Adjustment
of braking
Doing
this you can get your decks to brake hard enuff to make it spin
backwards when you hit STOP. Most decks have this set correctly
but if yours isn't then you can do this. Pop open the top as
described, and look for pot VR201 - It's on the right side
next to the blue pitch pot described above and says "brake"
next to it. Turn it to the right to increase the braking time.
I suggest you just nudge it a little to the right and see what
happens by placing the platter back on and playing with the
start/stop button. Make sure you unplug the turntable from the
wall before taking off the platter again. Note that it takes
slightly more force to stop a platter w/record vs. an empty
platter.
Eliminating
the ground wire
This
may work only with certain setups -- to be sure: use a multimeter
and do a continuity check between the ground screw on the back
of your mixer/pre-amp/whatever and the outer conductor of the
RCA jack inputs. Check both channels. Not all systems share
a common ground. If it does, remove the rubber base from your
TT. Remove the screws to the plastic stress clip for the cable
coming out from under the tonearm. Dissasemble the clip. Remove
the two screws holding down the round plate. Move it out of
the way. Use two short lengths of wire and solder both to the
ground tab the current wire is connected to. Solder the end
of one wire to the shield of one channel in the audio cable
where it is soldered to the PCB, and do the same for the other
wire and channel. You can desolder and remove the old ground
wire if you want. (I left mine on just in case) You may not
want to do this mod if you are using different mixers constantly.
Changing
the pop-up lights
- remove
the base as described
previous.
- remove
the two screws holding the whole light fixture from beneath.
- Use
a jewelers screwdriver ( with the rotating tops so you can
apply pressure while turning ) to remove the small screw at
the bottom of the metal cylinder where the bulb is. Make sure
to get a correct size screwdriver as some decks have this
really torqued in. (read below)
- If
you are a DIYer it's a ~20VDC bulb. Be careful here or you
may kill your turntable (12-14v bulbs won't work - they glow
faintly when the cylinder is down and burn out too quickly
- they sure are bright though) You'll need the right size
too, some may need a slight modification to fit--use the soldering
iron to burn off some of the glue at the base.
If
you aren't a DIYer you'll want to read this:
...As
far as the replacement bulb was concerned, I played no games;
I contacted an electronics shop in Oakland that's an authorized
Panasonic/Matsushita dealer, and ordered _two_ lamps (just
in case I messed up). I ordered them, and they arrived via
UPS 3 days latter. I think the lamps were kind of pricey,
around $4.95 each. By the way, If anyone needs it, I have
a list of authorized dealers that I can e-mail or fax to
you. [EdNote:
It's Cass Electronics in Oakland,CA and the part number
is SFDN122-01 : "Lamp, stylus illuminator" ]
- Using
a small precision (jeweler's) screwdriver, remove the polished
aluminium shell to expose the bulb.
[This is where you have to be a little careful and patient.
Since the screw was torqued in pretty good from the factory,
what I did was used a pair of pliers to turn the screwdriver,
while pushing down firmly to keep it from stripping the
screw head. Since the screw is pretty small (and easily
stripped), MAKE SURE you have a screwdriver that fits the
screw EXACTLY; even if you have to go 40 miles to a store
to buy the right screwdriver, do it. After all, if you paid
nearly $400 US to buy a 1200, don't cheat yourself by buying
a cheap screwdriver that can damage it.]
- Remove
the bulb from the lamp housing and clip it off from the two
wires as close to lamp as possible. You'll want to leave enough
wire left over, just in case the bulbs you get don't have
long enough leads.
- Solder
(or twist) the wires of the bulb to the corresponding wires
coming from the turntable.
[EdNote: Make sure you use electrical tape or shrink tubing
on each wire when done!]
Insert
the new bulb into the lamp housing and re-attach the polished
aluminium shell.
Re-install
the lamp unit into the turntable. Before you replace the
bottom rubber base, test the pop-up switch to make sure
that the bulb leads won't get caught. If there is too much
spare wire, you'll either remove the excess or just tuck
it out of the way.
Replace
the bottom rubber base, and install the four rubber feet.
Connect power cord, and make sure the light bulb lights
and pops up cleanly.
This
whole procedure should only take 10-15 minutes at the most.
Best of all, if you have the right tools (precision screwdriver,
regular Phillips screwdriver, and a set of pliers) it should
be an easy thing to do.
Fixing
the power switch when the knob comes off
Have
you ever lost the shaft -- when you happen to twist the black
knob right off? If you turn your TT upside down it won't come
back so you'll need to do this: remove the base as
described above and look where the power switch is. Push the
shaft back up and reattach the black knob. You may want to put
a drop of glue in the knob center/bottom before replacing it to
help prevent this. Or you could just tape down the knob and use
a power strip to turn your TT on and off.
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