Speed/pitch problems

[Malten]

Hey guys. So I'm a total newcomer to this whole vinyl thing. I recently bought an old Philips turn table - and let me start by saying, that I have no ambitions of getting the best of the best, I just want to listen to my records at a decent quality of sound. Anyway, the old Philips is running and it sounds alright. My only problem with it is that I experience slight changes in pitch (wow and flutter?). It happens pretty often and can be very annoying. You might not notice it all that much when playing rock, but when you get to the slow movement of which-ever-symphony it will drive you mad.

Now, I googled a bit and found a lot of people being advised to clean the pots to get rid of speed inconsistency. But I am not sure whether they are talking about the same kind of problem as I, or if this works more for dealing with a constant too slow/too fast speed or falling/rising speeds.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Is there any way for me to improve my turn tables playback or am I just doomed and this is what you get when buying an old probably not too expensive turn table?

Thanks in advance!

 

[hugz]

cleaning pots tends to help in clearing up wavering pitch.

I used this video when fixing my technics:

. It applies to technics of course, but the basic principles are the same and it succeeded in fixing my 1500 with horrible pitch wavering, with 5 squirts of contact cleaner and 20 mins

 

[SSaxdude]

Clean the pots and buy a new belt.

 

[danj]

That model Philips is one of the easier turntables to work on. Cleaning the pots fixes that problem almost every time. A new belt may not fix the problem but it's a a good idea and it's cheap.

Vinylengine.com may have a service manual available for free download. You will have to become a registered member but that's free and easy. It's a super good resource that all serious turntable users should check out.

 

[sKiZo]

POTS!

Same problems here with a Technic table ... speed all over the place. Cleaned the pots, and nary a problem since.

And ya ... A lot of that sort of thing can be caused by a stretched belt as well. Standard practice to replace that on any "found" tables. DO clean all the pulley and table contact areas with ISO alcohol to get the years of accumulated crud and oil off before installing the new one.

 

[Malten]

Thank you for your answers. I orderet some contact cleaner and will see if that helps. In the meantime I found an Technics SL-BD22 right outside my apartment, which was about to be thrown away. I figured what the hell and took it upstairs. The motor was working, but there was no belt. So I went out and bought one, installed it and there you go - it works and it even has a pickup which sounds fine. But this table as well has some speed problems, so thats just another reasing for getting some cleaner and getting to work - now I might end up with two functioning turn tables.

 

[BilboBaggins]

And so it starts...

What model of Philips is it? I've had three different kinds and like them all. A GA-212, a GA-312, and a GA-427. The GA 427 is by far the cheapest, but still a decent turntable, but the 212 and the 312 with a nice cartridge such as the original Philips or an Adc xlm or qlm sound very very nice. Comparable to a Sansui SR-222.

 

[fishondwan]

Good luck on your Philips !

Almost all of the vintage tables I come across need to have the pots cleaned to hold steady speed.
After cleaning the pots you should follow up with a lubricant such as Faderlube.

Happy spinning

 

[Malten]

And so it starts...

What model of Philips is it? I've had three different kinds and like them all. A GA-212, a GA-312, and a GA-427. The GA 427 is by far the cheapest, but still a decent turntable, but the 212 and the 312 with a nice cartridge such as the original Philips or an Adc xlm or qlm sound very very nice. Comparable to a Sansui SR-222.

It's a Phillips GA-047. I haven't been able to find a lot of info about it. As for now I think the Technics sounds better and it also seems a bit more sturdy. However, I really like the looks of the Philips.

It's nice to hear that most of the old turn tables will ned a good cleaning. Sounds like there is hope after all! I'm very excited now to get the job done and to see how it works.

 

[Malten]

So this evening I got to open up the two turn tables. I started with the Technics hoping that it would look similar to the one in this video on youtube showing how to locate and clean the pots on another Technics desk (

)

Getting of the bottom cover I found that it looked quite different (first two images). In the second image is the speed selector switch and the pitch control wheel. I tried to unscrew the board, but could not get it up and I was afraid to break something by trying to force it. Oh, and I found the old belt in pieces scattered around the inside of the machine. Well, I sprayed some cleaner in and around the switch and wheel and turn them both back and fourth a good couple of times. And it actually worked! The speed is definately more consistent and I also discovered how to use the strobe light (clever!), which also seems pretty stable. I do however find it rather difficult to get the pitch adjusted just right. But the pitch control works well now - before it would act pretty crazy when trying to adjust anything. Looking at the strobe sometimes it seems to wander just a tiny bit which makes me think that I might be able to do some more throughout cleaning if I could get better access to the pots. Does anyone of you have any idead how to locate the right spots to clean on this perticular model?

On to the Phillips things looked even more different on the inside (two last images). Lots of springs in there! Again I tried to clean as much of the area around the speed switch and, I admit, I just kind of randomly sprayed some cleaner around parts of the electronics. There was some kind of yellow-ish goo in there which I cleaned up. And again I made the performance better! Still I am happy to recieve any tips on what exactly to clean here.

 

[BilboBaggins]

Try figuring out what the components are supposed to do when working, and then I would suggest lubing the friction points unless they work on friction. Also, if you can find the service guide, use it as your reference. Try finding a YouTube video on it. Good luck!