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Technics SL1300 help needed.

I

imation_nation

Member
I am the original owner of a Technics SL1300 MK2 coupled with a Sansui 9090db and HPM100 speakers. I have one question concerning the Technics turntable.

When I push the lever to raise the tone arm, the base which is supose to lift the tone arm does not raise up. I can pull the base up with my finger and it will gently lower but it will not rise when I use the lever.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can fix that or is it a lost cause.

Thanks.
 
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If it is anything like the SL-1600 Mk2 there is a small motor that does the work and it is a belt driven mechanism, maybe the belt is broken or stretched to the point where it does not function.

Rob
 
It lives!! Big Thanks for the help.

Here is an update on my Sansui 9090db troubles. While I was waiting for the Caig to arrive, I removed the cover, all of the knobs and the front cover. They were somewhat dirty from 30 years of use/storage. I cleaned them all up using Soft Scrub soap on the aluminum parts. Worked great. Looks almost brand new. Used a small amount of windex on the wood cover and then used some standard furniture polish which did a nice job of restoring the wood. Perhaps there is a better way of doing that. Be interested in what others have done. Then just vacuumed out the interior as best I could.

My order of the Caig DeOxit arrived from Parts Express and I immediatly started opening up the case. Most of the trouble appeared to be coming from the "Selector" and "Dolby NR" switches. I found the "Selector" switch wafers and worked in the Caig. The "Dolby NR" switch wafers were a bugger though. They are almost completely hidden. I could not accurately shoot the Caig on the switch wafers so I decided since I had put in this much time in it was time to start disassembling. I ended up removing the whole top front portion which houses the tuner assembly. Then had to remove the Dolby board and the one which sits on top of it. That gave me access to the "Dolby NR" switch wafers and I gave them some good squirts and excercised the switch back and forth. By this time I had access to all of the pots and switches so I proceeded to take care of them also.

Started reassembling the system which was not as bad as I thought it would be. They built these things pretty good back then. Anyways, the moment of truth. Plugged in the power and turned it on. Ah no smoke, thats good. Turned up the sound and lo and behold perfect sound. No scrachyness pops. Nothing but clean sound and that was just from the FM reciever. I think it's going to be OK. The only thing I can see wrong is one of the dial lights go in and out sometimes but after reading some other posts I found that there was a really bad solder joint. Have not resoldered yet but I am sure that will take care of the problem. Also, I'm not sure what you call it, it's the thingy that tracks accross the dial that indicates the station your on. Well that light is still a little sesitive to the "Selector" switch position. Perhaps I need to use a little more Caig on it.

I want to give out a huge thanks to everyone out there. You gave me the direction and confidence to try and tackle this. Your information was invaluable. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have my 9090db back among the living.

Now it's on to my Technics SL-1300MK2 turntable. The lifting mechanism for the tone arm does not work. Time for another disassembly.

Thanks again.
 
The tonearm lift in the original Mk2 line (1300Mk2, 1400Mk2, 1500Mk2) is not a repair for the home enthusiast. It is not a motor driven lift like in the 1600Mk2/1700Mk2. There is a plastic part that has a design flaw/weak spot (and I guarantee that 99.9% of all that series still functioning in the world today that have not been professionally repaired suffer this problem) that has snapped. It can be fixed, but I know of only one individual with the experience and expertise to do it. That one technician is Joel (http://www.theturntablefactory.com). I have had extensive dealings with him (including having my own 1300Mk2 repaired) and I can tell you he is second to none. The part in question is no longer available from Panasonic, so it's not just a simple matter of swapping it out. Don't even think of taking it to one of their service centers. They'll laugh at you. In addition, it is buried deep within the tonearm mechanism, so a attempting a homegrown repair is also very ill-advised.
 
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Funny this post comes up now. I JUST last night reassembled my 1300 after looking into the same problem. I said to myself no, not without a fresh part am I going to take THAT apart. Years back when I worked for a service shop I did. Super glue had no chance. Kissed that half a day good bye. I do have the service manual here though.
 
Thanks for the assist.

Want to thank you for your post. Based on your information I am very glad I did not investigate the problem further. (i.e. disassembly) I have sent an inquiry to the person you recommended for an estimate for repair.

One other question, in your opinion (or anyone else for that matter) is this turntable worth the cost of repair?

Cannot tell you how much I appreciated your information.

Thanks again
 
When I push the lever to raise the tone arm, the base which is supose to lift the tone arm does not raise up. I can pull the base up with my finger and it will gently lower but it will not rise when I use the lever.
Click to expand...

Am I just being really thick, or does this symptom sound like the lift mechanism needs to be refilled with silicone damping fluid?
 
Well, it is a VERY common problem with those SL-1300 MKII tables. (only the MKII ones) There is some part that breaks and repairing them (as already stated) is a major PAIN and not for the inexperienced.

I was trying to get one of these tables (1300 MKII with the cueing problem) off of eBay (for cheap, of course) and then send it to Joel for the repair/refirbish. It didn't happen, but I was trying to go that route for a while...
 
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this isn't meant to sound as snide as it does!

y'know, IF you haven't recently chugged three grande cappuchinos AND if you don't have a hyper-high compliance cartridge with a nude diamond mounted on a cantilever fashioned from the fossilized pubic hair of a (redheaded!) Roman virgin... you can actually cue by hand, without using the little cueing lever dealie. :-)

(unless of course the above-mentioned SL-1300 problem prevents this altogether).
 
Well, that's the beauty of the 1300Mk2. It has a pushbutton switch at the rear of the tonearm that disables the auto return function, so you can use it as a manual table - providing, of course, you don't use the start/stop buttons. The table will spin when you manually move the arm over the edge of the record, and likewise will shut off when you manually return the arm to the rest.
 
You're right.

Well I do not have a hyper-high compliance cartridge with a nude diamond mounted on a cantilever fashioned from the fossilized pubic hair of a (redheaded!) Roman virgin so I guess that means I can use the turntable in manual mode as long as I stay off the latte's. Actually I am in the process of getting a new stylus. (Not as nice as the one you descibed above) I should be able to use the turntable manually as some of you have suggested.

I recieved a response from the gentleman that repairs these turntables. The repair price is fairly high, but not bad considering the alternative. He says the cueing mechanism repair he does will fix the problem and should not be a problem ever again. So I'm going to start setting setting aside some money and send it in within the next couple of months. In the meantime I will use it in manual mode as some of you suggested.

Want to thanks you folks for your invaluable information.
 
>Well, that's the beauty of the 1300Mk2. It has a pushbutton switch at the >rear of the tonearm that disables the auto return function, so you can use >it as a manual table - providing, of course, you don't use the start/stop >buttons. The table will spin when you manually move the arm over the edge >of the record, and likewise will shut off when you manually return the arm to >the rest.

I got the new stylus for the turntable. Sounds great. Thanks for the information on using it in manual mode. I was always turning the power-on and hitting the "start" button and of course the tonearm wanted to skidd across the record. I did not know that it would start spinning when you just moved the tone arm manually onto the record.

Thanks again!
 
Well, remember it harkens from an era when designers actually THOUGHT about how their designs were going to be used...
 
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