UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Darren-UK · 6th Oct 2011, 2:04 pm

Introduction

To skip this introduction scroll to the Index in post #2.

At the time of writing we are seeing an upsurge of interest in vintage record players and this guide is intended to accompany other related guides which are 'Stickies' in our Vintage Audio section. This guide is concerned only with vintage (by the forums definition of the term) postwar domestic record players operated either by mains electricity, batteries or mains/battery power. Excluded, therefore, are acoustic (ie wind-up) gramophones, professional DJ equipment, radiogramophone amplifiers, car record players and oddities such as the Discatron and Discassette. Non radiogram stereophonic machines are also largely excluded due to their varying degress of complexity. There is, however, some general information due, in part, to the existence of 'stereo capable' machines which make use of an external, add-on, amplifier unit.

Sometimes a record player might be known to be in good electrical order, but apparently isn't functioning correctly mechanically. Occasionally it transpires the 'problem' is nothing more than the owner not knowing how to operate the machine correctly. If this applies to you, you will find a guide to operating autochanger machines, also in the section linked to above. If you intend/need to do electrical work, and you most probably will, then you'll need service data. Data for many record players can be obtained from VRSD.

This guide contains links to other threads in our forums, as well as to pages in our main website. This has been done to avoid too much duplication in this guide, although some duplication has been unavoidable. However, if you're a complete beginner remember that you can print out much of the information and/or save pages to your PC. This provides the benefit of having information in front of you when you start work on your record player; much better than shuttling back and forth between your PC and your workbench, kitchen table, shed or whatever.

General scenarios and information

The commonest scenarios are of somebody obtaining a record player which has either been:

Stored away for years in a shed, cellar, loft etc. by the person who now wishes to start using it again.

Obtained on a whim from a car boot sale, antiques centre or wherever and, consequently, with a totally unknown history.

Obtained with the reassuring guarantee from the vendor that it was "plugged in, went round and made a noise" but without realising that the "noise" could, in fact, have been a loud bang.

All of the above are scenarios which our forums cover around 16 times per week, 33 times per fortnight, about 45 times every three weeks and around 78 times per month. Most faults and remedies can be found by the simple expedient of doing a forum search. However, we appreciate that this is all well and good if you already have some knowledge of how record players work, as well as some knowledge of the relevant electronics and mechanics.

So to summarise the above, this guide is aimed at the newcomer who just wants his/her record player to operate safely and reliably but who may only have little, or no, relevant technical knowledge.

Furthermore, it isn't practical to herein and hereinafter teach you everything about electronics beyond, say, component recognition and replacement. Nor is it practical to detail very make/model or record player or deck, to do so would require the writing of a quite hefty book. It is therefore recommended that you read up, within these forums and the parent website, about capacitors (including smoothing and reservoir 'cans', as they tend to be called), resistors, transformers (mains and output), the differences (apart from the obvious) between valved and transistorised amplifiers, power supplies and in particular the differences between machines designed for AC only power and those designed for AC/DC power.

Remember that all mains powered equipment, especially if old, is potentially dangerous. This applies even more so to the aforementioned machines designed for AC/DC power.

Perhaps needless to say, not every newly acquired record player needs much work doing to the electronics side. Sometimes none at all needs doing (loosely, 1970's onwards equipment) but, in all cases it's extremely unwise to omit some basic safety checks. Most problems with the resurrection of old and long-disused record players centre around the deck mechanics and the cartridge and stylus (singular), styli (plural). It is not "needle", unless you're in America, nor is the plural "stylii".

Click image for larger version

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^ Whilst on the subject of terminology, the image above shows the usual names for the various deck components and which will be used throughout this guide. Please, too, try and refrain from using the word "turntable" unless you're specifically talking about what is sometimes known as the "platter". Saying "turntable" when you in fact mean the "deck" causes confusion for the uninitiated. Although the deck shown above is typical, be aware that the design and on-deck position of certain components can - and do - vary. Overarms vary and some, for example, are mounted on the opposite side of the deck. Record size detectors too; that shown operates vertically, others operate horizontally albeit triggered by the vertical dropping of a record. Certain Collaro decks, see a later post, operate entirely differently.

Staying with terminology, it's worth mentioning another problem which is common in the forums and could mean the difference between a lot of agro or quick success. This concerns make/model of record player married to make/model of deck. We often have members posting something like "Hi, I have a Bush Monarch record player" or "Hi, I have a Dansette Garrard....blah blah". These words are meaningless and you may as well go on a car forum and say "Hi, I'm having trouble with my Vauxhall Petrol" or ".....my Ford four door". Bush, Dansette and so forth are record player brands, Monarch is a BSR deck of which several versions existed. Garrard is also a deck of which there were numerous different models.

So if you find the need to post a question in the forums, make sure you quote the make and model of your record player as well as the make and model of its deck. Correct would be "Dansette Conquest with Garrard Autoslim deck" or "Bush SRP31D with BSR Monarch UA15 deck" and so forth.

To get down to business, we'll begin with the safety checks and then move on to the main components of a typical mains powered, mono, record player fitted with an autochanger deck; these being the power supply, amplifer and the deck itself.

However, if you know (and that's know as opposed to assume) your record player is electrically safe and thus can be shown 230 of those volt thingies but has some other problem, then you can go to the relevant page, or link, via the Index below.

