Dual 1229 back in service -- tears of happiness in my eyes!

illinoisteve

Super Member
I've lost track of how long I've been playing my ELAC Miracord 50H. It has to be at least 2 years. When I got it, it was just too damned fun to stop listening to it. It had a little mechanical noise, but I never even pulled the platter to clean the idler wheel or put a drop of oil on the platter bearing. I just played it and played it.

A few things had begun operating a bit stickily with my Dual 1229, and I knew I needed to go over it...after all my novice refurb of it a few years earlier than that hadn't been perfect. A few things were going to need renewed attention...a better job of cleaning some of the original lube than I had done before, etc., etc., etc. So The Dual went to a shelf in the spare room to wait in safety until "I got around to it."

Well, the last couple of days, I finally got around to it! It's back connected to the system again, with with my Pickering XL-33U (P-mnt with adapter) cartridge and its DTL2S stereohedron stylus mounted. And one of my most pristine LPs is playing: "Just One of Those Things" Stephane Grappelli, EMI Angel DS-38063 playing!

It's funny how those CDs played a bit earlier today suddenly sound so, so, puny and plain.

LITERAL tears in my eyes.
 
Excellent! Am with you all the way :beerchug:

Spinnin' with the 1019 in lieu of the 1219 as I read your note Steve

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Even my cat prefers vinyl to CD - Especially on a Dual :music:
 
Perhaps I should add, that my delight in the 1229 sounding so good is no criticism of the Miracord. If my listening space weren't too crowded to run two tables at once, and if I had two copies of this album, and had one running on the Miracord with my Stanton 881S cart on it, AND if furthermore I could play them in sync and do A<>B switching between them, well, then the Miracord might be giving the Dual a run of its money. Still, I am so *happy* to hear the 1229 sounding so wonderful. Somehow it means more -- as anyone who's refurbed a Dual on their own knows, that extended period of, shall we say, intimacy is powerful. I very much like my Miracord, but I'm in love with my Dual.
 
Steve - What cart are you running on the Dual? I've had one since 1973!

Rick

It's in the third paragraph of my first post of the thread. I have some extra cartridge holders, which I will be mounting cartridges on. When I got my 1229, it had a Pickering XV-15, with a worn Pickering D400 stylus on it, a .4x.7 elliptical. I like Pickerings and Stantons a lot and have a few different styli I can put on the Pickering XV-15 or Stanton 680s, and also like my old Shure M3D and early series M97 cartridge, both of which I have run on the 1229 in the past.

1973 -- I couldn't afford a good system then, but the best parts of my system are from the mid-70s!
 
I saved all summer working construction. I was headed back for my senior year of college. I took back the Dual and a brand new Pioneer SX-626 receiver.
 
I was class of '74 at Monmouth College (the one in Illinois, not the one in New Jersey). I worked in the shipping department of a chemical factory in the summers, loading and unloading trucks ,often with 400-600 lb drums of various sealing and concrete additive compounds.

When I started college in '70 I took with me a 4 watt per channel Herald solid-state amp, a pair of tiny acoustic suspension speakers, and a cheap portable record player I put line output jacks on, so I could connect it to my "component system." Each year my objective was to find a roommate with a better stereo than I had!
 
I seem to have gotten the lower steuerpimpel glide surface squeaky clean in my recent maintenance. Getting a flatuent-esque sound when the tonearm is auto-cycling. Need to see to that.

Also, I'm having much more problem with footfalls on our bouncy floors causing record skips than I was having with the Miracord. I'm experimenting with better diy isolation feet and gradually lessening the problem Also, I might need to put some foam rubber in the table's suspension springs. A previous owner did that with the springs on the Miracord. The foam seems to dampen the spring action.
 
Perhaps I should add, that my delight in the 1229 sounding so good is no criticism of the Miracord. Still, I am so *happy* to hear the 1229 sounding so wonderful. Somehow it means more -- as anyone who's refurbed a Dual on their own knows, that extended period of, shall we say, intimacy is powerful. I very much like my Miracord, but I'm in love with my Dual.

Hey Steve, congrats on your success on getting the Dual right. Went through this a few years ago when the "Guru's either did not want to work on my 1219, and one even made it worse. The gratification of doing it yourself and having a positive outcome is a "priceless" feeling.

I really enjoy the Dual on my bedroom/upstairs system as it turns itself off when I fall asleep or get distracted. It sound great with a Shure M91 with a HE Jico stylus, along my Bose 501 II speakers. Lots of detail without the thin sound some high detail cartridges give you.

Again Congrats and as always "Lang lebe dein Dual 1229"
 
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Danke schoen!

I just swapped in a Stanton 881 cart with a Stanton D890 conical dj stylus on it. We're rockin out to some Stevie Wonder "Inner Visions" and the percussion is literally concussive!
 
Glad you got your 1229 going. I like the 1200 series. My 1219 is my daily driver pictured. Have a early 1219 in my shop. And a 1229 in my livingroom. End each day with my 1219. Was tired last night and only heard 1 song. Have fun!
 
