Harman Kardon T20 Turntable

Timothy Flath

Active Member
See video below for the issues with the subject turntable I am having. Does anyone know of a generic hinge that would work with this turntable dust cover/plinth arrangement? Also, does anyone have any experience fixing the semi-auto return in this particular table? It is not functioning and just raises and lowers the stylus in a loop when it hits the end of a side. The video shows what it does quite well. I got the service manual from vinylengine but is woefully lacking on how the actual mechanism functions and/or possible fix sugestions.


Thanks
TMF
 
Good luck with the hinges, the tone arm is just auto lift. No return on this series of TT.
Cheers
 
Thank you very much for the response. Hinges not a big deal. Will jury rig something to work - there are tons of hinges out there that can be made to work I'm sure. The auto-lift thing is a game changer though. Very curious that they call it semi-auto then because to me that would imply the full meal deal of taking the arm home. Funny I don't recall this from back in the day selling them at "Sound of Music" in Calgary. Guess that is why we sold boatloads of Rega turntables over anything else but by then CD players had grabbed hold so TTs were not real big sellers....
Anyway do you have any ideas on stopping the oscillating up and down of the arm when it reaches the end? I am so far waiting for the proper size belt to arrive and try that first. The belt I demonstrated it with for a very short time in the video was an old worn out Thorens belt I had that is way too tight. I am thinking that might have hindered the mechanism somehow. If the belt change doesn't change things I will open it up from underneath me thinks and compare what I see to the crappy service manual diagram and possibly clean it out and lube any jellified lube points perhaps???? I will probably do that anyway. Was also thinking of playing with some blue tack or similar to see how deadening the plinth and/or platter will make it sound.
 
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I should have mentioned that I do have a spare Q-Up lifter (after market auto-lift device for purely manual tables) that I bought for a U-Turn Orbit TT I bought and subsequently sold a while back. I could press that back into service if completely stymied....
I use one on my completely manual Thorens table
;-)

 
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See video below for the issues with the subject turntable I am having. Does anyone know of a generic hinge that would work with this turntable dust cover/plinth arrangement? Also, does anyone have any experience fixing the semi-auto return in this particular table? It is not functioning and just raises and lowers the stylus in a loop when it hits the end of a side. The video shows what it does quite well. I got the service manual from vinylengine but is woefully lacking on how the actual mechanism functions and/or possible fix sugestions.

[

Thanks
TMF

The semi automatic tone arm should return on its own, cleaning up the old grease may help. :idea:

See the following video for a functional T 20 (not my):
 
Well looks like I assumed wrong, thanks Balifly. Looked on the Vinyl Engine and sure enough the T 20
Is semi auto. Where the 35 ,and 60 are auto lift only.
There are adjustment instructions there, perhaps that will help solve your issues.
Cheers
 
Well looks like I assumed wrong, thanks Balifly. Looked on the Vinyl Engine and sure enough the T 20
Is semi auto. Where the 35 ,and 60 are auto lift only.
There are adjustment instructions there, perhaps that will help solve your issues.
Cheers
Looked at the adjust instructions already - seems the adjust is mainly for the trip point for the mechanism to kick in and not so much for the arm return - still waiting for the proper size belt to arrive in the mail. Will try that first. If that doesn't work will open up the guts and play...
;-)
 
Well, got it cased. Tried the new proper sized (looser) belt and no joy. Speed was bang on but the mechanism was still tripping out at the end of the record as shown previously. Went to the next step and opened up the bottom and took me a while but found a little nylon piece has broken off and was sitting inside along with some small bits of the rotted out old drive belt that had fallen in. Also spent a little time and effort cleaning out the gizits inside - was actually pretty darn clean and like new for the most part so not much work needed. Anyway, shot some video (linked below) describing what I actually did to fix it good as new (for anyone else who may have this issue down the road). I am a firm believer in keeping good vintage gear out of the landfill. Also in contact with a nice gentleman out east (New Brunswick) via e-pray sourcing a set of hinges for me. Things are looking quite positive to get this baby fully up to snuff. Was not going to let this one knock me down:music:

 
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See video below for the issues with the subject turntable I am having. Does anyone know of a generic hinge that would work with this turntable dust cover/plinth arrangement? Also, does anyone have any experience fixing the semi-auto return in this particular table? It is not functioning and just raises and lowers the stylus in a loop when it hits the end of a side. The video shows what it does quite well. I got the service manual from vinylengine but is woefully lacking on how the actual mechanism functions and/or possible fix sugestions.


Thanks
TMF
Curious, what kind of speakers are the black ones, got a pair that has similar parts but don’t know what kind they are?
 
Curious, what kind of speakers are the black ones, got a pair that has similar parts but don’t know what kind they are?
Pioneer HPM-100 (200 watt B Version). Cabinets are normally a walnut real wood veneer. These are my backup pair to my good ones upstairs. Designed and engineered by Bart Locanthi of JBL L100 and 4310/4311 fame before moving to Pioneer for a short stint. These are far better than the JBLs. Tons of info on the internet about these great speakers
 
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