6th Oct 2011, 2:04 pm	#1
Darren-UK Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK. Posts: 4,061	Reviving your old record player. Introduction To skip this introduction scroll to the Index in post #2. At the time of writing we are seeing an upsurge of interest in vintage record players and this guide is intended to accompany other related guides which are 'Stickies' in our Vintage Audio section. This guide is concerned only with vintage (by the forums definition of the term) postwar domestic record players operated either by mains electricity, batteries or mains/battery power. Excluded, therefore, are acoustic (ie wind-up) gramophones, professional DJ equipment, radiogramophone amplifiers, car record players and oddities such as the Discatron and Discassette. Non radiogram stereophonic machines are also largely excluded due to their varying degress of complexity. There is, however, some general information due, in part, to the existence of 'stereo capable' machines which make use of an external, add-on, amplifier unit. Sometimes a record player might be known to be in good electrical order, but apparently isn't functioning correctly mechanically. Occasionally it transpires the 'problem' is nothing more than the owner not knowing how to operate the machine correctly. If this applies to you, you will find a guide to operating autochanger machines, also in the section linked to above. If you intend/need to do electrical work, and you most probably will, then you'll need service data. Data for many record players can be obtained from VRSD. This guide contains links to other threads in our forums, as well as to pages in our main website. This has been done to avoid too much duplication in this guide, although some duplication has been unavoidable. However, if you're a complete beginner remember that you can print out much of the information and/or save pages to your PC. This provides the benefit of having information in front of you when you start work on your record player; much better than shuttling back and forth between your PC and your workbench, kitchen table, shed or whatever. General scenarios and information The commonest scenarios are of somebody obtaining a record player which has either been: Stored away for years in a shed, cellar, loft etc. by the person who now wishes to start using it again. Obtained on a whim from a car boot sale, antiques centre or wherever and, consequently, with a totally unknown history. Obtained with the reassuring guarantee from the vendor that it was "plugged in, went round and made a noise" but without realising that the "noise" could, in fact, have been a loud bang. All of the above are scenarios which our forums cover around 16 times per week, 33 times per fortnight, about 45 times every three weeks and around 78 times per month. Most faults and remedies can be found by the simple expedient of doing a forum search. However, we appreciate that this is all well and good if you already have some knowledge of how record players work, as well as some knowledge of the relevant electronics and mechanics. So to summarise the above, this guide is aimed at the newcomer who just wants his/her record player to operate safely and reliably but who may only have little, or no, relevant technical knowledge. Furthermore, it isn't practical to herein and hereinafter teach you everything about electronics beyond, say, component recognition and replacement. Nor is it practical to detail very make/model or record player or deck, to do so would require the writing of a quite hefty book. It is therefore recommended that you read up, within these forums and the parent website, about capacitors (including smoothing and reservoir 'cans', as they tend to be called), resistors, transformers (mains and output), the differences (apart from the obvious) between valved and transistorised amplifiers, power supplies and in particular the differences between machines designed for AC only power and those designed for AC/DC power. Remember that all mains powered equipment, especially if old, is potentially dangerous. This applies even more so to the aforementioned machines designed for AC/DC power. Perhaps needless to say, not every newly acquired record player needs much work doing to the electronics side. Sometimes none at all needs doing (loosely, 1970's onwards equipment) but, in all cases it's extremely unwise to omit some basic safety checks. Most problems with the resurrection of old and long-disused record players centre around the deck mechanics and the cartridge and stylus (singular), styli (plural). It is not "needle", unless you're in America, nor is the plural "stylii". ^ Whilst on the subject of terminology, the image above shows the usual names for the various deck components and which will be used throughout this guide. Please, too, try and refrain from using the word "turntable" unless you're specifically talking about what is sometimes known as the "platter". Saying "turntable" when you in fact mean the "deck" causes confusion for the uninitiated. Although the deck shown above is typical, be aware that the design and on-deck position of certain components can - and do - vary. Overarms vary and some, for example, are mounted on the opposite side of the deck. Record size detectors too; that shown operates vertically, others operate horizontally albeit triggered by the vertical dropping of a record. Certain Collaro decks, see a later post, operate entirely differently. Staying with terminology, it's worth mentioning another problem which is common in the forums and could mean the difference between a lot of agro or quick success. This concerns make/model of record player married to make/model of deck. We often have members posting something like "Hi, I have a Bush Monarch record player" or "Hi, I have a Dansette Garrard....blah blah". These words are meaningless and you may as well go on a car forum and say "Hi, I'm having trouble with my Vauxhall Petrol" or ".....my Ford four door". Bush, Dansette and so forth are record player brands, Monarch is a BSR deck of which several versions existed. Garrard is also a deck of which there were numerous different models. So if you find the need to post a question in the forums, make sure you quote the make and model of your record player as well as the make and model of its deck. Correct would be "Dansette Conquest with Garrard Autoslim deck" or "Bush SRP31D with BSR Monarch UA15 deck" and so forth. To get down to business, we'll begin with the safety checks and then move on to the main components of a typical mains powered, mono, record player fitted with an autochanger deck; these being the power supply, amplifer and the deck itself. However, if you know (and that's know as opposed to assume) your record player is electrically safe and thus can be shown 230 of those volt thingies but has some other problem, then you can go to the relevant page, or link, via the Index below.