SP25 MK V Dynatron Tone arm question

[mtitterrell]

Hello all, New to this and wondered if anyone can help.

An old friend of mine got me to look at his old record player that is in an antique looking table/cabinet affair, anyway with all his moves it stopped working properly. I managed to get a new needle for it (turned out to be speciafied as MK4 one) but 3 of the wires had also come loose to the tone arm so I will need to solder them back on..

Can anyone give me some details how to get at the underneath of the tone arm to do this, and also the order in which the wires are soldered to the connections on the tone arm.

Any help would really be appreciated as I would love to get this working again for the old fella

Matt

[paul401]

Hi,
believe these models still use the cartridge carrier or "slider' system for fixing/holding the cartridge.
No manual in the library for the Mk V, but have a look at the SB 86 II and the GT 20, 25 as this has the same headshell. The carrier slides out from the front.

There are four wires fitted to the carrier, soldered to the little metal contacts at one end and fitted with tags to fit the cartridge pins on the other. With the slider on it's back and front toward you the colours are green, red, white blue. This will help, it's a different model, but clearly shows wiring.; http://www.turntableneedles.com/Garrard ... _3867.html

If it's only the carrier wires broken then fixing is fairly easy, however if it's the wires in the tonearm (these terminate with metal tags that make contact with the tags on the slider) or more likely the solder connections to the tags that have broken, then the arm has to be removed to gain access.
I've done this on a MK IV and from memory it involved removing the two vertical bearing screws, which allowed the arm to be lifted out/turned over. Hopefully someone with more experience of later models will be along to clarify details.

Paul

[mtitterrell]

Hey Paul, thats a great help, thanks very much for the info

[paul401]

Hi,
no problem, hope it's of some help and you get things sorted.

Paul

[mtitterrell]

Hi again Paul. I managed to slide off the carrier and solder on the wires, reasemble with new stylus. On testing the sound was still distorted and mainly playing on the left channel. The radio sound fine so isnt the speakers. Could it be the cartridge itself? although I read these never really fail. Any ideas on what can cause this distortion, thanks again for your help and any extra ideas you have on this.

matt

[paul401]

Hi,

Depends if it's a Ceramic or Magnetic Cartridge, ceramics can certainly give up the ghost, magnetics not so common, but does happen.
Can you post a pic or a little more info on the stylus / cartridge. I googled but couldn't find anything.

Obvious things are, check the slider, as the little metal tags sometimes bend and loose contact, Also check if they are clean.

Check arm settings, ie tracking force, anti skate etc. Might be worth re-balancing the arm and setting up from scratch.

If all is good and working well physically on the turntable, then it might be the input stage of the amp.
But it might not be!

Paul

[mtitterrell]

Hi Paul, here are a couple of links to photo's i took of the cartridge:

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy22 ... G_0209.jpg
http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy22 ... G_0201.jpg

When I got the new needle it was a Sonotone V100 as far as I know.

When I slid the carrier out I did clean up the contacts a little as they looked dirty, now you mention it how accurately do they have to line up, is it right that the metal strips on the top side lay flat on the carrier (the back side to them kink over and under the carrier, but dont seem to act as springs or anything)

I did run through setting up and rebalancing the arm although this was some guess work as i had a slightly different set of instructions to work from.

Thanks again for your help, really appreciate it and hope i have explained well enough to make sense

Matt

[paul401]

Hi Matt,

It's a magnetic (or MM) cartridge. It could be faulty -it does happen.

I believe on the later sliders the contacts lay flat, I think the earlier ones (or I may be getting muddled with the BSR ones) had a slight 'bump' to help contact.

If everything with the arm, head-shell, slider and wiring have been checked and double checked then it is most likely the cartridge or the turntable input stage on the amp. The main amp must be ok for the radio to work.
The only real option is to try another cartridge - do you know anyone with an interest in hi-fi who might have a spare to try? Needs to be a magnetic one - not ceramic.

It might be worth checking the connections on the underside of the deck, the small wires from the arm will either be soldered to a tag strip or less likely fitted with rca/phono plugs and in turn connect to the amp, this will involve some 'exploring' to open up the cabinet to access the underside of the deck.
But the fact you are getting sound, but distorted suggests the cartridge or amp.

