SL-1500 repair & restoration

[MKG]

@AzTim was kind and generous enough to list this table on BT for free. It arrived today, and my plan is to repair & restore it and turn it into my daily listener. Down the road when I upgrade beyond it and no longer need it, I’ll post it back up on BT for free to another AKer in need and with any luck this TT can get bounced around AK for decades to come. I decided to document its repair and restoration on here so that he and others can follow along.
It arrived very well packed, with the base in one box, platter & dust cover in another, with both boxes inside of another box.
It came with some known issues- the platter would start to spin, turn about 1/4 to 1/2 a turn and then stop. No counterweight and with feet present but missing almost all of their plastic and rubber, and no ground or rca cables.
I tried the counterweight from my sl-d2. It seems to fit. I’ll have to try it with a cartridge and check it’s accuracy with my digital scale- if it will work, great, they’re less than $15 on the bay.
First step was to get the platter spinning.
I checked the fuse in hopes of an incredibly easy fix, but found that it had continuity and was good.
Next step was to deoxidize the power/speed switch and pots- my research while waiting for it to arrive found that it was a common cause.
After deoxidizing the switch and pots, the platter spins! Yay!
Next step is to see if it holds a steady speed. If it doesn’t, the most likely cause of that seems to be bad capacitors, so it will get a recap.
Then I’ll solder in some new rca cables and a ground wire, clean up the platter and base, find new feet, and put this beauty to work!

 

[HBTim]

Damn sweet man... I am so glad it was just a Deoxit fix... I was hoping for that. I love being a part of this very cool thread man. Can't wait to see it playing vinyl.

 

[Markoneswift]

Is this a Mk 1 or Mk 2 ? Just flipping through the service manuals out of interest as I've had quite a few Technics DD units recently

 

[Stanton681EEES]

Is this a Mk 1 or Mk 2 ? Just flipping through the service manuals out of interest as I've had quite a few Technics DD units recently

It's the first version of the 1500 so it would make it a MK1

 

[Markoneswift]

It's the first version of the 1500 so it would make it a MK1

Cool. That's the model without quartz lock then. Probably makes the circuit a little simpler for the OP to work on if the speed isn't stable. Most likely, if the VR adjustments won't go within range; all the tiny little electrolytic caps will need replacing.

 

[Balifly]

Cool. That's the model without quartz lock then. Probably makes the circuit a little simpler for the OP to work on if the speed isn't stable. Most likely, if the VR adjustments won't go within range; all the tiny little electrolytic caps will need replacing.

I have yet to encounter a Technics SL-1500 MKII with the wooden look in the wild !!!

Mostly Technics SL-1700 MKII and Technics SL-1600 MKII out here.

 

[lico]

The 1500 is a excellent table. Found a thrift unit and the I had to deox the pots and replace the speed switch to get it get stable. Oil the motor and it will come up to speed faster too.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

And if I can't find an affordable SL-1200, the SL-1500 will be what I go with if possible.

 

[MKG]

Now that the platter is spinning and I know for sure that this turntable is not a lost cause, I decided to give the base a proper sponge bath with my cleaner of choice and see what I’m dealing with (simple green heavily watered down with distilled water, applied with a microfiber towel or a q-tip for the crevices, dried and rubbed down with another microfiber towel). It’s looking great. There are a few small scratches that I’ll need to address later, hopefully I can find a semi-gloss nail polish that color matches. Dust cover hinges will need a couple black touch ups and the cover hinges are a bit rusty/corroded so they will need either some sanding and a clear coat, or some other treatment.

Tonearm has no play vertically or horizontally, which is awesome.
Back to getting it functional...
After setting the adjusting the speed pots and then the fine tuning pots... it’s holding a perfect steady speed!
Time for another shot of Sailor Jerry’s.
Okay, time to solder in some rca cables & a ground wire. I’m using some old ones I have on hand for now and will replace it with something better later.

Does anyone have any suggestions on some affordable low capacitance wire? Keep in mind that I’ll likely be using Chinese rca plugs so I’m not looking for TOTL ridiculously expensive wire, just something affordable and suitable.

RCA’s & ground wire are soldered in place!

It needs a new anti-skate spring, it’s looking a bit past it’s prime. I’m not sure where to source one, any suggestions?

Reassembly time!!!

Definitely need to source some new feet.

Here it is set up without feet, using isolation pads and bits of cardstock to level it.

SL-D2 weight appears to work fine on it- not sure if it allows the full range of the original counterweight, but it works for the cartridge currently on it- an AT3600L with a VividLine stylus.

It’s making music... but it sounds like ****.
Definitely need to replace the anti-skate spring. When I drop it on a record it jumps to the second track. Lots of staticky distortion and noise- possibly from my crappy cables. Will replace those, if noise is still there then I will test and potentially replace tonearm wires.

Making progress!
Very soon, it will be making sweet, sweet music. But, I’m on call for the next few nights so there will be a multiple day delay until the next update.

 

[Markoneswift]

Nice work Personally, I would have probably looked at some way of mounting twin female RCA's in there to make future cable upgrade less of a hassle

 

[bigx5murf]

I had one of these that was obviously flood damaged. Surprisingly it also just needed a dexoxit fix to start running again. I did recap mine, and it held speed as well as my two sl-1200mk1. I tried to make a 1200 tonearm rest fit on mine, it did sort of. I could never get mine to cue slowly despite having the right grease. Mine had one of the plastic pieces of the cueing mechanism cracked. I cut up a thrift store monster cable to replace the RCA on mine. Also hacked up a $13 shipped dust cover for a reloop to fit with technics hinges.

 

[fredjones]

Man I love this kind of stuff. Sometime I feel like getting the table up and working is the best part of getting a vintage table.

Cheers

 

[HBTim]

This is awesome man... I'm just like...

 

[986s]

I put a 1200 mk2 arm in my 1500 works very well.

 

[MKG]

I put a 1200 mk2 arm in my 1500 works very well.

Was any modification required or was it a straight drop in?

 

[986s]

Was any modification required or was it a straight drop in?

Wasn't a straight drop in, but not a big job.

 

[lico]

Wasn't a straight drop in, but not a big job.

Is the 1200 tonearm really that much better? Nice work.

 

[986s]

Is the 1200 tonearm really that much better? Nice work.

I wouldn't say it's that much better, but I had a spare arm. Why not.

 

[Texas Tom]

I recently repaired a SL-1300. Had to attach new rca connectors, replace the strobe light and the feet. I used feet from a SL-BD20. I think they work pretty well.

 

[MKG]

I’ve been trying to determine what other technics models feet fit, thank you for that.