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Having some trouble with one of my decks... anyone here a hardware guru?

I have a pair of Technics SL-1200 MKIIs. I am having issues with the right channel on one of the decks. There is an intermittant loss of volume and fuzziness in the right channel. A record will be playing, and periodically the audio in the right channel sounds fuzzy and loses most of its output.

I cleaned the stylus with the stylus brush. I then re-calibrated & reset the counterweight and anti-skate. I swapped the stylus out for a spare. Still no dice, so I cleaned the 4-pin connector in the tonearm and back of the headshell. Still not fixed, so I swapped out the entire headshell.

That seems to rule out the stylus, calibration, and headshell. I am wondering could it be the tonearm wiring or tonearm assembly? How would I check / fix that? Unfortunately I don't have a soldering iron or soldering experience.

@texas did you use contact cleaner when you cleaned the pins in the arm tube? Even if you did give it another go, and not only rub the q-tip drenched in cleaner over the pins but work them in and out. Give the little springs on the back of the pins a good workout.

If you use your decks for gigging the next likely point of failure would be the phono cables. If you're listening and hearing any break ups or loss of volume give the cables a jiggle near the rca connectors and see if that makes a difference.

Had this 'loss of volume' thing on my own Technics deck a while back, @static's solution sorted it out straight away.

We should have a dedicated gear thread. Would be cool to check out new turntables & bits of kit - not that I need to spend any more money on such things! :)

texasvinyl wrote:Having some trouble with one of my decks... anyone here a hardware guru?

Spun out of control wrote:We should have a dedicated gear thread.

Ask Static!©®™

static14 wrote:@texas did you use contact cleaner when you cleaned the pins in the arm tube? Even if you did give it another go, and not only rub the q-tip drenched in cleaner over the pins but work them in and out. Give the little springs on the back of the pins a good workout.

That did the trick! Much appreciated. I did use 99% IPA not contact cleaner. Currently enjoying The Professional OST in full stereo glory :)

Good stuff!