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Denon DP-60l No Needle

M

Mike Dillon

New Member
So, I've had this record player for like 20 years, It's been sitting at my parents house since I didn't really have a good listening space. But I just moved into a condo with a great room for it.

It went out of use when the needle gave out, and I brought it to a specialty shop in the 90's and was told there were no needles available for it, and that I could either do a tone arm replacement or sell it for parts.

I kind of saw the resurgence in vinyl coming so I shelved it and hoped I would find out either that guy was wrong, or that someone started making replacements.

I'm not sure if he was just wrong, or if they came out after I brought it in there, but I see that Denon makes replacement needles now? They're pretty expensive, but considering the quality of the TT, I think they're worth it... but I haven't been following any of the developments in the last 10-15 years, so any/all input or suggestions are welcome.
 
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Pics please. You wouldn't need to the replace the tonearm unless it is broken. You would replace the cartridge. If the cartridge is still good and has an replaceable stylus, you would replace the stylus on the cartridge. It is not necessary to have the same brand of cartridge as the turntable.
 
It's still at my parent's place, I'm going to move it in the next month or two.

It's this:


Literally identical, it's totally perfect, all the pieces, pretty sure I have both tone arms and maybe even an extra weight?

I was using it for years till the needle broke and the guy I brought it to said there was nothing that would work without replacing the arm. This was in the 90's when vinyl was still just getting tossed in the garbage.and there was barely an internet to check...

I saw on these forums the other day two people discussing the cartridges they preferred for that exact model, and it was between 2 really expensive Denon DL-110 High Output Moving Coil Cartridge or Denon 301 MK II Cartridge

Since I'm zero dollars into it, I don't mind spending the money on a cartridge that will be impressive.

*EDIT

I'll take pics when I get it on hand, I'm fairly sure there is no cartridge on it at this point? but I'm not sure? I think someone took it to see if they could get one and I never saw it again? But this was quite a while ago.
 
I have the DL-110 and a DL-103. The DL-110 doesn't require a MC preamplifier and the DL-103 does. The DL-110 is a good choice if you can get a good deal on it. I've never heard the DL-301 MK II. I prefer the sound of the DL-103 in my system. That's a fine turntable. Congratulations.
 
The record player was a standalone unit, I think there was a box of the extra parts.

I have a Sony STR-DA333ES amp as well. It needs a capacitor, to get up and running but it's a NASTY amp, and has an amplified phono input.

I'm currently using a Denon AVR 1912 7.1 receiver, but that has no phono in, and the ES is an amazing amp, so I'm probably going to try to figure out the best way to integrate that.

I have Klipsch SP-1 floor standing speakers. So it should REALLY be a treat.

I've been building up to this setup for basically 20+ years.

I bought the center channel and surround Klipsch Speakers back when I had a Technics receiver, and "white van speakers" lol.

I didn't manage to find a set of SP-1's that I could afford until over 10 years later. In the interim I had picked up the STR-DA333ES.

It's certainly not going to be the greatest setup in the world, but it will be the realization of a 20+ year goal...

I'm quite excited to hear the 3 main players together at last!

The DL-301 MK II is reviewed here:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/denon-301-mkii-review.342861/

I will have to do a lot of reading before I figure out which cartridge to go with.
 
In order for you to get enough gain out of the Denon 301 MC cartridge to feed the Sony MM input you will need a Step Up Transformer of some kind. Also keep in mind that the Denon 60L electronics do not always age well sitting for a long period without use. These are all fine pieces, but may need some love to put them right, so go slow as you assemble them.
 
Really? The phono input on the Sony is drastically amplified as it is. There is definitely a preamp in there, I put my cd player into it once and it freaking BLARED, and I think at one point I thought the record player was broken before I had the Sony because I plugged it into another amp and go nothing but ground noise basically? The sony has a phono input and ground:

https://reverb.com/item/5804036-sony-da333es-receiver

Not sure what needle I had on it at the time, but I'd imagine whatever came with it... My dad bought it new in Japan.
 
Your CD player would blare on the phono preamp but you would still need something if you moved to a low output moving coil cartridge. The reason is, that the the CD player's line out voltage is around 0.5 V (roughly, it varies, but it is a nice number and it will show my point, please don't tar and feather me if this figure is off).

A moving magnet cartridge, which the phono preamp is meant for, generally has an output around 5 mV (0.005 V), so the preamp is meant to amplify that signal 100x to get it to the 0.5 V area.

