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Technics sl-d305

S

Snook hansel

Active Member
I recently picked up a Technics SL-D205. The closest thing I could find for a owners and service manual was a SL-D202. Here is what I've done.
Cleaned v202, v203, pitch control and switches. I repaired a mechanical issue on the cue control. I also adjusted v202 and v203 pots per service manual. Before the adjustment i had to keep the pitch control wide open on 33 setting and it still was lagging ever so slightly. Everything is running perfect. It all operates fantastically.
So good now I'm getting excited. I'm ready to set my tracking force and get my cartridge within spec and spin some vinyl. Hear is where the brakes lock up.
The headshell is not oem it is a sony headshell.
I mount my cartridge and attempt to balance the tone arm. No luck and of course the additional counter weight that comes with this unit is no longer existent. I'm pretty certain the headshell is to heavy. The Technics headshell states 7.5 grams in the service manual.
I do not have scales to confirm the sony headshell weight. So I am honestly making a assumption that the sony is to heavy.
The cartridge that come with the unit is as AT VS220e. I found specs on this cartridge and its seems to be decent. Its tracking force is 1-2 grams however it doesn't give specs on cartdrige weight. I need some advice on what to do. Should I buy a new headshell within the 7.5 gram spec?
Should I buy a headshell and new cartridge? Am I missing something? I'm a newbie and still learning. So any advice is appreciated. The turntable world is very interesting.
 
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A new, lighter headshell may well be needed. It would be nice to get an original headshell to keep an authentic feel. The headshell that I see in photos of the turntable looks like the common Technics headshell as featured on the SL1200 turntable. These are expensive to buy now. There are lots of copies of this headshell but they tend to be heavier than 7.5g - more like 10 or 11g - the Audio Technica AT-HS1 is one such example.

If you don't know the history of the stylus, I would advise you to replace it, as you don't know how worn it is. It is an old cartridge but it looks like you can still buy aftermarket styli for it. It may, however, be worth replacing the whole cartridge. The AT-VM95 range is very good value and you can even get these cartridges already installed in a headshell - for example, the AT-VM95E:

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/at-vm95e-h

The headshell weight is 9g and the total headshell/cartridge weight is 15.5g.

P.S. Can you show a photo of the Sony headshell? Someone may know its weight.
 
Crab33 said:
A new, lighter headshell may well be needed. It would be nice to get an original headshell to keep an authentic feel. The headshell that I see in photos of the turntable looks like the common Technics headshell as featured on the SL1200 turntable. These are expensive to buy now. There are lots of copies of this headshell but they tend to be heavier than 7.5g - more like 10 or 11g - the Audio Technica AT-HS1 is one such example.

If you don't know the history of the stylus, I would advise you to replace it, as you don't know how worn it is. It is an old cartridge but it looks like you can still buy aftermarket styli for it. It may, however, be worth replacing the whole cartridge. The AT-VM95 range is very good value and you can even get these cartridges already installed in a headshell - for example, the AT-VM95E:

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/at-vm95e-h

The headshell weight is 9g and the total headshell/cartridge weight is 15.5g.

P.S. Can you show a photo of the Sony headshell? Someone may know its weight.
Click to expand...
20210628_223750.jpg
 
You are going to have to print an alignment protractor for Stevenson and check that cart. It looks very wrong in the picture.
 
Yes, that was why I suggested a protractor, it eliminates referencing off of the Sony headshell.
 
It does look a chunky thing. To improve the chances of someone on here being able to tell you the mass of that headshell, you probably need to create a special thread asking the question. The people in the know may not notice it buried in this thread.
 
