Technics SL1200/1210MKII

Phono and Ground Wire Fix

One of the most common turntable problems is poor or missing contact in the audio cables. An easy thing to fix for anyone familiar with a soldering iron. If you're not, don't learn on your precious decks! I take no responsibility what so ever for any action you chose to make. You'll need a solder iron, solder, cables and a Phillips screwdriver. Optional stuff like the crocodile teeth clamps I use to keep the cables under control makes the job easier, but is not strictly necessary. Here you go: (click thumbnails for larger pictures)

Place turntable upside down in the dust cover, flight case or similar rig. Remove the feet and unscrew all the screws in the base plate The easiest way is to unscrew all the screws but not remove them from the platter, lift it off with all the screws still in their holes and it'll be a lot quicker to put it back on. This particular turntable I was fixing while taking these pictures had stupid audio cables and a simple hack to make up for the missing ground connection:

After removing the base plate it'll look like this:

Unscrew the two screws on the cable strain relief, the black device in the middle of the tone arm base, unhook it:
Unscrew the two screws holding the silver tone arm base.  

Now you'll see the audio connection circuit board, which is a very simple affair:

Note that the audio cables goes to the left outside the circuit board, not how they should be. Wait a minute, just have to do some soldering, I'll show you the proper routing in a minute! Unsolder all the connections for the audio wires.  

Carefully unstrip the new cables and solder them to the circuit board one at a time:

The grounds are on the outer pads, the signals at the inner pads.

Now, time to do the earth wire, if needed. The metal tab screwed onto the board is the common connection for the ground:

Unsolder the existing wire, find a suitable one to your liking and solder it onto the tab.

Lastly, make the wires go where they should. The audio wires goes through the little hole above the solder connections and below the board. Unscrew the board:

Place the wires like this:

Time to wrap it all up again, reverse all the unscrewing and you're done. Leave a little bit of wire inside the tonearm so it wont pull on the cables when the tonearm height is set to maximum.

In case you've forgotten, the direction of the the cable strain relief is like this:

Lastly, most of the problems arise in the plug, mainly because sloppy users pull the plug by the cord instead of the plug itself. To avoid this I make a loop on the wire, so the hasty user will pull on gaffer/duct-tape, not on the cable strain relief within the plug.

This way pulling the cable will only tear on the gaffertape, when it becomes loose the user of the 'table replace the gaffertape loop and the plug will last for ever. If you feel like making it even more dj-proof, add another loop near the audio connections on the turntable for the tiny ground wire.

 
   
Good turning of those tables! If you're in doubt about soldering etc. - get hold of a proficient friend or search the net for more information.  

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Andreas Nordenstam Sept 2003
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