Tellux record player

[ChrisChilton]

https://vimeo.com/418467218

New poster here as I couldn’t find the answer elsewhere and this seems like a great place to start.

I inherited this portable from my Grandma and love it for the nostalgia that it brings.

I had it working fine a couple of years ago apart from a slight humming but now when planning on using it again I have come up against a problem.

As you can tell on the video, the sound is inaudible except for the sound direct from the stylus and when you turn the volume knob there is nothing until the top end and then it just crackles.

I have tried some contact cleaner on the volume knob.

Can anyone help please? I’m hoping to use it for some 45s.

[Nuvistor]

Did you get the cleaner inside the volume control?

[ChrisChilton]

Thanks for your reply.

I removed the small panel inside and placed the end of the straw directly where the cables are soldered to the switch and you can see the button mechanism.

[Audio1950]

It is very likely that the cartridge has packed up. The cartridge is the part that hold the stylus, or needle. Somewhere on it will be a name and/or number. If it is the original, it will probably have something like "Ful-Fi TC8" and be brown or orange in colour. Can you confirm any of this, and let us know, when we can hopefully help further.

[Edward Huggins]

It's not a BSR TC8, this has a stereo-compatible cartridge. As the amplifier is Transistorsed it's liable to be a medium output BSR X3M or X5M. I'd make sure the slider is cleaned on the pot first as the cartridge is generating audio of sorts. Also spray and check the 2 cartridge pin connectors.

[ChrisChilton]

I’ll have a good look later on, thank you, so I know for the future what makes you think that over anything else?

The cartridge is a BSR X5M

[ChrisChilton]

Originally Posted by Edward Huggins

I'd make sure the slider is cleaned on the pot first as the cartridge is generating audio of sorts. Also spray and check the 2 cartridge pin connectors.

Cleaned and made shiny the two cartridge pins as suggested.

[Michael Maurice]

I personally would replace that control, they are available from RS components or Cricklewood Electronics.

Does the volume control incorporate the on/off switch? If so there will be 4 extra wires to take care of bit it wont be too difficult.

However I'm a bit concerned about the sound when it does come through sounds distorted.

Do you know how to change the control,

[ChrisChilton]

Cleaned the pins and put it back on.

Sound still the same.

[ChrisChilton]

Originally Posted by Michael Maurice

I personally would replace that control, they are available from RS components or Cricklewood Electronics.

Does the volume control incorporate the on/off switch? If so there will be 4 extra wires to take care of bit it wont be too difficult.

However I'm a bit concerned about the sound when it does come through sounds distorted.

Do you know how to change the control,

Thanks for your reply. The volume doesn’t incorporate the power, that is done by the “start” lever on the turntable itself.

[ben]

Sounds like the amp is knackered to me. Early 70s player by the look of it. Is it IC or transistor?

[ChrisChilton]

I don’t know to be honest.

Now getting no sound from the speaker.

[Techman]

Buzz test chaps!

[ChrisChilton]

I know it’s a crappy portable from the 70s and thus no doubt made from terrible components but my Grandma never had much money and I remember her using this with her Cliff Richard records so it holds a lot of memories for me.

I genuinely appreciate all of the help that you’re offering.

[Techman]

I would have thought you'd have been told about the buzz test - you can look it up, but it involves touching each of the cartridge connectors with a screwdriver blade with the volume turned right up - there should be a loud hum or buzz from one of the connectors, proving that the amplifier and speaker are working and the cartridge is probably not.

[ChrisChilton]

Originally Posted by Techman

I would have thought you'd have been told about the buzz test

Great thanks, on the parts that connect to the pins on the cartridge?

[ChrisChilton]

Just tried the test, there is the merest crackle and then it stopped from one cable and nothing from the other.

[Techman]

Yes, you can pull them slightly off and touch a small screwdriver blade to the bare metal, or remove them completely if the blade is small enough to get to the metal part on the end of the wires - you should get a crackle and buzz from the speaker. No buzz = bad news!

[ChrisChilton]

It’s looking like bad news then.

[Radio Wrangler]

Not such bad news.

You can get all sorts of parts for fixing transistor amplifiers, but finding good replacement cartridges is harder.

We live in peculiar times. Models of record players that I could never have afforded back in the day can now be bought for reasonable prices. However Dansette players which were towards the bottom of the market back then are in great demand and prices have balooned as a result, because people think 'I want a Dansette like I had in my teens'. As a result, the best stuff is now cheaper than one cheap and cheerful make.

So if you just wanted to listen to records, we'd all be trying to steer you onto something once posh.

But you want to get a family heirloom going again because of the memories it holds. This blows all considerations of performance and value out of the water. Quite rightly so!

If the cartridge does prove to be bad, then there are some cheap 'red-and-black' ones out of China which seem to be quite OK.

You seem to have a fault in the amplifier, though. That ought to be fixable. At a pinch a different amplifer could be substituted.

You'll learn a fair bit along the way.

Photographs of the insides in general, and a shot of the components on theat printed circuit board would be a start.

I don't know that model, so I'm wondering if it has a mains transformer or whether it's powered from a tap on the turntable motor. If the latter, the internal electronics will be directly connected to the mains and could be dangerous if you touch it. It was a technique used to cut costs, and it was made safe by all the live stuff being inside the cabinet.

The sound is quite typical of a transistor amplifier in a bad way, but not completely dead. It's not too surprising that you only get sound with the control towards its top end. Don't bother trying further to clean the volume control, it may be perfectly OK. The amplifier needs fixing first before we can tell whether the pot needs cleaning.

I also think the cartridge is showing enough signs of life to be going on with.

The standard questions, so that people can pitch advice at the right level are; what's your knowledge of electronics like? and do you have a multimeter?

David