A low output moving coil cartridge will probably have an output of around 0.5 mV (0.0005 V), so it would need additional amplification beyond what the built in phono preamp has.

Edit: I made a few edits for clarity and to adjust some figures.
 
Wow, i can't believe it's taken this long, and I'm still facing an issue I think.

My only question is about lubricating the vertical axis bearings on the main body of the arm. The up/down bearings are not smooth and let the arm hold in positions it's not balanced for. I found and printed the service manual last night and see that I'm using the wrong weights for the wrong arms, so going to try that, but the bearings are definitely gummy in the vertical axis for the arm) I've heard that 3in1 home oil or mobile 1 synthetic oil are both good at fixing this issue but figured I'd ask.

2023 update (long)
I've got the Denon DP 60L, both arms, the I arm had an Ortofon LM15 cartridge on it. The S arm had no headshell. I decided to indulge and ordered an Ortofon 2M Blue, mounted on an Ortofon Headshell.

I also ordered a Schitt Mani 2 (long story there lol, they only refer to the Mani 2 as Mani on their site, so I thought I was getting a 1).

I bought the basic alignment kits and scale to confirm the tracking weight.

After ordering everything, I figured I'd get the turntable out and start getting it set up. I still need to buy a proper stand, as right now it's on my media cabinet that is on casters on uneven hardwood flooring.

I didn't even realize the I arm had a headshell on it, my brother in law asked about taking the record player at one point and said he couldn't find a needle for it, which made sense once I saw it was an Ortofon Headshell instead of Denon.

I did a Google search for fun and found out LP Gear sell replacement needles! 45 bucks! Lol. I ordered one so I could do comparisons between the insanely expensive new stuff and the original stuff my dad had on it.

On a more depressing note, I had an insanely expensive set of RCA cables that I had always kept thinking one day I'd use them for the connection from the preamp to the main receiver... I freaking recycled them I think.. they were in a big box of old cables I wanted to clear out... I can't believe I didn't pull them out.

I'm just going to buy decent RCA cables from Blue Jeans Audio.

I also haven't fixed the Sony ES Receiver yet, currently using a Denon AVR-X1400H 7.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD Network AV Receiver with HEOS...

I have an SF2 Front KV1 center and KG .5 surrounds now.

I'm also hopefully picking up 2 pairs of Klipsch KFS 10.5 and SF2s today or tomorrow for 300 dollars for both pairs!

Also ordered a better center channel, but paid too much and it's a KV3 which I'm not entirely sure is a match?

I think for now I'm going to go full bore and use the 2 sets of SF2 for side and surround, then the KFS 10.5 for front and the KV3 center. It should be fairly insane.

I'll sell off the existing ones and check the match of the new stuff and maybe try to find SF3 and SC3 eventually.

End rant.

Edited to fix some model numbers
 
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Holy crap, it all works!

Have had a blast listening to the records in stereo on the new speakers. It's mind blowing how much better the 2 speakers sound than all 7.1 going at once.

I just randomly stumbled on a Denon DL-110 moving coil cartridge for 250, so I bought that too. I'll probably put that on another head shell and use it on the S Arm.
 
Typically tone arm bearings are not lubricated. If lubricated, they may work for a while, but it is likely that the lubricant will gum up and collect dust. I remember when people were using silicon coil to damp the bearings, but that craze died quickly, probably for exactly the reason that damping becomes sticking after a while, and the bearings aren't designed to retain the silicon, so eventually it migrates, leaving stickiness but no longer damping much.
I'd flush it out with napthalene, but that's me.
 
The needle showed up. I'm a bit dubious, it was definitely opened before... The box had little blue painters tape on it. I tried to get a decent macro shot of the needle, there does appear to be a Needle lol.1000006378.jpg1000006382.jpg
 
It works! I was shocked at how different it sounded compared to the Ortofon Blue. I've spent WAY too much money on records from the 90s, but gotta say I'm absolutely loving it.

I kind of don't like good records though, the better they are the fewer songs per side, I get a little annoyed having to flip the record once lol, much less going through 6 sides to get through one record.
 
Even if the box was opened, the cartridge looks unused - normally with a cartridge that has seen use there is dust all over the place, and with cartridges that have been used a while, there is some pitting on the cantilever and some gunk at the bottom of (or all over) the stylus. But yours is clean as a whistle.
 
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