Technics 1210/1200 arm height issue (after opening turntable for repair)

I had an RCA plug on my Technics 1210 (Mk2) that had been shorting out, so I decided to open up the player and solder in some new RCA cables. The RCA cables are working fine now, but I noticed tonight after the repair that when I try to adjust the tone arm height that it won't go below 1.25 mm on the arm height read out and also will now go quite a bit above 6 mm on the read out (about to where it reads "Adjust" on the height settings). I'm guessing I messed up the arm height gauge somehow when doing the repair or when I opened the turntable, because I don't remember the arm being able to go that high before. Does anyone know how the arm height gauge can be adjusted back to normal or reset so it reads correctly? I'm assuming I'll have to open up the turntable again, but I'm not really sure what to look for to reset the height.

 

I'm no expert at all but as far as I know, you will have to take the arm apart again and get the ring in exactly the right position before you re-assemble. IIRC the importance of this is explained in the following video:

 

I'll check out the video. Thanks for the link!

 

I replaced the RCA cables on my 1200 but I didn't need to remove the arm assembly.

 

Yeah, I didn't have to touch the arm assembly either. I just opened the bottom of the table and removed the bottom plate where the RCAs connect to the tonearm circuit.

 

I still think there's a good chance you'll find the answer is that video. From memory, you have to be very careful when re-attaching the bottom plate to make sure the ring is in exactly the right position. I may be wrong but it's worth watching anyway!

 

I'm re-opening this thread to say I now realise I linked to the wrong video when I was trying to help with this problem. The correct video, which tells you all about the arm height control ring, starts here but it's in two parts and the crucial part is at the beginning of Part 2:



Too late for the OP no doubt but I hope it helps anyone else who finds this old thread in a search.

 

Thank you

 

That's helpful. Thanks!

I still haven't attempted to reopen mine. The tonearm goes just low enough currently for the carts I'm running. I'm going to try fixing it soon though.

I watched the video that is the second volume to the one you just linked: How to service/repair/replace the height adjustment on a technics 1200/1210 MK 2 turntable part 2 »

At the start of the second video he mentions that the tonearm height needs to be set to zero when reassembling or it won't dial to the correct height. I think that might be the problem mine is experiencing since mine goes above the 6 mm on the dial and not completely down to 0. I must have moved something around when I was installing the cables and threw off the calibration.

 

I think that's very probably it. From what he says, it's essential to have everything in exactly the right place when you reasssemble, or the calibration will be off.

Incidentally, on mine, which is a GAE, I've found that the top of the headshell and the tonearm are not parallel, so if you follow normal practice and have the tonearm parallel to the record surface, your headshell is not parallel to the record surface, and therefore the VTA is out. On mine, I find it safer to set it up with the headshell parallel to the record surface, which is correct. Strangely, that leaves the tonearm sloping down - but maybe that's just mine.

 

So, the 1.25mm is now actually zero?