The Sonotone cartridge can still be bought £25 -£30 found it on ebay and at Musonic, a quick google will bring some links up.
An alternative would be the Audio Technica AT95e, a very popular budget cartridge on the forum and around £30 -£35 or there is the cheaper AT91, about £20.

Obviously if it's not the cartridge then there will still be a repair bill to fix the amp - but make sure you get a quote if you go with that option, it shouldn't be overly expensive. But you'll have to judge what's worthwhile.

But if you can 'borrow' a cartridge that would be the first option to try.

Paul

[mtitterrell]

Hi Paul, Thanks again for the info. He said it stopped working properly after a house move so worth a poke around to see nothing is loose on the amp as you suggested.

Will see if I can get hold of a cartridge to test also. Can i basically get any magnetic cartridge with 4 pins on the back as a replacement? i saw the options you listed and i think cheaper the better as long as the sound is ok.

Will let you know what happens after i have another look at it

Cheers, matt

[paul401]

HI,
Oh yes, always check the obvious. But generally just give it the once over for any physical failings loose /broken connections etc. Look out for the dreaded 'dry joint', these are hairline cracks in the solder, the joint may look ok but the break can cause poor or intermittent connection -can be really hard to see/find

I found this, I've a couple of decks (works in progress -you understand ) that I've picked up and need new stylus'sssss, so thought I might try one of these myself, reviews/reports seem ok. At the price there's not much to lose. Interestingly shape wise it looks like the AT95e - as AT make a lot of badged cartridges it might well be a budget version of that.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Numark-GROOVE-T ... B0002E3DHG

But yes to answer your question any mm cartridge will do, the four pin outs are standard, though the size/diameter can vary slightly - standardisation? - not in this game!

Paul

[mtitterrell]

Hey Paul, That looks like a great cartridge, and price! the one review of it looks promising, and you get the stylus with it too? I have one chance of 'borrowing' a cartridge, will know later today if it is compatible, if not will get one of these, for a tenner im prepared to gamble!

What decks are you working on? have you got a purpose earmarked for them when they are working?

Cheers
Matt

[paul401]

Hi,
it seems it's a half inch mount variant of the Sanyo cartridge fitted to the little Bush MT1 turntables - these are cheap and plasticky, but I have heard one ( truth be told I've got lying around - needs a stylus - not sure it's worth it!!) and it did sound ok. and I'm sure most of this was the cartridge. I've heard they can 'ride' a little low, but only a problem with badly warped records - and we shouldn't really be playing those anyway

Turntables - ongoing projects, I've never dared list them all - too many, but the ones I remarked on are an Hitachi HT 40 - 70's/80's semi auto deck -just needs cartridge/stylus and a Pioneer Pl 512, simple 70's/80's belt drive which I'm tempted to do up, looks a little 'tired' but it's a nice basic simple deck - think the phono plugs need rewiring on it though, can't remember?
Probably sell the Hitachi on, might keep the Pioneer. There's a nice Rotel somewhere - now I think about it, and then some? You see, TOO many!

Let us know how you get on with the cartridges and/or deck.

Paul

[mtitterrell]

Hi again Paul! Its been some time but finally got round to fitting the replacement cartridge today. I got one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0002E3DHG/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00 actually bought it back in August and been sitting in my car since then.

Well success using the new part so very pleased, and so is Jack. Really supprising just how good the sound is and we spent a few hours listening to his old records (don't make them like that anymore!)

One thing I will have to look further into is the auto play feature as its not setting up the disc propperly and may need adjustment.

Thanks again for your help
Matt

[paul401]

Hi Matt,

good to hear your up and running, it's always nice when people report back, especially if things are now working!

Shouldn't worry about a few weeks delay, I've made little enough progress with my own projects (virtually none in truth), but they'll get done eventually. May get a couple of these cartridges myself.

When you say the auto feature is 'not setting up the disc properly' what's happening? If it's not quite setting down or picking up at the right point, this can be adjusted - there should be a small screw, usually on or near the base of the arm on the 25's, but I'm not sure exactly on this model. See if I can find any info.

Paul