1200 was manufactured from the serial number on the back or bottom of the turntable. SL-1200 serial numbers are in two different formats, depending on the date of manufacture. It isn't exactly possible to determine the decade in which the SL-1200 in question was manufactured, as the serial number contains only the last digit of the year. If the year digit is 8, the turntable may have been manufactured in 1978, 1988 or 1998. If the year digit is 0, the turntable may have been manufactured in 1980, 1990 or 2000. One rule of thumb is that old-format serial numbers belong to SL-1200s manufactured during the 1970s and 1980s, while new-format serial numbers belong to SL-1200s manufactured during the 1990s and beyond.
Old-format serial number: NHOJF20765 (SL-1200 manufactured 1982)
The first digit shows the year when the SL-1200 was manufactured. These serial numbers contain no indication of the month of manufacture. It should be noted that serial numbers in this format contain no letters following digits.
New-format serial number: GE4FB001154 (SL-1200 manufactured June 2004)
The first digit shows the year when the SL-1200 was manufactured, while the month of manufacture is indicated by the letter following it. Months are coded as letters between A and L inclusive; A indicates January, B indicates February, and so on.
In addition to the above, all the SL-1200MK2s from the 70's and early 80's have a 4 inch diameter plate where the RCA and ground wires enter the chassis in the rubber base of the unit. The later models have a smaller hole through which the wires enter the unit.


TWEAK A/V LAB
www.DJPROLAB.com

Scott, the belt wraps around the bottom of the turntable platter, then put the platter back on your turntable, and you'll have to pinch back a section of the belt and wrap around the brass motor spindle. That's pretty much it!

Good luck.

- OPTiC
TWEAK A/V LAB

Connecting to another piece of equipment besides the mixer introduces the possibility of creating a ground loop, which, of course, is not desirable.

Just make a splice using Stakons (crimper). Just cut off the existing connector and crimp a (red) round crimp to the existing ground wire. Then take a length of same gauge and crimp a round a (red) spade Stakon on the other end. Then take a nut and bolt and connect the 2 round connectors and tape with good black tape (Scotch 33 or similar). That will get you through the Gig.

It is not suggested that you remove the ground cable. Performing the mod for the ground by soldering a bridge on the circuit board doesn't really do anything either than remove that buzz/ground hum. You've essentially removed the wire that grounds the turntable cabinet to the earth. The buzz is gone, but now your turntable is no longer grounded properly.

I would suggest replacing the ground cable to it's original state, then attach the Monster cables.

If this does not work, then either there is an issue with the soldering to the board, or the board itself might be damaged. You might want to look at the trace paths to make sure none are lifted, or damaged in any way on the board. Another issue might be faulty tonearm wires or not properly soldered wires.

FYI, monster cables are not good for this purpose. I would suggest the following cables:

MOGAMI RCA CABLES

- OPTiC
The ORIGINAL 1200 TECHNICIAN.

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hi .... get any object ( like hammer, or handle or wood) tap slight on the middle spindle of your turntable until become loose,...

Not a schematic or diagram, but step by step "how to" with pictures here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=148792

That turntable, like many others, has an S-shaped tonearm with a removeable headshell. You can use any standard screw-mount cartridge as a replacement. Which one you buy depends on what you want to spend and your intended use. If you're a DJ you'll need a more rugged cartridge than you do for listening at home, for instance.

One company I buy lots of parts from is Parts Express. Here's a link to their styli/cartridges pages. If you have the original cartridge and stylus, you can check if they have the exact replacement. Otherwise you can browse the other choices. You can find many other sources as well, and you may have an audio shop or musician's store in your area who stock cartridges.