Turntable tune up

9

97prizm

Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
4,907
Location
USA
Hi all,

I hope there are some record player aficionados on here. My sister and I were thinking of surprising our dad with a total tune up plus a new top for his record player for an early birthday present. I've found several places that specialize in this area. Now I know a new needle belt etc is needed, anything else? What's a good checklist for this? Next can anyone give me a price range on something like this as I have no Idea what it should cost. Third I found two places online with really good ratings, any way to verify they are any good? Thanks for the help.
 
more info on the Turntable please.

make
model
does it have a good cartridge/needle - brand of needle
If the belt is original, yeah a new one is called for.
 
What is this TT pluged into to? A receiver/integrated amp etc? A dedicated phono preamp might be a very big improvement in sound quality. (I'm using a Parasound which is excellent for the $.) Whomever does this "tune-up" make sure they install & align the cartridge properly.
 
Also,buy him a record from of of his favorite groups to go along with it. That will be an awesome bonus and surprise! If you live in or near a big city, there might be some shops locally that can do the work (either some mom and pop record stores or stereo shops).
 
I'll definitely add the above info here shortly as it's not in front of me. It is hooked up to an old school 6 channel analog amp (Pioneer I think).
 
97prizm said:
Hi all,

I hope there are some record player aficionados on here. My sister and I were thinking of surprising our dad with a total tune up plus a new top for his record player for an early birthday present. I've found several places that specialize in this area. Now I know a new needle belt etc is needed, anything else? What's a good checklist for this? Next can anyone give me a price range on something like this as I have no Idea what it should cost. Third I found two places online with really good ratings, any way to verify they are any good? Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Make sure the turntable top isn't warped. The plastic part (on top of the metal part) of mine had become horribly deformed. I replaced it with a homemade leather glued on cork top that is the same thickness.
 
So it looks to be a Technics SL-B1 turntable hooked up to a late 70's Pioneer 6 channel amplifier. The amplifier weighs a ton. According to my dad he got it on closeout in 1978 for $500 new price was $1200, which sounds crazy. I was reading a belt for one of these is $60, which Sounds really high, but don't know. Any idea of what a "tune up" costs nowadays? It hasn't been used in years, and according to my dad when i casually mentioned it he said it needs a new needle etc.
 
Here's some more info on the SL-B1. It is one of the more entry level turntables from Technics. That's not to say it isn't still a good one though. You can find replacement belts and cartridges on Amazon. The AudioTechnica AT95E cartridge is a nice one for the price. I'm not sure if you can get a new top for it, unless one from a SL1200 will fit. You could probably pull the bottom cover off and vacuume out any dust and put some light oil on the bearings/bushings. I'm not sure it's worth spending hundreds for labor and parts to let someone do it for you unless the sentimental value is high.
 
That's what I was trying to get an idea of what it costs to get it going. Wasn't aware that it was an entry level turntable
 
97prizm said:
So it looks to be a Technics SL-B1 turntable hooked up to a late 70's Pioneer 6 channel amplifier. The amplifier weighs a ton. According to my dad he got it on closeout in 1978 for $500 new price was $1200, which sounds crazy. I was reading a belt for one of these is $60, which Sounds really high, but don't know. Any idea of what a "tune up" costs nowadays? It hasn't been used in years, and according to my dad when i casually mentioned it he said it needs a new needle etc.
Click to expand...
That was serious money back in 1978.
 
We just got a new turntable, brand probably unknown in the US. It has USB and SD card ports, FM, bluetooth, CD deck. We need to go through our 1,000 LP collection, sort them out, turn some to MP3, find which to keep, which to get rid of. Looking forward to spinning some vinyl....haven't got it hooked up yet.
 
97prizm said:
So it looks to be a Technics SL-B1 turntable hooked up to a late 70's Pioneer 6 channel amplifier. The amplifier weighs a ton. According to my dad he got it on closeout in 1978 for $500 new price was $1200, which sounds crazy. I was reading a belt for one of these is $60, which Sounds really high, but don't know. Any idea of what a "tune up" costs nowadays? It hasn't been used in years, and according to my dad when i casually mentioned it he said it needs a new needle etc.
Click to expand...
I would seriously consider putting the money towards a used, direct driven turntable. Considering the price for a belt, stylus and possibly a cartridge which is a lot to put into an entry level unit. If you have to pay someone to do the work, I would certainly replace it.
 
You don’t need to replace the cartridge only replace the stylus. You can get a good replacement stylus for probably $30 and under.
 
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