New Old TT owner

[ishangupta42]

Hi
I recently inherited my first TT, a Visonik CEC 5200 (from the early 1980's) and a bunch of english LPs and 45's belonging to my dad (from the 60's and 70's). I'm not an ignoramus but being only 20 years old, I have not grown up listening to vinyl and could do with some help, please, if it is not too lowly a request of the experts.

I am a total music addict and fully appreciate the value of the vinyl collection, which includes gems like original 1963 UK 45 rpm pressings of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles, among others.

I find that one channel works intermittently and LP's skip a lot (more) on the first track (on both sides). When the faulty channel is not working, a distinct hum can be heard on that channel. The TT doesn't have output stereo sockets but rather an output stereo lead (repaired by amateurs at some point), which is why I have not been able to figure out whether it is simply a socket issue or runs deeper (to the cartridge, maybe). However, I was not able to find any issues with the stereo lead myself.

I have also not been able to reduce significant hiss and cracks from records, despite washing with soap and water and using a soft brush. The records are in decent condition. I do not possess any anti-static equipment at this time and do not know where to get any in Bangalore. The phono, pre and power amplifier stages are beyond doubt.

Any help would be much appreciated. If someone would be kind enough to tell me where I could get a servicing done or which parts to replace or whether it is not worth keeping this TT, it would almost be too kind.

And lastly, I'd love to get my hands on a new or recent presssing of any record to play just once (for reference) from anyone in the vicinity.

Thanks,

Ishan
(Indiranagar, Bangalore)

 

[malvai]

Dear friend,
considering it is a very old LP player, the prob could easily be at any of the points: The lead, the ground wire, cartridge or even the stylus. This will have to be checked by a professional. The skipping on only the first track could be a cart alignment/ antiskating weight adjustment issue.
If i were in bangalore, i could have helped. Unfortunately I am not. However, another very avid analogue expert friend of ours is in Bangalore! You could PM 'Stevieboy' on this forum and I'm sure he will help!

 

[ishangupta42]

Malvai,

Thanks a lot. I will definitely get in touch with him.

-Ishan

 

[stevieboy]

Hi Ishan,

First thing is to stop playing the more precious lps till you fix your tt. You can experiment with lps that are not so dear till then. Cos one bad play is all it takes to ruin a good lp. Perhaps I'm overcautious but considering the scarcity of vinyl...

There's Mr Murthy on Commercial Street, 25588077 left hand side after the police station, a tools and trade shop. He should be able to fix the tt electrically. I'm zero at these things, plus I can't travel for a week or two as I've got an exam coming up. As Malvai has already pointed out the leads left and right must be one of the causes, probably the main cause I'd guess. You might need to get new leads soldered in, since it's soldered fixed type you can get Murthy to solder in a new pair or make a provision for a socket so you can change interconnects more easily. This I think should solve the hum problem and intermittent channel working.

Grounding the turntable, use the grounding wire coming out of the turntable, it should be a thin wire that comes along with the two left and right wires, with a sort of spade connector at the end, attach this connector to the ground on your amplifier.

If its old, a thorough cleaning might help, Murthy again.

Post some pictures of your turntable, specifically the cartridge close up so we can see make and type. You'd get more suggestions then as to cartridges you can use in it. I'd suggest blindly junking the cartridge and putting in a new one cos if the old one's bad you stand to ruin your lps. And one needs a real powerful magnifier/microscope to see the state of the diamond in the tip. Overall though if you're interested in pursuing vinyl sound I generally recommend picking up a new entry level tt when/if you have the funds. Project makes the debut III at bout 20k.

I'd suggest the sumiko blackbird cartridge manual, downloadable at the sumiko website as a pdf, as an excellent article on how to set up a turntable and the various factors involved. Just so you get familiar with the various terms and adjustments involved. You can ask questions then.

There are many threads on the forum on record cleaning. Search for vinyl cleaning using the search button on top right hand side and you should get them. The isopropyl alcohol, and distilled water which you'll need can be got from avenue road, opposite the post office, beginning of the road, you'll see a chemist board first floor.

Antistatic brush abhishek of caryaudio design on this forum, or sushil anand of nova audio bombay. Anti static gun I had posted a link but forgot right now, it's a UK site. Search the site it should pop up.

With a tt this old, the skipping could be either the tonearm gone bad itself. If there's some sort of knob at the rear end of the tonearm, try adjusting it so there's more force being exerted, ie numbers going higher in value, so the cartridge bears down more firmly on the record. This again we'd have to see pics of that part to advice you further. There's another adjustment you could play with called anti-skate, usually a knob or a thread mechanism, it should be labelled on an old tt like yours. Will wait for pics and more info. Am sure someone here will come up with the right solution

Sorry I can't come over right now to help, normally would have loved to.

Regards
steve

 

[entsurgeon]

with due respect to gurus, if the stereo is able to play at least few times, the problem most certainly lies in any of the loose connections. biggest cuylprit cud be the repair job giving u the stereo lead. most other hardwares and elex maybe alright. cart/stylus, i agree with stevie, should be changed asap. best thing then, find a guy with decent tt setup and play one of ur non precious vinyls on it and then on ur rig for comparison/reference setup.
last the most important thing-congrats..... i m jealous of u already man!! maybe if i inherited a ferrari or sunbeam.:yahoo: