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Stylus needs much more force than specified

I will definitely report back. It’s always so sad when I look at old threads on here for issues with no resolution.
I am stubborn when it comes to fixing things and will post my findings for future dummies likewise that will be searching for a similar problem like 10 years from now.
 
Please do.

I hope your records survived the current needle. I was gifted some classical albums that were less fortunate. Played well at the beginning but became increasingly distorted as it played. By the end the loud parts were garbled crackle, yet the quiet parts still played as new. Very strange, and heartbreaking; a few of them I wanted very much to keep, but there was no point as they were unlistenable.
 
Ok I have a new theory / question.

When attempting to balance the tonearm I notice that when I lower the tone arm level the lift plate still touches the lifting bolt when lowered. Is the lifting bolt supposed to NOT be touching the lifting plate after the control lever is lowered?

My hypothesis is that maybe this is set too high and that is why I need more weight to kind of force it down.
Funnily the adjustment sleeve mentioned in the service manual is NOT SHOWN which is very annoying. I’m going to dig in here one more time to see if that is something I can figure out.

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I think the adjustment sleeve is just the cap on the lifting bolt. That did indeed seem to be too high according to that snippet from the service manual. It still seems to touch the lifting plate when lowered to spec height of 5-7mm above the vinyl.
 
It feels really weird to have the raised tonearm only be 5-7mm off the vinyl since I got used to it being much higher. BUT after lowering that lift bolt cap and rebalancing and setting to 1.5g TF I am having a more consistent sound throughout a side and zero tracking issue so far. Still seems to be a little IGD but nowhere near earlier.

More testing will be done.
 
Dear future 506-1 owner in the future looking for a similar problem. Adjust your lift bolt cap above!
Make sure your stylus is only 5-7mm above your record when the lift control arm is lowered.

Huge improvement!
Doesn’t hurt that I ordered the new stylus. Will just be another thing to test which is always fun.
 
Testing some 45’s since they always seemed the worst to listen to and track before. It’s a whole new world now! This Mary Hopkins 45 I’m listening to right now used to always skip and it drove me nuts. Automatic stop worked as it should as well.

There is an additional issue that it seems on first attempt to change from 33 to 45 something doesn’t quite switch and there’s a clicking while speed stays at 33. If I try again it will play correctly.
 
Hanspecans said:
Dear future 506-1 owner in the future looking for a similar problem. Adjust your lift bolt cap above!
Make sure your stylus is only 5-7mm above your record when the lift control arm is lowered.

Huge improvement!
Doesn’t hurt that I ordered the new stylus. Will just be another thing to test which is always fun.
Click to expand...
Glad you got it sorted.

Never hurts to have a spare needle....keep the good one for mint vinyl and the older one for the scratchies.
 
Maybe there is to much friction in the tone arm horizontally or vertically. Thats enough for me to own only fully manual TT's. No auto anything . They just go round and round. Of course you do need a cuing device or a might steady hand.

But back in the 60's Ortofon said their MC cartridges should be tracked around 2.3 grams. The SPU's and SPE's you had to track any where from 3.5 grams to 4 grams to keep the stylus from mis tracking. Even the SL or MC series didn't track that well. You were always having to add 1/2 to 1 gram no matter what the table or arm. Thats why I gave up and went to Stanton 881S and a Shure V-15 V MR when they came along. But in 06 when I trashed my last OEM stylus. A friend introduced me to Dynavector. I am a happy camper now listening to hours of LPs . I am collecting LP's when I get the chance now.
 
Yesterday was LP listening day for most of the day. I really am enjoying my new XX-2 MK II Dynavector. Its just has better clarity and definitions and yet maintains that smoothness great MC cartridges are known for, The Bass extension is great too.

My next decision to make for the new year will be do I get a Sl 1200 G or the new SL 1300. Do I need variable speed? No. I don't have perfect pitch, thank goodness. People who had perfect pitch loved the SL 1200's when they were first introduced way back when.
 
twiiii said:
Yesterday was LP listening day for most of the day. I really am enjoying my new XX-2 MK II Dynavector. Its just has better clarity and definitions and yet maintains that smoothness great MC cartridges are known for, The Bass extension is great too.

My next decision to make for the new year will be do I get a Sl 1200 G or the new SL 1300. Do I need variable speed? No. I don't have perfect pitch, thank goodness. People who had perfect pitch loved the SL 1200's when they were first introduced way back when.
Click to expand...
Been eyeing that 1300. Has the same components as the $4K offering from Technics, at a cheaper price.
 
Maybe I missed this somewhere in the thread- are you using a separate force gauge or relying on the arm setting? You might need a better force gauge
 
The thing is do you need the better arm of the 1200G and do you need the 4 layer plinth of the G instead of the two layer of the 1300? I would get the 1200 G if the TT is in close proximity to your loudspeakers that can play very loudly and have extended bass. Thats why we changed to the original early 1200s for disco work and the main reason I chose a TD 125 was because of acoustic feed back from TD 124's and TD 121's. I had the first TD 125 in Texas. Thats over 54 years ago. I remember getting in the Spring. Then I had to mount my SME arm from my old table and fortunately I had a new arm board for the older Thorens.
 
Everything has been running well and sounding well minus the clunky switching of speed which is not a big deal.

My new belts are arriving soon. So hopefully that fixes that as well.
Plus I also got a new stylus that I won’t put on unless I feel I need to.
 
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