what are you using to check the wires with?
if you are using a ohm meter....looking at the tailend of the car. ohm the leads out to see if they are open. i think the right top and bottom are 1 channel and other two are the other.
if you hook up it all and ohm from the center pin of 1 connector to the outside of the same conector, you should read 200-1k ohms and around the same for the other.
if not next would be testing the cartrage, then the head shell leads, then arm to underside of the plinith. then the cable.
if you are using a ohm meter....looking at the tailend of the car. ohm the leads out to see if they are open. i think the right top and bottom are 1 channel and other two are the other.
if you hook up it all and ohm from the center pin of 1 connector to the outside of the same conector, you should read 200-1k ohms and around the same for the other.
if not next would be testing the cartrage, then the head shell leads, then arm to underside of the plinith. then the cable.
How about my nearly new (9 month old) Thorens TD 185? I'll sell it for $145 plus $35 shipping (total $180). It retailed for $499 and has recently been replaced by the TD 190 at $699. It's fully auto with belt drive, a very good cartridge, a tinted dust cover, and the factory box and packing materials for shipment. It's a basic platform that performs well, but can be upgraded for minimal cost to achieve outstanding results, while remaining reliable, and very easy to use.
Pics available by request.
gdn1@sbcglobal.net
Pics available by request.
gdn1@sbcglobal.net
The ARs are good tables with the potential to be great tables. The SL-1200 is a good turntable with the potential to remain just a good turntable.
As for the "just springs" comment ...
First time I encountered an AR was in a hifi shop in the mid-70s. The original SL-1200's were out then, as were other good tables. The AR was sitting on a sturdy shelf near the floor. The owner of the shop put a record on, placed the dust cover on the 'table, cranked the volume up on a Phase Linear 400 powering some Klipsch La Scalas to some ungodly volume, and handed me a hammer.
Couldnt hear the hammer blows on the dust cover through the speakers, let alone make the stylus skip. Just springs, I guess.
Now, i wasn't hitting it hard enough to drive a 2 1/2 inch nail into a 2x4 with three blows, but definitely hard enough to drive it with a dozen blows.
An SL-1200 would do reasonbly well on that test, but you would definitely hear it.
Given the upgrade potential of the AR, its the better bargain. Note that i have experimented on SL-1200 (Mk II's) by replacing the metal tonearm mount with rosewood and figuring out how to match the mass so the table retained its isolation properties. Changed arms as well (also requiring careful mass adjustment).
Got better, but you're about done at that point. The DC Direct Drive system can still be heard. Its not bad, but even an AC Direct Drive Denon is smoother, and neither can go where well implemented belt drive can. Although an SP-10 will hold it's own against some of the better Denons.
With DD its all about the motor; something like an SL-D2 doesnt have it; too inexpensive to get the iron right.
As for the "just springs" comment ...
First time I encountered an AR was in a hifi shop in the mid-70s. The original SL-1200's were out then, as were other good tables. The AR was sitting on a sturdy shelf near the floor. The owner of the shop put a record on, placed the dust cover on the 'table, cranked the volume up on a Phase Linear 400 powering some Klipsch La Scalas to some ungodly volume, and handed me a hammer.
Couldnt hear the hammer blows on the dust cover through the speakers, let alone make the stylus skip. Just springs, I guess.
Now, i wasn't hitting it hard enough to drive a 2 1/2 inch nail into a 2x4 with three blows, but definitely hard enough to drive it with a dozen blows.
An SL-1200 would do reasonbly well on that test, but you would definitely hear it.
Given the upgrade potential of the AR, its the better bargain. Note that i have experimented on SL-1200 (Mk II's) by replacing the metal tonearm mount with rosewood and figuring out how to match the mass so the table retained its isolation properties. Changed arms as well (also requiring careful mass adjustment).
Got better, but you're about done at that point. The DC Direct Drive system can still be heard. Its not bad, but even an AC Direct Drive Denon is smoother, and neither can go where well implemented belt drive can. Although an SP-10 will hold it's own against some of the better Denons.
