My wife found this Dual lying outside at the house of an friend.It has a cracked dustcover which I glued and a ortofon stylus.It powers on and the platter spins but the tonearm won't drop when it reaches the beginning of the lp.It won't drop when at rest either.It has a springy feel to it.I put a dime on the tonearm and it played through the record but at the end it would not return.I am new to tt's so I don't know how troubleshoot or make any adjustments.I would appreciate some guidance on this.Thanks

I have a 601 in use for many years, with few issues. You can find an owners manual on Vinyl Engine, but not a service manual. They do have other Dual svc manuals, so there may be one that is close to the 601 belt drive.

Are you sure that the arm is balanced and the VTF set??? Seems obvious, but needs to be asked!! You may need to look underneath and see if something in the mechanism is bound up, or it may need a good cleaning and lube.

In both pics, I can see that the arm lift is in the lift position. Does it feel if it is working normally?? Maybe a problem with its linkage.

You may want to check out www.fixmydual.com. This is the MAN when it comes to DUAL turntables. The 601 has some well documented issues that need addressing. I actually have a MINT 601 stashed away in storage not being used. With a SHURE cartridge, it was an AMAZING table!!!

My wife found this Dual lying outside at the house of an friend.It has a cracked dustcover which I glued and a ortofon stylus.It powers on and the platter spins but the tonearm won't drop when it reaches the beginning of the lp.It won't drop when at rest either.It has a springy feel to it.I put a dime on the tonearm and it played through the record but at the end it would not return.I am new to tt's so I don't know how troubleshoot or make any adjustments.I would appreciate some guidance on this.Thanks

Nice find!! You say you are new to TT's. Not sure how new... so please don't be insulted by this question :D I notice in the pic that the cueing lever is up-- presumably it was down when you tried to play the album? When it is down, does the little 'support' that lifts the arm drop? If not, it may be some issue with that mechanism and I am clueless about that :D

If it does drop, and the arm does not drop, then you probably need to adjust your vertical tracking force (VTF) after balancing the tonearm (with cart & stylus in place)

This unit looks vaguely similar to mine so the location of the controls is probably the same.

Before balancing I put down the plastic stylus guard on my Ortofon cart so in case it bounced off the platter it wouldn't hurt. If you don't have a guard then just be really, really careful and get ready to catch the arm with your finger.

Set the VTF to 0 via the dial on the side of my arm gimbal. Set cueing arm up and then slowly set anti-skate to 0 dial on right side of the table near the gimbal. The arm should float -- you can move it over the platter surface if it isn't floating there already. Once you see where the arm is going to float, you can lower the cueing arm but it may whack the platter (see guard above)

Your goal is to get the arm to float level just above the record surface, when cueing is down, by balancing the arm counterweight at a 0 VTF setting. I guessed at record height as I didn't see a point in ruining a record by testing.

EDIT: On my arm you have to loosen a knurled knob set screw to be able to pull the counterweight on the back of the arm in or out. This is the coarse balance adjustment. Once you get it in the ballpark of not obviously too heavy or light, set the set screw tight and use the fine tune adjustment which is a knurled dial at the base of the counterweight nearest the arm tube. I preferred to return the arm back to its 'home' and lock it prior to making any/all adjustments. It is tedious. Best to start light and work heavier if you have no stylus guard. If you do, it doesn't matter. Easier if you leave the set screw very slightly snug to offer a tiny resistance to pulling in or out.

With the arm balanced, you can set the VTF to the higher end of the recommendation for the cartridge (which cart is it? My Ortofon ULM55E calls for 1.5-1.75g, yours may be different) and the anti-skate to the same number. You can back down the VTF and anti-skate from there if you can get away with this without mistracking.

LP gurus: let me know if i got anything wrong. This is basically a summary of my Dual manual + some advice on setting VTF I've picked up.

Michael

Thanks for that info shimniok.Yes the cue was down.I will give it a try tonight as I am at work.VTF=vertical tracking force correct??

Loosening the set screw IS a coarse adjustment. The counterweight is threaded internally, to fine tune the coarse adjustment for the arm to float with the cue down!! The final adjustment is done with the with the calibration dial.

The arm should "float" in the horizontal position, approx the height of the rest.

On my 601, the set screw doesn't have to be loosened for the other cartridges I might use, just have to turn the counterweight to make a coarse adjustment before setting the VTF. Usually you can place the counterweight in the center position approximately.

Where is the set screw and what does the knob at the very rear of the tonearm adjust?What about the lift screw?What does that do?

Loosening the set screw IS a coarse adjustment. The counterweight is threaded internally, to fine tune the coarse adjustment for the arm to float with the cue down!! The final adjustment is done with the with the calibration dial.

Thanks, I forgot about that part. :o The counterweight on mine has a knurled fine adjustment knob towards the front of the counterweight (nearest the arm tube). On the 622 there is also an adjustment for resonance. Not sure if the 601 has that. Couldn't tell from pic.

VTF = vertical tracking force.

Michael

Hope this helps...

110136

Here's what my setup looks like. VTF is the knob to the left (front standing in front of the tt) and you can see set screw (just right of the vtf in the pic) the fine tuning adjust dial just to the right in the pic, and then the anti-resonance adjust behind it on the counterweight.

Below is the stylus guard I was mentioning. Not sure if yours has that or not.

110137

Also, ideally VTF should be set using a stylus force gauge, which I'll do one of these days.

Check out the Dual Reference website.The link below will take you directly to the troubleshooting page. Hope it helps.

http://dual-reference.com/Troubles/troublemain.htm

I think y'all are missing out on something very important. He said his wife found this lying outside. Kudos to the wife. :yes: My wife would be just as likely to step on it as over it. Forget about actually picking it up.

I don't have anything constructive to add, just felt that needed pointing out.

PV thanks for that link.I am going to do some research.Thanks to all that helped but I believe it is beyond adjustments and out of my scope of knowledge.Being new to tt's I may be causing more problems.I will now look for a qualified tt repairman somewhere on the front range for a number of tts that need repair.Good thing I have my trusty Fisher Studio Standard tt which actually sounds quite good and works perfect so i am not out of the loop listening to lp's.