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Is my Sony turntable HAUNTED?

Lippy

Lippy

New Member
Hello Gang. I'm new to the Forum but I hope it's OK to ask a question right out of the gate. It pertains to my early 80s vintage Sony PS-X600 table:

I'm experiencing a strange phenom that I've never encountered with any component before. I pulled the turntable out of storage after something like 20 + years. The sound coming out of the table when connected to my amp (phono-in plugs) is behaving quite strangely. It starts out fine, then after like 2 or 3 seconds the music starts to fade away and ALL the treble seems to get sucked out of it. It gets VERY muffled (almost like dirt on the stylus) then cuts out completely. Only to then fade back up and after some seconds (unpredictable lengths of time 4 seconds - 24 seconds) to full bright excellent sound. Also in this time the two different channels fade in and out at random intervals.

To be clear: this isn't like a loose connection. I have moved the phono cables all around and bent them here and there as this mystery affliction is taking place. Nothing I do re: moving around the cables seems to affect this fade in /fade out muffled situation.

Trouble shooting:
1. Original cart + stylus were present during this problem. --> replaced with a new M2 Orofon cart + stylus and STILL have problem (though the music sounds WAY better now when it *does* play correctly -for a few seconds or through just one of my channels).

2. Amp is a 4 yr old Denon AVR-S650H. Never used the phono input before but I doubt that's the problem because I did run a different table into those plugs and it worked fine (aside from ground loop issues).

HELP!
I like this table and would love to give it a second life in my new living room set up. But it's hard to find any turntable repair shops in the SF Bay Area (I know, I know!) so I am throwing this out to "The Team" to see if you have any suggestions/experience with something like this?

Thanks for any advice
_Lippy
 

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That's a good one! No clue really, the first thing that comes to mind is a wonky muting circuit in the turntable (if that model had one).
 
Lippy said:
Hello Gang. I'm new to the Forum but I hope it's OK to ask a question right out of the gate. It pertains to my early 80s vintage Sony PS-X600 table:

I'm experiencing a strange phenom that I've never encountered with any component before. I pulled the turntable out of storage after something like 20 + years. The sound coming out of the table when connected to my amp (phono-in plugs) is behaving quite strangely. It starts out fine, then after like 2 or 3 seconds the music starts to fade away and ALL the treble seems to get sucked out of it. It gets VERY muffled (almost like dirt on the stylus) then cuts out completely. Only to then fade back up and after some seconds (unpredictable lengths of time 4 seconds - 24 seconds) to full bright excellent sound. Also in this time the two different channels fade in and out at random intervals.

To be clear: this isn't like a loose connection. I have moved the phono cables all around and bent them here and there as this mystery affliction is taking place. Nothing I do re: moving around the cables seems to affect this fade in /fade out muffled situation.

Trouble shooting:
1. Original cart + stylus were present during this problem. --> replaced with a new M2 Orofon cart + stylus and STILL have problem (though the music sounds WAY better now when it *does* play correctly -for a few seconds or through just one of my channels).

2. Amp is a 4 yr old Denon AVR-S650H. Never used the phono input before but I doubt that's the problem because I did run a different table into those plugs and it worked fine (aside from ground loop issues).

HELP!
I like this table and would love to give it a second life in my new living room set up. But it's hard to find any turntable repair shops in the SF Bay Area (I know, I know!) so I am throwing this out to "The Team" to see if you have any suggestions/experience with something like this?

Thanks for any advice
_Lippy
Click to expand...
Does this turntable have a mute section built-in, to eliminate needle-drop and raise-up noises?

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-PS-X600.html

https://archive.org/details/manual_PSX600_OM_SONY_EN/mode/2up
 
Is it belt or direct drive? If belt, is that still in good condition? After two decades, it might have stretched out.

It might also be a good idea to maybe get the table looked at and possibly recapped? Maybe lube it?

See if the Sony's RCAs might be corroded/dirty and then clean them.

Nice Shure cart in the picture! :) I have one of those, too.
 
I would start troubleshooting the amp.
The fading behaviour sounds more like an amp thing than a turntable thing.

Either by connecting another tt if you have one or can borrow.

If the problem persists it's something in the amp. If it goes away it's the turntable.

Or by running the tt through an external phono amp (there are dirt cheap ones that will do fine for testing) into an aux input on the Denon.

If the problem persists it's probably the turntable. If it goes away it's the phono input and or phono stage in the amp.

Good luck!
 
I feel like a muting circuit may be something I should look at. I took the TT to a repair guy in San Francisco (found one!). I'm awaiting his diagnosis.
I'll let y'all know what he says. Thank you for the ideas. I REALLY hope I can resuscitate this old beast!
 
ranf1970 said:
Is it belt or direct drive? If belt, is that still in good condition? After two decades, it might have stretched out.

It might also be a good idea to maybe get the table looked at and possibly recapped? Maybe lube it?

See if the Sony's RCAs might be corroded/dirty and then clean them.

Nice Shure cart in the picture! :) I have one of those, too.
Click to expand...
That was an ORIGINAL Shure cart form 1981. It sounded HORRIBLE when I connected it all back up. Super distorted in the high end.
I bought an Ortofon M2 cart (thinking my prob could be stylus related) and it sounded GREAT - before it all faded away and out as listed above. If I get the TT back to working order, I will be keeping this new cart!
 
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