Getting Technics. What to know?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Getting Technics. What to know?

Finally trading my CDJ 850s for a pair of Technics MK5s tomorrow. The tt’s are in excellent condition (or so the seller says) and have just been serviced. I’ve never messed with vinyl before. Honestly, I don’t know how the hell to set up/use a turntable. What are some key bits of information I should know?

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make sure you set up your needles correctly for starters or youll ruin vinyls. other than that…have fun!

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Lol there we go scare him right off the bat :thumbsup:

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Lol my girl bought me a ton of vinyl for my bday and said, “don’t mess those up, ok?” I’m like, “what do you mean?!” I’ll be careful.

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Somebody on this forum pointed me to this guy years ago. He’s got some great vids on maintaining your turntables.

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Great stuff. Thanks man.

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:thumbsup:

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You can always buy needles/cartridges pre-mounted on headshells. It’s more expensive, but I’m lazy.

Watch this video:

Make sure your counterweight is properly setup for your cartridge once you have it, and ensure the skate levels are set properly. (videos to set these out there in mass on youtube)

Have fun!

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See if you can find someone to ground them internally. Make sure the RCAs are still in good condition as well.

I upgraded my RCAs and did the ground mod 2 years ago and never looked back!

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yah the one huge design flaw of techs is that they never made an external connection bay, rather than housing the connections in the turntable..

still the best ever tho so

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Speaking from experience:

  1. Make sure there is sound coming out of both channels of the turntable. Use needles and an actual vinyl to test or use a voltmeter on the tonearm prongs & RCA’s.
  2. Make sure the antiskate is properly calibrated (Check youtube), and make sure there’s no rattle in the tonearm.
  3. Check the bearings on the tonearm to see if they’ve been altered or messed with.
  4. Check the pitch by watching the dots and making sure there’s no stutters in the dots.
  5. Almost in line with one: make sure the prongs on the inside of the tonearm are nice and clean and free from oxidation.
  6. Make sure the tonearm isn’t bent.

Those are all the huge ones. Don’t want to make the swap only to find out you need to drop another $200 on a tonearm assembly.

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5 isnt an issue as oxidized contacts can easily be fixed. just use an eraser or steel wool.

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Speaking from experience I once purchased a table with the pins so badly blackened and destroyed that I had to replace the tonearm. No amount of contact cleaner, rubbing alcohol, polisher, or erasers could get rid of the black that covered the prongs. All it takes is a second to look in and see what you’re working with.

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Boom! This is what I was looking for.