So I picked up a Technics 1200 M3D off of ebay and started watching videos on how to set it up. I’ve run into an issue that I can’t find any information on. I noticed in all the videos I watched that the needle, when the tone arm is locked in the arm rest, sits right on the arm rest and floats over the turntable.
When I place my tone arm on the arm rest, 1. it doesnt touch it, 2. the needle (needle cover) is touching the turntable, and 3. when I put the arm rest lock on, it just pushes the tone arm down more.
I have 4 M3D’s..Last year my roommate was drunk and went to pull off the sheet i had covering them, the sheet hooked on one of the tone arm and it bent–not like yours, it sat exactly as it should, but somehow created a resistance making it unable to follow the record-- so I took it to the local technics repair shop and had the whole mechanism replaced for 90 USD and works perfectly now. Have you had any issues with sound/calibrating?
The music sounds good. I’ve been listening to records all day and haven’t heard any issues. The only thing is the way it sits. I don’t know much about tt’s to begin with, but with what I’ve read and seen videos of, it’s running fine. Could it be that the arm rest is too short?
Simple fix is to bend it back .. I Used to hire out and manage a stock of 60 1210’s and if this ever happened its what we used to do (of course we’d charge the customer for damage .
Unless the bearings have been shot there should be no issues with tracking… You can check if there is resistance by setting the weight until the tonearm “floats” .. Set the anti-skate to zero, and let it drift left/right.. so long as it does not “stall” continually on one point you should be good.
If it stalls at a point it might just be the bearing needs loosening rather than replacing (you’d be suprised how many folks think the middle screw should be solid tight) .. Loosen the outer locking ring on the bearing, loosen up the center screw and float test again until you get no resistance. Tighten the locking outer ring (without turning the middle screw) and you’re good to go.
We used to have to do this regularly on our turntables when DJ’s would set the height to Max and the tonearm assemby would hit the top of the flightcase in transit.
Sounds like your mate might have either “flattened” the bearings, which would need replacing, broken the anti skate or bent the part that holds the tonearm, and of these would cause tracking issues.
However in OP’s case, I’d just gently bend or twist back the tonearm until its leveled and then adjust the bearing tightness if needed after testing above.. technics “official” service manual would specify replace the tonearm if it was damaged in any way but you don’t need to… just dont put tooooooooo much pressure on it or you can crack the aluminum on under the bend, it’ll still work fine but not look pretty . edit
On looking at your pics, you have the height set rather low and looks like your stylus cover is hitting the deck, arm does look a lil twisted and looks like its dipping down alot still though.
I think the arm is bent. I tried changing the height, and it still hits. If I didn’t have the stylus cover down, the needle would be hitting it. Just so I understand you correctly, hold down the tone arm from where it would sit on the arm rest and gently pull up on the other end?
On a level surface you tonearm should sit level when on a record.. bend it like deevey said.
And try to get it as straight as possible.
then put it on a record and see if its level.. If the tonearm looks perfectly straight but its not level, adjust your height.
BUT: don’t compromise one for the other.
Yep .. it looks like it was sitting in the clip when it got bent, so thats the “pressure point”
so yep pressure down on that area, and up and at a slight angle at the headshell end… the cart should sit flat on a recond once you are done, not at an angle like it is right now ..
The Cart looks pretty fat so prob adjust the height around the halfway mark.
U just need to spend $50 and replace ur tonearm… I can fix for you if you can send tonearm base and everything…pm ne if you don’t want to exchange urself
Dude seriously, there’s most certainly no need for the bloke to replace his entire tonearm, and definetly no need for him to take apart the turntable for the sake of a pretty minor bend :eek: overkill muchness.
S0 I bent it back a bit. DIdn’t want to over do it since I’ve never had a tt. It now locks without any pressure. The stylus is no longer hitting the body. Thanks to everyone for their input.
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