JVC JL-A20 tone arm problem

[kombinat]

The tonearm on my JVC JL-A20 deck does not return to its rest position after playing a record. Instead it moves forward again from its rest position, switches the motor on again and starts to play the same record (but naturally hits the vinyl because the arm is in the lowered position). How can I make the tonearm come to rest on its stand with the motor switched off after playing a record?

[synner]

Too funny. I just pulled out the turntable yesterday and found this forum as I'm having exactly the same problem. I was thinking something got bumped when I moved.

[kombinat]

Viperrepair pointed out that the problem is easily solved. The small piece of foam attached to a rubber block on a metal arm under the platter (take the bottom plate off to see it) degrades with age and can no longer cushion the tonearm as it comes to the rest position. Just peel off the foam strip from the rubber block and stick a small piece of foam weather strip in its place and all should be back to normal.

[odelay17]

Reviving this thread to bring closure to this topic. My JL-A20 also had this problem. Kombinat was entirely correct in his solution, but I thought it needed some further explanation as I was a bit unclear. Hope this helps everyone.

1. Lock up the tone arm. Removing the platter may also be a good idea, but not required. Remove the screws on the back plate.



2. Once opened, locate the metal arm that has a foam/rubber pad on it. Chances are it will be very worn. Mine was somewhat worn looking, but I honestly could not believe this was the culprit.

It looked like this:


3. Scrape this rubber piece off the metal arm. It's location is picture below, but at this point I had already replaced mine with something else.




4. Replace this with something else. I personally wrapped it in some firm putty and then wrapped the putty with some duct tape. Somehow this worked. You may want to try the weather stripping idea as recommended by kombinat.

Once this is done replace the back plate and anything else you took off. This should (believe it or not) solve this problem.

Hope this helps someone else out. I bought this turntable for very cheap, and for my purposes I am more than happy with its performance other than its glitch. Now with this issue resolved I really cant complain.
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[muffinass]

I have the same problem and I'm trying to fix it before I put the JVC up for sale.

Took the bottom apart, looked at the rubber piece that had faint bits of foam still attached to it. I assume that it once had a hefty slab of foam which wore out.

Do I simply 'extend' the rubber piece with some more foam? How big does it have to be? (I noticed the auto-return kicks in too early...could this also be affected by the piece of foam?)

[jhg540]

You guys are the best. I've been having this exact problem, and didn't want to pay more for the repair than the table is worth. I'll do this probably tonight. Thanks a million!

[jhg540]

Quick update since I just did this. Super easy.

For me the initial problem was worse -- the tonearm would start to come back, then drop down mid-disc and forcibly push right across. You can see how this made me unhappy!

I opened it up and the foam on mine was completely gone. I peeled the sticky end of it off the black rubber block and put a bit of foam weatherstripping on in its place. I used 3/8" (wide) by 1/4" (thick). I got a roll of about 10 feet for about $2.00 at the hardware store. Of course, you only need about a half inch piece.

I think the 1/4" might be a shade too thick -- on my test the tone arm didn't return at the end of the record, until I pushed it in a bit more. But when I did that, it worked perfectly. So if you want it 100% perfect you might have to shave the foam down a bit. I left it because -- well, it's a lot better than the problem I had before. We'll see if it wears in after a few plays.

Hope that helps. Thanks again to kombinat and odelay17 for the advice -- this is what the web is all about.

Joe