Citronic Severn II Popular

[DJ LD Man]

I have a Citronic Severn II Popular disco console which works ok but needs some tidying up.
The right hand deck needs the tone arm lever/lift fixing and a new arm secure clip fitting.
I expect to do both of these I would be better off releasing the deck from it's base.
I have been able to get the rear transit bolt released but I can't release the front transit lock bolt.
Can anyone help with some advice please?

[G6ONEDave]

If the assembly is the same as the Avon, then remove the mixer and control panels. The front deck screw retaining clips can then be accessed from the holes where the mixer and control panels were fitted. The rear deck screws are most likely in keyhole slots, so the deck can be slid out of them.

[DJ LD Man]

Many thanks for your very speedy response, I'm guessing they'll need flipping down to lift the deck up as I have a vague recollection of this kind of this kind of clip on the old Garrard decks I used to have about 45 years ago
Do you have any knowledge of repairing the queing lever please?
I'll get back with pics asap
Many thanks once again

[G6ONEDave]

Yes the clips flip down vertically and as you say lift the deck. You don't need to flip the rear clips as once the deck is clear of the mounting board at the front, it should be possible to slide the deck to the right for removal. There are some springs attached to the underside of the decks, which will bend sideways whilst moving the deck, don't worry about them, as they will spring back into position. These springs are a bit more fiddly when replacing the decks and a bit of shuffling will be required to get them seated back into their retainer cups, that are on the deck mounting board. You will know when you've got these springs reseated correctly as the deck will regain the 'shock absorber' effect when pushed down. The cueing lever itself is probably OK but I suspect that the linkages will be suffering from dried sticky grease. All the moving parts on the deck will need old grease removing and then re-greasing with fresh grease. This will get the mechanics working again. If the motors are mains powered types remember to clean and lubricate their shafts and bearings. Be careful not to get any lubricants on the rubber driven surfaces. Forgot to mention earlier but remove the power cable from the mains supply before removing any covers, as there are uncovered mains terminals inside and they can short to any exposed metalwork or worse still give you a nasty shock! Hope this helps.

[DJ LD Man]

Wow! thanks G6ONEDave, that does indeed help, I got the deck released. I even managed to get the cueing lever sorted, it was the plastic pivot rocker that had popped out of place to one side, I suspect by the guy that had it for 12months to fit new cartridges only to find on return that the carts were the same and worse still one has leads soldered directly to cart. pins The tone arm lock down I couldn't fix but I now have all the info. and a tiny bit of experience in removing the decks so will tackle that as and when a replacement becomes available.

Many thanks once again, very much appreciated

[G6ONEDave]

Glad you got it mostly sorted. The cartridges can be sourced on eBay along with stylii. However if you originally had ceramic types and the decks are good enough, you could upgrade to magnetic type but you will need to add a pre-amp to increase the output level from the magnetic cartridge. If you do go for the magnetic upgrade, the DJ favourite would be a Stanton cartridge. They also have the name 'Pickering', essentially the same cartridge except that the Stanton is a little more robust, hence why they are used for disco consoles. BTW you might be lucky in that the mixer may have a choice of phono inputs for either cartridge type. The type of cartridge mount is probably 0.5", which is the distance between the mounting screws. Changing the cartridges is fairly straightforward but a bit fiddly, needing some patience and a steady hand. Replacement push on contacts for the cartridges often come with a new cartridge but can be tracked down if not. If you do this upgrade, remember to adjust the anti skate and balance weight at the rear of the tone arm. If the decks are idler drive you are probably best staying with ceramic cartridge, magnetic carts are better on a belt drive deck.

[DJ LD Man]

Many thanks once again for that very full response, which at the moment is a bit over my head. I have tried to attach a couple of shots of the cartridges. The smaller insert pix are the original cartridges and the fuller picture is what I got back, supposedly new carts. but as you can see the same ones but with one soldered directly wire to cart :[ The mixer I've sourced cheaply is an old Vortexion 50/70 which is not without problems and is the source of many responses elsewhere on these pages but again they're well over my head atm. Many thanks again

[G6ONEDave]

Those cartridges are ceramic or possibly crystal types (memory is eluding me on that), so if you wanted to upgrade to a magnetic type you will need a pre-amp adding inside the console. I noticed your other thread re the Vortexion. Doesn't this Citronic console have a built in power amp? If not the output signal from the Citronic console will be somewhere between 500mV and 1.5V, so when connecting to an external amp, you need to use the line in or aux in as input on the external amp. If you use the phono input on the external amp, you will overdrive it's input and get a difficult to control 'too loud' signal.

[DJ LD Man]

hi G6ONEDave, this concole does not have a built in power amp I'm sorry to say and I have tried all 4 inputs on the amp, pots 1 & 2 deliver a fair amount of power but pot one is faulty by way of having no detectable star/stop point on rotation. pots 3 & 4 are cleaner but provide barely enough power/volume to fill my hovel (box bedroom)
Many thanks for all your help/advice and suggestions, very much appreciated

[Records]

ceramic cartridge with an st12 needle for 45/33

[DJ LD Man]

thank you very much Records

[Robert Gribnau]

Cum autem Rex: Rex semper' sed eques semel satis est
non sinit ire circum iterum

My knowledge of the latin language is very rusty (somewhere in the seventies: four years at secondary school). Google Translate does not give me an understandable translation.

What does your message/motto mean?