greenhorn
Well-Known Member
I've read here that Technics linear's are too complicated, and people recommending against buying them. While they are more complicated indeed, probably as complicated as a turntable might be, they're not any more complicated than a full logic cassette deck.
I recently got an SL QL5 which I fixed up, and when I saw someone selling a non working SL 7 locally, I offered to fix it for free, because I wanted some more practice.
I watched this video to get an idea of how to do this, and figured it was easy
After opening the deck up, the entire mechanism in this too was fully gunked up with solidified grease. Used a lot of napkins, cotton buds and alcohol to remove it. Replaced the belt and put super lube, now things work just fine! The mechanism on both is very similar
Insides of the SL 7

With the Record size detector removed - the platter has holes through which light shines through, and there are photodetectors on the top of the board. You can of course block them to force a particular size using a switch on top. This is unlike the mechanical detectors on earlier automatics. The only problem with this is that you are stuck with the stock platter mat, and you can't upgrade. For this specific TT, the platter mat is literally stuck on

With all the junk removed and lubed with Superlube.
This is what I use for the mechanism

This is just after a preliminary cleaning - there was 3-4 times more gunk to be removed

My Turntable along with the visitor
What the inside of my TT looks like - more or less the same, but strangely the belt size was slightly different

Now it works just fine
Disclaimer: this is only valid about the Technics mechanisms. Not sure about sony biotracer, denon , akai linears
I recently got an SL QL5 which I fixed up, and when I saw someone selling a non working SL 7 locally, I offered to fix it for free, because I wanted some more practice.
I watched this video to get an idea of how to do this, and figured it was easy
After opening the deck up, the entire mechanism in this too was fully gunked up with solidified grease. Used a lot of napkins, cotton buds and alcohol to remove it. Replaced the belt and put super lube, now things work just fine! The mechanism on both is very similar
Insides of the SL 7

With the Record size detector removed - the platter has holes through which light shines through, and there are photodetectors on the top of the board. You can of course block them to force a particular size using a switch on top. This is unlike the mechanical detectors on earlier automatics. The only problem with this is that you are stuck with the stock platter mat, and you can't upgrade. For this specific TT, the platter mat is literally stuck on

With all the junk removed and lubed with Superlube.


This is just after a preliminary cleaning - there was 3-4 times more gunk to be removed

My Turntable along with the visitor

What the inside of my TT looks like - more or less the same, but strangely the belt size was slightly different

Now it works just fine
Disclaimer: this is only valid about the Technics mechanisms. Not sure about sony biotracer, denon , akai linears
Last edited: