Theo i have a question about my gt2000l. I have the auto lift mechanism on mine and it sometimes doesnt hold the tonearm up it drops in down on the run out and picks it up again and then sometimes repeats. I have thr dial on the ato lifter set on 7 1/4. Ive noticed 2 holes on the lifter do i have to add oil in these holes or may it need to be looked at but good luck with finding someone to fix it. Also has anyone that has a gt2000 or 2000l had their tt recapped id like to get this done but i have the same problem no techs to work on it. I know you need to use nichion caps. Anyone know someone in pa,ny or nj that can do the job. I can take the tt to them as ill never ship this treasure. This is the best tt i have ever had ive had many hours of listening and hope to have many more. Brad
Hi Brad, I have a lot of experience with these- I've owned seven in the past year and have sold all but two after doing the full recap/restore on them all- I'm keeping one and the other needs an arm as I broke it when standing it up on its side to do a recap. I've been holding out hope for a replacement YA-39 but no luck yet...
Since I'm about done with the hobby and won't be doing any more GT-2000's I'll give you the inside scoop; A GT-2000 has got to be about the easiest turntable to do a recap on- other than that breaking the arm moving it part...
There are two small PCB's inside, containing either 16 or 17 caps total depending on your version (more on that below); The PCB's remove with #1 one having six screws and pulling two plugs (it has 13 caps) and the other can remove with three screws, unsoldering four wires and pilling about 5 or 6 plugs (it has only two or three caps for the PSU). If you can solder at all you can do the job yourself and leave the latter PCB in the plinth and do the other one outside-On most of them (but not all) the PCB's are labeled on both sides
There are two different types of PSU boards in these tables-most folk don't know that as they usually only own one of these monsters and then probably don't open it up. The most common by far in my experience uses one 6800uf psu cap shown on the picture I uploaded, whereas rarer version uses a pair of 1000uf caps. I use Nichicon FG's but there are 3 NP caps that I use Nichicon Muse for. Yes it is total overkill as there is no audio running through these circuits, but the price difference is maybe $5 and you'll know you're using the best.
Not that anyone wants to hear it, but the internal recap outperforms a YOP-1 in measured voltage stability and noise floor- I learned that the $$$ way. But I would bet that a recapped YOP-1 or a more modern clone built well could swing that result the other way, as I was comparing an original YOP-1 with original parts to the audio grade refresh. I didn't bother to try it and sold mine with a table a few months ago.
As far as your YAL-1 goes I highly doubt that it is an oiling problem-sounds like the arm goes up and down just fine, but too often. It sounds like an intermittent connection at the arm. Again (gotta love this Yamaha design) you can pull the arm with two bolts and check those two larger plugs and possibly clean the contacts. Hope this helps- M
