Technics SL-10 - arm position

Eric1403

New Member
Hey there,

The arm of my SL-10 moves "too" far to the right when it finishes playing a record. When starting a new record, the needle hits the groove and "forcefully" yanks the arm out of its resting positioning: not very nice for the cantilever of the cartridge, I would think.

Is there anyway to adjust the starting position of the entire arm?

Kind regards
Eric
 
Sounds like it could be a servo balance problem, possibly electronic. The mechanical are simple and generally stable. Does it appear to track perfectly tangent?
 
That second arm movement you describe is kind of "normal" with SL10s, as mine will do the same thing: the needle touches the lead-in groove and as soon as the sensor calculates how far the arm has already travelled before the automatic lever releases it, it quickly sets itself into position. Maybe there's a bit of hardened grease in the rod that the arm slips along, holding back the arm a little, stalling the movement. In an attempt to soften the abruptness, I recently interrupted playback with the stylus halfway through the record and opened the lid, so the arm stayed in position. I was then able to clean the little bit of hardened grease that was in the arm's initial position in the rod with a "pamper's" type towel. As for the other symptom, if I get it right (the arm moves too far in the direction of the record stamp), that can be fixed be repositioning the "stop-screw sensor" that the arm touches when it reaches the end of the record. The instructions in the manual imply breaking the black plastic strip that hides the screws that hold the perspex on the lid. That's ridiculous. I accessed it by removing the black cowling that covers the mechanism, in the inner side of the lid, instead. An adjustment is possible for records with smaller stamps, or for certain albums contaning a last track that is too long. Mine, for instance, will not play "Sometime Salvation" on the Black Crowes album fully. I mean, the arm touches the sensor screw before the end of the song, no matter how I reposition the sensor.
Hope this helps.
 
Just in case I've misunderstood you about the first symptom you describe: if you mean the arm goes too far into the initial position, that, too, can be adjusted by repositioning the screw (see page 10 in the service manual).
 
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