Problem with my Technics 1200

[DJ Special K]

I'm having a problem with my Technics 1200 MK2. The turntable is only working with my Ortofon needle and not my M44 or other backups. I was doing some research on what the problem might be and I seemed to find people getting new tonearms. I don't believe that is the problem in my case. Today I was testing it out and I might've found the problem. The four pins inside the tonearm tube where the needle screws in looks short and the four pins on the back of the M44 needle aren't touching the pins in the tube to get connection. The back of my Ortofon needle has the four pins but they are longer than the ones on my M44. I don't know what happened to the pins to get shorter (since I got the turntable used) but is there any way I could get new pins or what could I do to fix the problem? Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[DJBOJAN]

The first problem that arose was that possibly the connection could be bad..like build up on the pins and etc that can be cleaned..but looks like urs aren't touching at all. Are the M44s new?

[loww]

If your Ortofon is a concorde style, could it just be a bad headshell?

[DJ Special K]

The first problem that arose was that possibly the connection could be bad..like build up on the pins and etc that can be cleaned..but looks like urs aren't touching at all. Are the M44s new?

The M44's aren't new but they work perfectly fine on my other set of Technics. So I know it has to be something with the pins.

[DJ Special K]

If your Ortofon is a concorde style, could it just be a bad headshell?

The Ortofon works with this turntable just not my Shure M44's.

[DTR]

The pins are sprung and they have been pushed too far in. On the bottom of the tone arm (next to the locking collar) there are two small screws. IIRC you can remove those two screws to release the end of the tonearm. Then you can pop the contacts out. You might like to get confirmation of that before diving in, I'm a bit rusty on this sort of thing

[DJBOJAN]

is there any way to measure the pins on the arm? I will try to measure what mine are today when i have a chance to be around them and we can compare if it will help you?

[djpenguin]

The pins are sprung and they have been pushed too far in. On the bottom of the tone arm (next to the locking collar) there are two small screws. IIRC you can remove those two screws to release the end of the tonearm. Then you can pop the contacts out. You might like to get confirmation of that before diving in, I'm a bit rusty on this sort of thing

This is all true, with the caveat that the wires are soldered to the phono PCB, so there isn't a lot of slack in the wires. Desoldering the tonearm wires from the phono PCB first might be necessary.

[djlotus]

Exactly this.^^^

when removing the cantilever, it takes a lot of force. You have to be super careful not to pull to far or you risk breaking the wires inside the tonearm somewhere. Once removed, you can unplug the wires from the cantilever and do what you need to do.


This is all true, with the caveat that the wires are soldered to the phono PCB, so there isn't a lot of slack in the wires. Desoldering the tonearm wires from the phono PCB first might be necessary.

[DJ Special K]

So today I tried taking off the two screws under the tonearm tube and got one off but the other one was stripped. Maybe I stripped it but I couldn't get it off. :mad:

[technicsman23]

Hi there.

I had this problem before.
Can I suggest using a cotton bud and clean the sprung contacts from the outside.You can use a cleaning sollution or WD40 is pretty good or without.
Make sure you push the contacts in and out a little to make sure all the grime gets out and they should spring in and out a lot better.
The contacts are fixed in so I wouldn`t think they have been `pushed in too far` at all.

See if this helps before ripping the tonearm apart.
Keep us posted!

[DJ Special K]

Thanks for all the feedback! I've just decided to sell it :)