With DD its all about the motor; something like an SL-D2 doesnt have it; too inexpensive to get the iron right.
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Be careful with the VOM. Don't have the leads attached to the cartridge at the headshell and test the wires from headshell to RCAs only. DC voltage is not kind to cartridges.
Usually on the cartridge itself, and used in headshell or tonearm wiring:
Left Ch + White
Left Ch - Blue
Right Ch + Red
Right Ch - Green
Usually on the cartridge itself, and used in headshell or tonearm wiring:
Left Ch + White
Left Ch - Blue
Right Ch + Red
Right Ch - Green
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Can you tell us what about the DC Direct Drive system can be heard? I'm genuinely curious, honest. Thanks.
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A DC motor by its nature exhibits "cogging". A simple explanation would be it jumps from pole to pole; kind of a push ... pull ... push ... pull motion. Panasonic (parent of Technics) used motors with many poles and quartz-controlled speed circuits to bring the speed variation down to acceptable levels. In fact without the speed control system invented by Panasonic a DC DD motor would be completely unsuitable for turntable use.
An AC motor just wants to turn in a (for example) clockwise direction at high torque (low speed or at/near rest) falling to lower torque at higher speeds. Its inherently smoother.
Perhaps a crude but illustrative analogy would be driving a nail with many precise hammer blows (DC) versus using a hydraulic press at a constant pressure (AC)..
Broadly speaking, an AC motor is susceptible to wow while a DC motor is susceptable to flutter.
The above is somewhat of a generalization but gives an idea of the fundamental issues facing a TT designer and how those choices can affect a listener.
There are ways to mitigate either systems inherent flaws so execution, as always, plays a role. I find the Technics DD table flutter is audible on, say, piano music. The best of the Technics models are quite good but don't go below a SL 1x00 series such as an SL-Dx series.
Belt drive tables are quite different ... A belt is an effective high frequency (flutter) damper by itself. The above should only be considered issues relating to Direct Drive.
Panasonic licensed their DC DD to anyone who wanted it (and at the time, owned JVC) while Denon's AC DD system was kept proprietary. Thus there are other DC DD tables worth considering.
I find the Denons to be superior sounding; be wary of uninformed people "cleaning" the underside of the Denon platter where the feedback signal is encoded. It should be treated like a camera lens ... Never touch it.
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I should probably add that the above is relevant to classic Japanese turntables. For the most part the well known Japanese manufacturers treated the belt-drive tables as budget versions unworthy of serious attention so if you are looking, consider the DD tables only. Belt drive tables from the era, of course, are also worthy of attention if they are not mainstream Japanese branded.
I would rather not go into which models other than the SL-1200 i would consider worth a look ... Open your mouth on the Interwebs and all that happens is it drives up prices. Suffice to say there are bargains out there, not all of them byTechnics.
I'll answer PMs from forum members who actually partipate here if you want an opinion on a specific model I might be familiar with directly.
As for Denon, the company was sold and essentially stripped of its tech assets in 2001. Today it is just a brand name used for its cachet; there is nothing special about modern Denon tables.
Somehow the cartridge business managed to carry on relatively unscathed .. the Bean Counters must have seen something worthy of avoiding the hatchet there ... Keep your fingers crossed and if it's yor habit, pray for the DL-103.
I would rather not go into which models other than the SL-1200 i would consider worth a look ... Open your mouth on the Interwebs and all that happens is it drives up prices. Suffice to say there are bargains out there, not all of them byTechnics.
I'll answer PMs from forum members who actually partipate here if you want an opinion on a specific model I might be familiar with directly.
As for Denon, the company was sold and essentially stripped of its tech assets in 2001. Today it is just a brand name used for its cachet; there is nothing special about modern Denon tables.
Somehow the cartridge business managed to carry on relatively unscathed .. the Bean Counters must have seen something worthy of avoiding the hatchet there ... Keep your fingers crossed and if it's yor habit, pray for the DL-103.
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