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Technics SL 1600 mkII

Soundcraftsmn

Soundcraftsmn

Member
This weekend I picked up functional Technics SL 1600 mk II for $30 and as a TT newbie, I have a few questions about doing a cleanup before I put this one into service. It powered on fine when I moved the tonearm, but it is pretty dirty and I want to service if possible.

I have the deck split per the service manual and I've DeoxIT's the pitch control, lubed the on/off switch, which was sticking, and I would like to lube and service the tonearm but I'm not sure where to start. The bearing are nice and tight and the arm pivots and moves freely. Do you lube the platter spindle?

Are repair parts avalible for these? The elusive platter mat is missing and it will need a new dust cover, this one is broken at one of the hinges.

The cueing belt is toast of course and I've read a post here about using a standard O ring, which I will source locally.


The TT has a Audio Technica cartrige and a decent stylus, but I'm trying to identify what model cartridge it is. Looks like an aluminum body with an orange stylus, if that means anything.

Thanks as always for your help.
 
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Nice score, that's a fantastic price! :yes: Some think the 1600/1700/1800 MK 2's sound as good as the 1200 MK 2's. The automation on the 1600 works very well. I can't help you with where to lube but others will.
 
You can get a needle oiler or a clock oiler and add some light machine oil. A small drop on each bearing point for the gimbal may help. The motor is the platter and spindle bearing as far as I now and I think it runs sealed bearings. Nitrile O Rings are always nice as belts and last a LOT longer then OEM belts. there are also silicone rubber O Rings that are very nice too (albeit a bit more expensive) and last for ever. The mat issue is one of teh fun bits. get over to the big auto shop where you are going to get your O Ring and get some rubber/cork gasket material. You can use an old scratched LP as a template to cut it out. You might want to try a dot pattern version too. Then there is the Art Store and cork backing in thicknesses up to 1/2 inch (a bit softer than gasket cork), then there are layered felt mats you can make on any of these base materials using 3M 77 or 97 spray adhesive. lastly you can buy new mats from places like MATS mats (.com) and others like the cartridge sellers (LPGear, Needle Doctor, etc.). Making and trying mats is one of the coolest tweaks for TT's.

As to AT cartridge, the number may be (likely is) on the top of cartridge body. Drop by the "cartridge database" (google) and StereoNeedles.com to look over the AT line-up. You'll see various stylus carriers that will drop into your body. Shoot for an elliptical or hyper elliptical that fits.

Get on over to eBay and get a few generic silver or black headshells for ~$12 mailed to you door and you can mount a couple of other cartridges for "sound" evaluation. A used Grado GF3 willa ccept a new "Blue" stylus and give your a taste of the Grado sound and it'll work on your table w/o hum :)

Maybe see if you can score a used Shure v15 III or IV off a thrift store table or at a garage sale. Drop by LPGear and get a new JICO stylus for it and you'll have all three basic sound groups to play with for not much money :)
 
Soundcraftsmn said:
The TT has a Audio Technica cartrige and a decent stylus, but I'm trying to identify what model cartridge it is. Looks like an aluminum body with an orange stylus, if that means anything.

Thanks as always for your help.
Click to expand...
There were several ATs that used an orange stylus. A pic would be very helpful. Or if you loosen the screws, the top of the cart will have the model number.
 
First, thanks to each of you for the fast response. I guess I should have figured out that the model number would be on the top of the cartridge! The spindle operates smoothly and I will not touch the sealed bearings. I have a needle oiler so I'll carefully lube the gimbal bearings, but the pivots seem to operate excellent as is.

I am not really that big into vinyl and I have Dual 505 that is good enough, but when I saw the SL 1600 mk II for that price, I had to grab it.

Can you still get new dust covers?

Thanks again.
 
Congrat's Soundcraftmen. I used to have an SL-1300 and yours is better than mine..

Should treat you well... Great price also.
 