Crab33 said:
It does look a chunky thing. To improve the chances of someone on here being able to tell you the mass of that headshell, you probably need to create a special thread asking the question. The people in the know may not notice it buried in this thread.
Click to expand...
Well I wanted to give a little update.
I have purchased
1. LP Gear headshell
2. OEM auxiliary counter weight
3. OEM feet
4 stylus guage
I found a OEM headshell for a decent price after I ordered the LP Gear but I think it will be fine. The feet were trashed so new ones were definitely in order.
The auxiliary counter weight should give me the versatility to use about any combination I want plus its a part that is original to this table.
All these parts will be in by the end of the week. I can get the recommended measurement for my tone arm/stylus using the guage. I have hopes of testing this TT this weekend. Fingers crossed
 
So all my parts made it in today with exceptionof the new feet, they are scheduled to arrive on Friday. I will post pics later. I did install the the auxiliary weight. It threaded in the back of the tone arm perfectly. I was easily able to balance the massive Sony headshell with no issue. Ultimately I will remove the headshell and install the LP Gear headshell. I just wanted to test the auxiliary weight.
The LP Gear headshell is noticeably lighter than the sony. I figured I would need to weigh them to confirm this but that is not the case. You can feel the difference.
Right now
TT 60.00
Aux. Counter weight. 14.00
New feet. 10.00
New headshell. 40.00
Total. 124.00
I feel like that's a good price for this turntable. Plus its been a fun learning experience so far. I am coming from world of p mount turntables. I like the idea of having more cartdrige and stylus options.
My Technics sl-bd22 is out of service but I will likely try to make it functional again as well. It will serve as a back up.
 
Ok. 8m playing without feet on my TT. I just put felt pads under the TT for now. It sounds great. I am having a small issue. When I drop the cue the tone arm drifts backwards. I leveled the TT and it helped slightly. I cleaned the cue bar this temporarily fixed the issue. I'm guessing the rubber pad on the cue bar has hardened up. I sprayed a small amount of contact cleaner on a rag and rubbed it down. This made a big difference. I'm guessing the rubber has hardened and lost the surface tension needed to support the tone arm as it drops. The antiskate is set per table recommendations. I could back off slightly to see is it helps a little. My next solution is a small wrap of electrical tape around the tone arm to create more surface tension. Any suggestions?
 
Here are a couple of pics of the TT in action. Spinning Steely Dan at the moment. I noticed my antiskate was set a little over 2. The cartdrige called for 1 to 2 tracking force. I set it at 2. When I set the anti skate to match I went slightly over 2.1 to 2.2. I'm guessing I'm at 1.9 anitskate now. This helped the issue with the tone arm drifting back when I drop the cue bar. I'm still adjusting. Everything sounds smooth. No distortion, left right balance is good.
Is it better to stay at the high end or low end of tracking force? Should I experiment with tracking force? 20210707_013315.jpg 20210707_013315.jpg 20210707_013328.jpg 20210707_013424.jpg
 

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It looks great. I'm a bit confused about the anti-skating. The tonearm drifting backwards (to the right?) on cueing could suggest that the AS on the turntable is too fierce and I'm not sure how increasing the AS could have helped that drifting problem. Normally, we set the AS to the same value as the tracking force that has been set for the cartridge, although some people do experiments to calibrate it more accurately.
 
About the anskating : it pushes the tonearm from the center to the outside, so without antiskating the tonearm tends to move to the center of the platter.
Usually to obtain a balance the skating force is the same as the weight put to the stylus. In my case I use a laser disc to calibrate the antiskating and for a weight of 2grms I need a 3grms of antiskating. So that relation of antiskating and weight is not always valid.
 
Crab33 said:
It looks great. I'm a bit confused about the anti-skating. The tonearm drifting backwards (to the right?) on cueing could suggest that the AS on the turntable is too fierce and I'm not sure how increasing the AS could have helped that drifting problem. Normally, we set the AS to the same value as the tracking force that has been set for the cartridge, although some people do experiments to calibrate it more accurately.
Click to expand...
Maybe I said it wrong. My AS was 2.1 to 2.2. I went down to a value of 1.9. This has helped with the drifting when I drop the cue bar down.
 
If the tracking force range for the AT VS220E cartridge is 1.0-2.0g, I would probably set the tracking force to between 1.5g and 1.75g (but higher only if mis-tracking was evident), and set the AS likewise. But it also depends on the whether you have an original or aftermarket stylus - the aftermarket styli sometimes need a slightly higher tracking force.
 
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