Alexandra wrote: 
I think my copy of Gaucho was used as a Frisbee. 

 swell_sailor wrote: 
 
 

 
 
Now you should play Gaucho.

 Alexandra wrote: 
Well, after the Thorens knocked the Rega out of pole position I decided to see what I could do to give the Rega a fighting chance. I put a new cartridge on the Rega a couple of months ago and battled with it for weeks until I determined the stylus was defective. The replacement stylus came in this week and finally tonight I checked it out and it's working perfectly. Dave Mason just finished rocking the office. 

 swell_sailor wrote: 
 
So what's in rotation tonight?

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Thanks. I'm happy to report that the more I play it the more I come to realize what a great sounding table it is. I think it sounds better than my modern table, a Rega P3-24. The Rega is now in the office and may never make it back to the main system. 

 swell_sailor wrote: 

I finally got around to taking a couple of photos of the turntable I restored last winter as completed. 

 DaveInVA wrote: 

Thanks for your help Dave! Snap, Crackle and Pop!

 DaveInVA wrote: 
I suspect it's the motor, only because the platter moves fluidly when spun by hand. That it will come nearly to a stop, with no apparent resistance from the bearing, is very telling. If the speed were only inconsistent, that would be a different story. But when it stops, I could probably get it moving with the touch of a feather. 

So it will probably remain a record cleaning station. That's pretty handy anyway. Keeps me from stressing the ceramic bearing in my Rega.  

 swell_sailor wrote: 
Those motors usually just used a piece of teflon sheet with stickum on it for the thrust bearing and once they get damaged or worn it can cause inconsistant speed. The motor regulator/servo could be failing also. Monitor the voltage going to the motor with a dvm and some clips and watch it when it fails it will tell you if its a voltage regulator problem or a servo/motor problem. Those motors were not really meant to be fixed.

I have an old SL-1500 direct drive. The speed is really inconsistent. Sometimes it nearly slows to a stop. Not much for parts, as the platter is part of the motor. I lubricated the bearing some time ago, although I never got the sense that that was the problem. 

Anyway, I use the thing unplugged for cleaning albums before I play them on my Rega. It lives in the office. It would be nice if it worked. I wouldn't mind having a turntable in the office. But the thing used to belong to my brother, and I think he beat it up pretty good. I suspect I'd be better off finding a clean used table instead of investing in this one.

What do you think Dave? 

 ColdMiser wrote: 

For the amount of money you have to spend you will probably not find anything better than what you already have. The belt is easy to change and cheap. In addition to ebay sellers you can look for the belt at these places also:
Vintage-Electronics
Turntable Basics
LPGear
Needle Doctor 
 I would use the remainder of the $200 to get a decent cartridge to get the best out of the lp's when ripping.
Dave

 ColdMiser wrote: 
There are several sellers on eBay from whom you can get just about any turntable belt - they're usually around $10.00.  Dave probably knows a lot of other sources to get those belts from if you don't want to deal with eBay.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Dave, I have a Technics. The problem is the turntable doesn't turn. I took it apart and everything inside seems in tact. It may be the belt as there is a spindle that spins but there isn't anything connected to it. There is an elastic band around the inside of the platter that is broken, so that may be it.

I have a small receiver that I picked up long ago as a spare setup, nothing great but it does have a phono input. I got a USB recording device for christmas that i was planning on hooking up the turntable to.

I have no problem picking up something new instead of trying to repair the old one. I've got about 400 LPs so I guess I'm just a tosser, but it would be great to hear them all again and get them into the i-tunes rotation.

 DaveInVA wrote:
  Oh yeah, there are some, uh, 'dedicated' folks in any hobby. I have too many varied interests to get completely crazy on just one...

 cc_rider wrote: 
In one of the other forums I hang out in I would be considered just a newbie to it. There if you have less than 10,000 lp's your just a tosser.

 cc_rider wrote: 

 DaveInVA wrote:
 
Bucking for 'Understatement of the Year'?

 ColdMiser wrote: 
What kind of turntable do you already have? What kind of cartridge does it have? It may be an easy fix. If you've seen the vinyl play list thread here you know I'm into vinyl a bit. Are you looking for something to rip vinyl to digital or just a nice table for listening to records? Do you have a receiver or preamp with a phono input? If so does it support Moving Coil (MC) or just Moving Magnet (MM). Sorry about all the questions but it will help narrow down what would work best for you.

I dug my old turntable out of mothballs after 20 years or so and of course it doesn't work so i'm in the market for a new unit. I'm not an audiophile but I'm sure some of you on RP are. What is a good model to get for under $200?