Newuser: peg-leg speaker!

sarajane snyder New member Username: Knifebowl Post Number: 1 Registered: Aug-09	Posted on Sunday, August 16, 2009 - 23:49 GMT Hello All. I'm by no means a hi-fi savvy kind of girl, but I do appreciate a good sound. And I just inherited about 500 classic country records, so I'm back in the turntable game. And I need some advice, even if it's just about where I can find a shop in the area. I've got a modest old girl, a Technics SL-D303 that I recently pulled out of storage and hooked up in what seemed like a straightforward operation to a Yamaha "Natural Sound Stereo Receiver R-5." I was bummed to hear that only one channel works when I play the turntable. When I play the stereo or a aux input, both speakers work. This is where I demonstrate my ignorance, because I do not know the technical names for all that goes on "back there." Please forgive me and consider my question: Coming out of the turntable is a cable split into a red plug and a white plug. When I plug red into "R" hole and the white into "L" hole, the left channel works. As in, when I turn the balance all the way to L there's Conway Twitty; when I turn it to R, no more Conway. When I switch the red and white plugs to the opposite arrangement, the other channel works. I thought this was maybe just a simple Plug Problem and maybe I could just unscrew the bottom panel on the modest technics (despite the warning that says "DO NOT REMOVE SCREWS! NO SERVICEABLE PARTS! CALL A PRO!") and, perhaps, reconnect whatever red-white cable end might be obviously loose. Not so. I opened that baby up and knew I was in over my head. I said a brief hello to that complicated world and then covered it back up. Can you believe I can just sit around and listen to records on one channel? I'm embarrassed to admit it. I don't know what to do. According to my pop, who has gone through his hi-fi days, the problem could be with some other facet of the turntable. He recommended I write to George Graham a radio DJ on WVIA public radio in Scranton, PA who plays a lot of records and is generally a great guy. I write to you, then I will write to him. I live in the Port Jervis NY general area. Thank you kindly, sj http://georgegraham.com/

Jan Vigne Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigne Dallas, TX Post Number: 13851 Registered: May-04	Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 01:22 GMT . "When I plug red into "R" hole and the white into "L" hole, the left channel works. As in, when I turn the balance all the way to L there's Conway Twitty; when I turn it to R, no more Conway. When I switch the red and white plugs to the opposite arrangement, the other channel works." Ahhh, if only bringing back Conway was that easy. If I understand this correctly, the surviving channel follows the white plug. That would indicate the receiver has both channels working and the problem is in the table - somewhere. It's very difficult to trace such problems over a forum but the most likely cause here would be the interconnect cable coming from the turntable - the cable with the red/white ends. Lock down the tonearm and platter, remove the dustcover and try removing the bottom plate of the table. If you succeed at getting the bottom plate off, you'll want to swap the cables channel for channel at their exit termination from the bottom of the table. If that's not easily accomplished, with the volume on the receiver very low touch a small screwdriver to the center pin of each of the two cables at their termination point on the table. You should hear noise through both channels of the receiver when you do this. If you only hear noise in one channel, the most likely problem is a bad cable and you'll need to install a new interconnect. If you do hear noise through both channels, the problem is further up towards the front of the tonearm and could possibly be in the cartridge. The problem could also be in the lead connections at the headshell (which holds the cartridge). If the problem is not in the table's interconnect that runs to the receiver, try touching the red/white cartridge clips. Somewhere in there you should begin to narrow down where the problem exists by way of either hearing noise in both channels or noise in only one channel. It's possible but less likely the cartridge needs to be replaced. If you touch the red/white headshell leads at the back of the cartridge and hear noise through both channels, then the cartridge would be suspect. Check the archives of this forum section for other threads pertaining to Technics tables for more possible solutions. .
Frank Abela Gold Member Username: Frank_abela Berkshire UK Post Number: 3786 Registered: Sep-04	Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 17:36 GMT sj, In my view, the most likely (and easy) item to have gone wrong is the actual connection in the red plug itself. The red plug is likely a plastic back which screw onto the metal section of the plug. If you unscrew the body of the plug you can see the cables inside. If one has come adrift (and I get this a lot on older decks), a little bit of solder will fix the problem. If that one's gone, then the chances are the white one is also on its way. Thanks for the fun initial post by the way. A right laugh.

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