I'm getting ready to buy a SL-1200Mxx turntable but I have a few questions before I do.
I have looked at 4 turntables so far. One MK2 and three M3Ds. All of them appear to have been DJ tables at some point in their lives. My concern is with the tone arm bearings.
On three of the tables, with the arm free floating and Anti Skate set at zero and the arm placed anywhere between mid mat and as far as it will go towards center spindle, the arm very, very slowly drifts back towards the arm rest and stops about 1-1/2" from the arm rest. On the fourth table the arm stays put where placed from about mid mat to as far as it will go towards center spindle. When the arm is placed anywhere from mid mat to towards the arm rest, the arm quickly returns to the arm rest. On all four tables, Anti Skating appears fully functional and the tone arm wiring is not restricting tone arm movement.
Are the tone arm bearings on all four tables shot and unusable in their current condition?
I get the impression that the vast majority of these turntables have the same problem with the bearings since most of them I have found for sale on the Bay and Craigslist are ex DJ tables. The turntable ages on the four I looked at range from 1992 to 1999.
Also, one was fitted with an Ortofon Concorde Pro S cartridge. How can you possibly set tracking force and anti skate on this type of cartridge where recommended settings are 4 or greater yet the table adjustments only go to 3.5???
Lastly, if I need to replace the tone arm assembly, there are a few "new" ones from Japanese vendors on the BAY for around $100. Can these arm assemblies be trusted as actually being new and the bearings in good shape?
I have a huge vinyl collection and have been dying to get back to spinning again. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.