?Good cart. for Dual 1210 in an old E'home console

[jc3]

Hey everyone -

One more question for you - The 1218 I picked up came with no headshell

Does anyone know which Dual headshells will fit the 1218? (there aren't any on fleabay right now)... Thanks!

[Hugues TR4]

Hi,
There is one on flea-bay right now as an immediate buy for 24.95$.
Type "Vintage Dual turntable head shell clip 1219...", also advertized for the 1218 (see the pics). The guy claims he's got 4 of them.
Think it's from Germany, so you might have difficulties to reach it from your side of the pond.
If so, you can send me a post with your e-mail address on my private post and I can mail it to you directly via e-bay sharing system.
Good luck!

Cheers,

Hugh.

[gg383]

If you're ever going to stack records you want the TK 15 with the S-M knob on the side, the knob adjusts the cartridge to play a single or multiple records. I saw two on ebay Dual Turntables tonight, One on Page 1 and another on Page 3. If you are only going to play singles you can use the TK 24 there were many of then on ebay tonight. 4 pins sticking out of the back, that's what you want. Glenn

[jc3]

Perfect - just the info I was looking for! Tk15 it is!

[gg383]

Did you get the one on fleabay today??? If not there's another one in a day or two.

[jc3]

Yeah, I did - thanks!

Now, though, I've run into another frustrating problem. I only have full sound from one channel. The guy I bought the 1218 from packed it terribly, and it took a shaking in transit. One of the tonearm wires had come off the muting switch and other things. So I soldered the lead back on, got a multimeter and started checking continuity. The channel that works, unsurprisingly, both conductors are continuous. On the other channel, both conductors show continuity with each other - in other words a short? Should this be? The only reason I ask this is because on the small PCB on the rear part of the tonearm that accepts the headshell pins, there are 5 contacts, not t, and on the channel I'm having a problem with, one of these appears to be connected to the central pin with a small piece of metal. So - what gives? Any ideas?

[Hugues TR4]

Are you absolutely sure that all your contacts inside both head shell and connecting pins in the arm are "spic n'span" clean?
Took me days before I got everything working on my 1019 just because of slightly corroded contacts in there.
As for the 5th pin, I rose the same question lately on this site but nobody knew for sure about its purpose. It must have to do with grounding, paramount important on the Dual's.

Good luck,

Hugh.

[Hugues TR4]

PS: Also have a look at one of the previous thread "Dual ground wire" (still present on this page).
Might be instructive in solving your problem (Manfred Lini's advices).

Cheers,

Hugh.

[jc3]

I am fairly sure it's not the contacts. I've polished both the contacts in the little PCB that the headshell connexts with and the contacts on the headshell itself. The cartridge (very quietly) plays both channels through my 1210 in the console stereo. So, at this point I'm thinking that it either has to be something wrong with that little printed circuit board, or the wiring in the arm. Any other thoughts?

[josephazannieri]

Yo jc3:

Take a look at Dual service manual for 1218, found here:

http://www.vinylengine.com/library/dual/1218.shtml.
On Page 2 there is a wiring diagram for the cartridge wires. You will see that there is a muting switch that shorts the cartridge out when the arm is on the rest, or when the changer mechanism is operating to change records. It may be leaving itself shorted all the time on one channel. You will find muting switch under turntable, and you already appear to know where it is. Take a look at the little metal shorting arms and see if they split open when you put the tonearm on the record. If they don't do that just stick some tape between them. This looks to me as if the shorting switch might only be opening up on one side.

Before I started to cut stuff up, I would scope out the muting switch, and be sure that it is opening up when the turntable is playing records. If that does not take care of problem, you may have to start disconnecting wires to find where the short is. If you take a look at manual, this unit apparently does not have a separate ground wire. The right channel shield is connected to the metal turntable chassis and the chassis ground is carried to the amp on the right channel shield. You do have the option to use a 5th wire, just disconnect right shield from chassis and run a separate 20 gauge stranded wire to the the chassis, and connect that wire to chassis of amp.

If you can open up your RCA plugs and look inside of them, be sure that they are not internally shorted. See if the caps unscrew.

And good luck from that muted, but well shielded old guy,

Joe Z.

[jc3]

Thanks Joe - I wasn't sure exactly how the muting switch worked, but I'll take a look at it as you suggest and see if that is the culptit!