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Old 26th Nov 2021, 5:57 pm   #1
Madrat66
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Default Dansette A4005

Hi

I recently got my hands on a Dansette A4005 with a BSR C123R turntable. It was a sentimental purchase I I had one as a kid that used to be my sister's before me. Anyway after a two hour wrestle with the old grease the turntable came out. It's all cleaned and re greased and working great. However before I fit the new stylus there are a few adjustment screws that I want to make sure are set correctly, but I have no idea how to do that, can you help?

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Old 26th Nov 2021, 6:29 pm   #2
Edward Huggins
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

The one on the left is for the tone arm set down position onto the record. It is very sensitive and may only need a 1/2 turn if not quite right. Best to test it on a 10" record and then it should be OK on 7" and 12". The middle screw I cannot see clearly enough, The right hand knob is to adjust he Anti-Skate tension, This should be set to the same weight as the tone arm. So if the tone arm is tracking at 5 grams (no lighter) this should also be set to 5 grams.
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Old 26th Nov 2021, 7:41 pm   #3
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Hi, and welcome to the forum.
Firstly, the top one of your arrows is for adjusting the weight of the cartridge as it drops on the record, we would need to know which cartridge is fitted before advising what weight it should be. The next arrow down, pointing to the side of the arm, is not for any kind of adjustment, it's one of the arm securing screws. The left hand arrow is for adjusting the arm dropping position, turning one way will bring the arm in further as it drops onto the record, and turning the other way will bring the arm nearer the edge of the record. The right hand arrow is the bias adjustment, if the arm is skidding in when it lands, turning the control up to a higher number will prevent this. Hope this helps?

Barry

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Old 26th Nov 2021, 8:05 pm   #4
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Hi, thanks for getting back to me and thanks for your help. This is the cartridge fitted.

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Old 27th Nov 2021, 12:55 am   #5
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Your deck has a BSR SC12 cartridge (or possibly SC7 or 8 built into headshell). Stylus references:
- ST 16/17 (dual points, some have both tips for vinyl, or one for vinyl/one for shellac 78rpm discs)
- ST20/21 (single tip for vinyl only).

I would advise you to leave those screws alone. They are not likely to have gone out of adjustment by themselves.

These arms do not have a scaled tracking force, so if you fiddle with the top one, a gauge will be needed to reset it. The one indicated by the arrow in the centre should never be touched as it dismantles the whole arm!

If you find during testing that the arm does not land on the record in the right place, very slight adjustment of the one marked by the leftmost arrow (on the metal bracket under the arm) may be needed as suggested by Edward.
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Old 27th Nov 2021, 6:09 pm   #6
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Hi, thanks for the replies, the only thing I needed to adjust was the lower right, on the deck it's self. I had a scale but god knows where it is, somewhere safe no doubt. I replaced the stylus with a st17d as that is what was fitted. It sounds fantastic, halfway through a 5Lp boxset of ABBA.
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Old 28th Nov 2021, 10:52 am   #7
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

SC7M2 is fitted and tracking weight is just under 4g

Thanks for all your help.
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Old 9th Dec 2021, 7:01 pm   #8
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Default Dansette Speakers

Hi guys,

The Dansette A4005 I have needs some attention to the speakers. They are a bit distorted at anything more than low volume and having removed the cones they are very rough when they move. They are labelled as A1007 but I have never seen any like it. Any suggestions as to replacements?

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Old 9th Dec 2021, 8:41 pm   #9
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Do you mean "removed the covers"?
Speakers very rarely ever fail. But a close up of the cones on these will help more.
Do you men that when you gently, and evenly, press the cones in and out you hear an light acoustic scraping sound?
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Old 9th Dec 2021, 9:53 pm   #10
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Hi, photos as requested. yes there is noise when pressed and they feel rough. they vibrate badly too.

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Old 9th Dec 2021, 11:05 pm   #11
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

that second photo looks like the insulation on the wire where it enters the box [just under the screw] is cut .If those wires touch the amplifier will be damaged .The speakers on these are rubbish they have foam surrounds i recently replaced the ones on a Bush machine that's exactly the same . with a couple of 8 by 5s that came from a 70s radiogram . It sounded so much better
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 8:00 am   #12
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Thanks for sight of these. You have two options, replace the drive unts in the existing cabinets or buy two seond hand (but far better) speakers. You may be able to buy two used 8" x 5" (is that their size?) 8 ohm drive units for £15-20 or so, but what you will get is what you have already. But for £30-00 or so, you could buy two far superior Tannoy, Wharfedale, Goodmans or other "name" speakers that will dramatically improve the sound of your system.
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 11:42 am   #13
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Hi, yes I was thinking of replacing just the cones have always called them that and keeping the cabinets
Do I stick to the original 4ohms or can I change them? What diferance dose a higher impedances make?
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 2:54 pm   #14
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Ah, if the originals were 4 ohms then you will need 4 ohm units. These might be able to be bought from Car Scrappers. Most car speakers will be 4 ohms. What you call "cones" are known as Loudspeakers or Drive Units. If you can't find them there, then search for S/H 8" x 5" (are they?) 3 ohms units, but not 8 or 15ohms. The impedance mismatch between 3 and 4 ohms will not be critical on a budget system such as yours.
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 3:23 pm   #15
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

I'd just look for some replacement speakers. There are some nice ones with wooden cabinets that came with mini systems about 15-20 years back that will likely sound immensely better than the ones you already have.

I have some Philips FWB-MC50 ones that are amazingly powerful for their size.

Furthermore, as has been said, the cables on yours are practically shorting. Whatever you do, don't use them in that state. You can harm the output transistors in the amp, which are getting hard to find.
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 3:24 pm   #16
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

"Cones" seems to be used rather in the way people talk about "needles" and "vinyls". Not a problem for me, but it can cause slight confusion in this kind of discussion and in forums like this, where there are clever people who really have replaced just the actual cones of their speakers.

Please take heed of Kirsty's advice in post 11, as if you don't fix this, you'll ruin the amplifier and regret it

If you want to keep the original speaker cabinets - and I can see why you would, as they match the main unit's styling, you could always pinch some drive units from some discarded 1990s mini/micro/midi system speakers. Our local WEEE recycling bin usually has loads of these in it, and although the cabinets are sometimes tatty, the drive units invariably work like new. You would almost certainly need to adapt the old cabinets' baffles to suit though, but armed with a jigsaw and possibly a small offcut of 1/4" or 5.5mm plywood and some wood glue, it would be easy enough.

EDIT crossed with Ben.
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 5:27 pm   #17
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Hi, thanks for the replies. 1st. yes the cables are bad and will be replaced or shortened before being used, will also be fitting new plugs at the other end as they have seen better days. The cones, SORRY drivers are 6"x4" I will look around for some replacements but I have not seen any that shape or size before, suppose round would be OK as long as I gat get them to fit.
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 5:33 pm   #18
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

6"x4" is an old size that isn't seen so much nowadays. Presonally I'd try to find some 6.5" twin-cone speakers (car speakers being likely candidates) and adapt the cabinets to fit those.

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Old 10th Dec 2021, 5:44 pm   #19
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

I have found a few on Ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152541273...sAAOSw8lpZEF-u

OR

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113958177433

Any thought's?

What would the output be of this unit? Cant find any info for it on line.
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Old 10th Dec 2021, 7:33 pm   #20
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Default Re: Dansette A4005

Either should be fine.

The first ones look better, FWIW.

They may rather less sensitive than the original units but they should sound somewhat better!
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