Why would you want to buy a new turntable? This is a signal-wires problem you're describing.

Sounds to me like your "extension cable" has a damaged or worn out connector. If you mean you are
plugging the Technics-supplied RCA males into an RCA-to-RCA extender cable, then the suspect would
be the female connectors on the extension cable. If you mean you are plugging directly into a
preamp, then the suspect is the Technics RCA males or the preamp's female RCA sockets. Technics (and
all other Japanese turntable makers from that era) were not known for steller cabling or RCA plugs.

My suggestion is get a buddy who knows something about tracing out signal cables to take a look at
things. It's some loose connector or damaged connector, it has nothing to do with whether the
turntable itself works or not. If your buddy is handy with a soldering iron, he'll be able to fix a
broken connector.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Forman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 3:11 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Technics SL-1500MK2 Problems


> Frank Forman here. You know me either personally or from my ARSC Journal discographies, one with
> Kenzo Amoh on Eygeny Mravinsky and the other, a three-part article on acoustic chamber music sets.
>
> I inherited a Technics SL-1500MK2 workhorse turntable from the late Allen Mackler after he got
> such an overdose of music working at WETA-FM, in the DC area, where both of us lived, that he
> abandoned music altogether, despite having a splendid collection of classical 78s and LPs.
>
> It worked splendidly for a long time, but now one or the other channels goes out randomly. The
> problem can't be frayed wires, for I need merely unplug and replug the extension cable to the
> cable that comes out of the unit, and the sound comes back in correctly, but only for a while, a
> decreasing while over the years.
>
> I downloaded a manual (not a step-by-step instruction guide but rather a set of exploded diagrams
> and a parts list) off the Web, and it seems to me that all the fancy electronics in the turntable
> is given over entirely to speed control, not to the matter of the sound from the needle to the
> shell down the tone arm, and out of the unit with a pair of RCA-type male plugs, which plug into
> my integrated amplifier.
>
> Best would be to get the turntable fixed (and not buy a used one on eBay, which goes for
> $600-$800), but barring that I'd like recommendations on a turntable that is "good enough" for me
> to make transfers to my computer, using a little box called INport, into which I use RCA-type
> plugs from the tape output of the amp on one end and a USB port to go into my computer on the
> other end. What is vital is that I be able to use two needles, one a 1 mil conical needle and the
> other a 0.7 mil elliptical one.
>
> Ion's USB turntables seem all to come with a cartridge that is a fixed part of the tone arm, so it
> seems I'll need a different brand of turntable. Since I have the INport box, I don't need a
> turntable that is USB-ready. I'll have no further use for a turntable after I have made computer
> files of my remaining LPs, so please don't recommend anything expensive, like over $200.
>