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Comment by innerspaceboy on October 30, 2013 at 12:27pm

Real horrorshow Noel!

I bought a vintage rosewood Denon DP-60L for $600 off eBay with a pricey high compliance moving coil cartridge. I fully insured the shipping for safety. When it arrived I only picked up sound from the left channel.

The seller claimed that it worked fine the day he shipped it, and the post office denied my claim because there were no physical gashes in the box.

Spent another $50 to have it looked at by a pro audio shop only to find that the cartridge was damaged (most certainly in shipment.)

Another hundred dollars later I ordered an Ortofon 2M Red as an inexpensive replacement, which I was able to get at cost, and now she sings beautifully.

Now I couldn't be happier with my table.

Comment by M.M. on October 30, 2013 at 12:10pm

A harrowing tale of frustration. I bought my turntable new still in the box. It was 300 bucks but I just put it together, plugged it in and I was good to go. The internet is an invaluable resource. Glad to hear you solved your issue.

Comment by Noel on October 30, 2013 at 8:04am

Back in the late 70's I was serving in the Pacific and bought a ton of audio equipment. I researched the crap out of my purchases and ended up with a Technics SL1700 MkII turntable among my purchases. Had that turntable until the dawn of CD's; when I just gave it away.

Recently I purchased the same turntable from ebay. As it turns out there is something wrong with it and the vinyl sounds like crap. Can't pinpoint the problem. Have downloaded the manual and taken it apart. Lubricated and used contact cleaner on all switches and electronics, changed the headshell, used different cartridges, and have put it all back together to get this raspy audio. Haven't replaced the audio cable. Maybe next thing i do.

Decided to purchase a different turntable and went with a Technics SL 1510 again on ebay. Well, this one was crap too! The speed would fluctuate and no amount of fiddling with the pitch control would help. Only happened on 33 rpm. Well thank (almost said god) the stars for the internet. Found a site that had posts by like minded folks who were experiencing the same behavior with their Technics SL 1510"s. Solution: Remove bottom cover and it gives you access to the Off, 33 RPM, and 45 RPM switch; it's mechanical. Spray with contact cleaner (hopefully the type that does not destroy plastic) and work the switch.

Turns out the switch was gunked up and needed a cleaning in order to allow the table to spin at the proper speed. Now when I turn it on it tracks perfectly. You go internet!!!