Fixing up a cheap Sansui FR-D25 Turntable

[sansui au719]

I'm trying to fix up a Sansui FR-D25 that I picked up very cheaply. It's for my teenage son. Like many teens he finds old turntables fascinating and cool but it's more to have some fun than for serious music playing.

Excuse my ignorance. I'm not and never have been a vinyl guy, having bought my first audio gear early in the CD era. I really know next to nothing about turntables, other than how to use one. I've never swapped a stylus, a cartridge, a headshell or a tonearm, though I know how to balance the latter. My son's amplifier only has a MM phono input.

The Sansui FR-D25 seems to be compatible with the same cartridge/stylus as the Sansui SR333, SR717, SR5090, SR636, FR-1080, P-50 and possibly those for the FR-D35.

I can't find an owner's manual for the FR-D25, only an owner's manual from the FR-D35, which was released at the same time. The FR-D25 is belt drive while the FR-D35 is direct drive.

From the brochure for the FR-D25 & FR-D35 I have the following information.

Sansui FR-D25/35

SC-37/50 IM type cartridge 20-20kHz/10-20kHz
SN-37/50 0.5/0.6ml diamond spherical stylus

Tracking force 2.5 +/- 0.4g
Cartridge weight 4-9g
Min. tracking force setting 1g
3.5/3.0 mV/channel (1000Hz 35.4mm/sec) 47k Ohms

The distance from the stylus tip to the headshell collar (I think that's what it's called) is 50mm, for both the FR-D25 and FR-D35.

How can I tell the condition of the stylus ? Is that the only part that wears out ? Is it better to just buy a new stylus, stylus+cartridge or buy a complete pre-assembled headshell ? What do folks recommend ? I don't want to go much past good entry level.

Should I service the TT while I'm fiddling about with it ? How often should it be oiled or the belt changed ? What's the best place to buy service items such as oil or a belt. I live in the UK.

I expect this TT hasn't been used for quite a while. It's in generally good to very good condition other than a mark on the cover.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

 

[Nat]

I'd probably just replace the cartridge with an AT 3600. Very cheap - in the 20 buck range - genuinely good sounding despite the price, and if you want to upgrade, and easy path to fancier stylus shapes and so on. Replacing the cartridge will require some work with steady hands to attach the cartridge leads and mount the thing, and then the pain of aligning the cartridge - and measuring 50 mm from stylus to cartridge collar isn't easy because of parallax, and the alternative of using a protractor gets you into the war between alignments - most protractors seem to be Baerwald and most Japanese turntables use Stevenson. If you can print out a correctly scaled Stevenson protractor, it will be easy. You can use Baerwald, but the cartridge will be very far forward and cocked, which looks odd and might possibly induce warp yaw (don't ask).
Many of the Sansui tables manage to be good looking and sounding, so I think your son will be pleased.

 

[sansui au719]

Thanks for the replies. That's exactly the sort of informed and helpful information I've come to expect from fellow AK members.

I tested the TT by swapping in the entire headshell from another deck and it sounded fine, so there's clearly nothing wrong with the TT itself. Speed is stable, auto return works fine etc.

It seems to have the original stylus and cartridge and they look a bit tired. I might replace both with a cheap AT cartridge and stylus as suggested