Glad you got your 1229 going. I like the 1200 series. My 1219 is my daily driver pictured. Have a early 1219 in my shop. And a 1229 in my livingroom. End each day with my 1219. Was tired last night and only heard 1 song. Have fun!

That's so cool.

My first Dual love was a 1009, purchase from an audio shop in my region. I loved it, but it had an intermittent problem, that I took it back for them to remedy (there was a guarantee). They would fix it, but the problem would recur. Finally, they determined the cause was a part that wasn't likely to be replaceable, so they were going to have to refund my money. Since part of my original payment was a Pioneer turntable, which they no longer had, I asked if I could keep the Shure M3D cartridge from the 1009 for that part of my refund. I just mounted it back on a 1200-series cart holder and got it set up on the 1229. So the next record I hear on the 1229 will be with that cartridge. I've used the M3D on the 1229 before, but not for quite some time, so it will be a real treat.
 
Had a bouncy problem with my Garrard Zero. The foam in the springs had crumbled. Replaced it and all is well. Just finished listening to a Grateful Dead record American Beauty. Traded for a pr of JBL L26s, the Decades. Match up better to my Marantz 4270 than the ADS 810 did. Did not like the Decades on an early 70s system. The Kenwood 7100 and another pair of Decades did not like each other. Sold that set. Great this time around! Funny how things can change. Had a Shure V15 type III on my first 1229. Sounded like crap. A second V15 type III sounds great on my Garrard. Go figure. Enjoy your 1229! I may get flamed here. I think the arm on the Dual is better than the Miracord. Have had both.
 
Had a bouncy problem with my Garrard Zero. The foam in the springs had crumbled. Replaced it and all is well. Just finished listening to a Grateful Dead record American Beauty. Traded for a pr of JBL L26s, the Decades. Match up better to my Marantz 4270 than the ADS 810 did. Did not like the Decades on an early 70s system. The Kenwood 7100 and another pair of Decades did not like each other. Sold that set. Great this time around! Funny how things can change. Had a Shure V15 type III on my first 1229. Sounded like crap. A second V15 type III sounds great on my Garrard. Go figure. Enjoy your 1229! I may get flamed here. I think the arm on the Dual is better than the Miracord. Have had both.

I got interested in Miracords, after starting a thread which asked Dual idler TT fans what other idler TTs they also liked. Several kinds were mentioned, but Miracords were mentioned more than any other kind of turntable. That seemed like a pretty good recommendation. I started watching for them on ebay and craigslist. Eventually a 50H turned up a little over an hour's drive from my house--good working condition and with a better dust cover than my Dual 1229. The 50H doesn't have pitch control, and doesn't have the ability to raise and lower the tonearm for single and multi-play, so not quite all of the features of the 1229, but a very nice machine.
 
Back in the early 70s, I sold Dual and Miracord, along with Garrard, AR and others. For my first TT, I bought a 50H Miracord, used it for years until a B&O TX change. Then I bought a restored 1229, and used it for a couple years, sold it to move to Micro Seiki and JVC.

I'm now working of restoring a Miracord 770H, the last model of the 50H, 50H II, and 770h series, to keep as a second system TT. Between the 1229 and 50H tables there was always this rivalry, both tables did their job well, and I'm not dunning one over the other.

The key is getting one or the other running smoothly and correctly....then you have your happy table! I don't think you can go wrong with either one, even if I do lean toward Miracords!
 
Back in the early 70s, I sold Dual and Miracord, along with Garrard, AR and others. For my first TT, I bought a 50H Miracord, used it for years until a B&O TX change. Then I bought a restored 1229, and used it for a couple years, sold it to move to Micro Seiki and JVC.

I'm now working of restoring a Miracord 770H, the last model of the 50H, 50H II, and 770h series, to keep as a second system TT. Between the 1229 and 50H tables there was always this rivalry, both tables did their job well, and I'm not dunning one over the other.

The key is getting one or the other running smoothly and correctly....then you have your happy table! I don't think you can go wrong with either one, even if I do lean toward Miracords!

As you would know, the 50HII (a step up from my Miracord) does have the pitch control, and I'm not sure what else, so it is more like the rightful rival to the 1229 than is my 50H, but both the Duals and the Miracords have that special German engineering, and maybe their being in competition made both of them better than they might have otherwise been.


.
 
I have 50H and 50H II parts tables, but I'll salvage the idlers. The 770h also has pitch control, which once set isn't typically touched again. I'm working on my 770 temporarily in a 50h plinth, so I'm always looking for the larger 770 base, and dustcover.
If one doesn't show up in a couple months I use the old one to make a new walnut or mahogany base.
German engineering......seems like the Miracords do the same thing as a Dual but less moving parts? May just be my perception, but they are nice engineered products.
One thing I have run into is the Miracords seem to be damaged by people more than Duals. I see Miracords with the tonearm end broken, and not easy to reattach....properly. That's the problem with both my parts 50's....
 
One thing I noticed immediately before going over the Dual before swapping it into the system and the Miracord out is that the 1229 is heavier than the 50H. I didn't weigh them, or look up the info, since the latter wouldn't account for differences in the weights of the bases and dust covers etc. Some of that weight is from those "more parts" that the Dual uses! ;)
 
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