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turntable setup questions

B

billsif

New Member
i recently got a free technics sl-b210 turntable and am waiting for an AT92ECD to arrive so i can use it - a far cry from the sl-1200 i had in mind, but it's a start until i can afford that. it looks fairly clean, and at the moment i don't have a receiver or speakers so i thought i could connect it to my computer. the person also gave me an old and cheap looking preamp for this purpose: a realistic solid state pre-amplifier 42-2930. the power cord looks ancientcan see where the cord wires attach to the prongs with screws - something tells me the UL. wouldn't approve of the note on the label "As power requirements are very small, this pre-amp may be left on continuously.

When the new cartridge arrives, should I just attach it, plug the record player output into the preamp, plug the preamp into my soundcard and with the proper software expect this to be okay? what adjustments if any should i do to the record player or arm? there are some screws on the arm where it appears adjustments could be made, but nothing by hand. thanks.
 
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This thing? Yeah, I guess that should work. It probably won't sound great. It's a p-mount situation so pretty much all you have to do is take the the 1/2" adapter off the AT92ECD (if it is on there when it comes) and plug it in. There may be a small screw that holds in the original cart from the side of the headshell.

You do still have to zero out the arm and set the correct tracking force for your new cart (1.5g). Generic instructions on the web should be all you need for that, but you can ask here if you have trouble.

One more thing you can do is check the speed. Print out a strobe disc from vinylengine or elsewhere and see if it's correct. If it's not, there are adjustment screws on the back of the TT.
 

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The SL-B210 is a straight arm P-mount set up. In theory your replacement cart should pop in, and the pre-set standardized T4P stuff should be good to go. They are kind of fool proof, but if they have been messed around with, you can't always beat a fool.

You should register at Vinylengine.com, and you can get a copy of the SL-B210 service manual. They don't have the owners manual, but there are simillar machines from that era, such as the B21, that you can get an idea of set up from that owners manual.

UL would probably approve though of the preamp. When you get one of those crummy turntables with built in preamps, they are on if it is plugged in.
 
G'day mate, yes that turntable has a P mount cartridge, so set up is quite straighforward. It's the closest thing to 'plug n play'.

There is full data on that turntable in the library of the 'Vinyl Engine' website. Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
dumptruck said:
You do still have to zero out the arm and set the correct tracking force for your new cart (1.5g). Generic instructions on the web should be all you need for that
Click to expand...
Oops I just looked at a pic of that table and realized I lied. Looks like it does not have adjustable tracking force, or not very adjustable anyway. What's that label next to the tonearm say?
 
Thanks for the replies. My reference to the UL not approving was more about the homemade-looking quality of this old preamp. Can I ground the turntable to the preamp metal case? The label says "Precisely adjusted by the factory . Tracking force. Anti-skating. and then it shows a line with marks from 0 to 2 and an arrow pointing to about 1.25 with the word adjusted by the arrow. Then it says T4p. There is a screw on top of the arm mount by where it swivels, screws on the left and right side of the up-down swivel, and a screw on a curved black support piece very close to the base of the arm. What do all those do? What is the basic operation of the "cueing"? I don't want to damage the arm or records by sliding it from up to down or vice versa at the wrong time.
 
Vinylengine has the service manual for download, which will tell you which screws adjust auto-return and arm lift height. It doesn't seem to mention any adjustments for tracking force, so I guess you might just have to hope the new cart is around the same weight as the original, thus resulting in the same 1.25g tracking force.
 
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