Soundcraftsmn said:
First, thanks to each of you for the fast response. I guess I should have figured out that the model number would be on the top of the cartridge! The spindle operates smoothly and I will not touch the sealed bearings. I have a needle oiler so I'll carefully lube the gimbal bearings, but the pivots seem to operate excellent as is.

I am not really that big into vinyl and I have Dual 505 that is good enough, but when I saw the SL 1600 mk II for that price, I had to grab it.

Can you still get new dust covers?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Yes, the 1600mk2 is an excellent turntable and often overlooked and underrated. Dust covers are still available for the 1200mk2 and are sold without hinges. You will need to reuse the hinges you have the ones the 1200mk2 uese are different. Google dj turntable supplies and you'll find places. Not cheap, but available.

The platter mats are not available new for the 1600mk2. You could either look on ebay, or buy a 1200 mat and cut out the holes for the record sensors--or just use it plain. The automation will work fine for lps with a plain mat as will auto-return. What will not work is the function that prevents the arm from moving if no record is on the platter--a protective measure to prevent the stylus from dropping onto an empty platter. And it won't be able to detect 45s automatically, so you'd have to cue them up manually.

Another great place for Technics stuff is kabusa.com.
 
Welcome to the club!

I have a SL-1700Mk2 (the semi-auto version) and am using a slightly-used SL-1200Mk2 dust cover purchased for cheap on the Bay. Replacement headshells also regularly come up for sale there. I've been using a rubber band for the cuing belt for several years now with no problems, but will probably have to replace it one of these days.

Some things are available from the Technics website, like the white plastic overhang gauge, but you may need to look under 1200 parts and accessories.
 
The SL-1200Mk2 dust covers also fits the non-Mk2 1600/1700/1800 tables. I bought a pair of them, and the other is currently on my brother's SL-1600.
 
SA-708 said:
The SL-1200Mk2 dust covers also fits the non-Mk2 1600/1700/1800 tables. I bought a pair of them, and the other is currently on my brother's SL-1600.
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Thanks. Do the same covers fit the 1300/1400/1500 series tables MK 2 or non?
 
I think I looked at this in the past for my 1500, and think maybe they do. Hinges might be a problem. Someone measure a 1200 and I'll compare to my 1400/1500 dustcover.
 
My guess on the cartridge is an AT71 (see http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=155883 2nd and 6th photos) as they had an orange needle and I'm 95% sure were the factory-installed cartridge sold with these tables. If your 1600Mk2 still has the sticker with the replacement stylus model number, a Google search should lead you to a stylus for the AT71. You can upgrade to a green elliptical ATN71E stylus, but are probably better off replacing it. There's photos of the ATN71E (green elliptical) and ATN70 (red spherical) from the same family of AT cartridges at http://www.stereoneedles.com/audio-technica.html but they are out of stock at that site.
 
As Howard noted you can still buy a 1200 mat from Pioneer and with patience and an Xacto knife cut out the slots for the record size sensors.. Note that in addition to the slots for the plastic lenses there also needs to be a sloping channel facing the perimiter of the mat ast there needs to be a line-of-sight to the short post with the black top.
 
Excellent info, thanks. I will pull the cartrige tonight and answer the question on what model number. The info on the dust cover is helpful as well as the links. Does anyone know the size of the cueing belt? I tired the O ring idea but the diameter size I had of 1.250" is much too short. I have a good local place for belts if I can get a size. The old one looks like an earthworm after a week on a hot sidewalk!
 
Soundcraftsmn said:
Excellent info, thanks. I will pull the cartrige tonight and answer the question on what model number. The info on the dust cover is helpful as well as the links. Does anyone know the size of the cueing belt? I tired the O ring idea but the diameter size I had of 1.250" is much too short. I have a good local place for belts if I can get a size. The old one looks like an earthworm after a week on a hot sidewalk!
Click to expand...

Go to a plumbing store and ask for an O ring number 74
It's 1-1/8 x 1/16
 
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