Dl110 starting to sound wonky

If the tonearm lift mechanism is reluctant to change position when operating the lever, and there is not enough gap between it and the tonearm, you can start by exercising the lifter piston (which the plastic lifter bar you see is screwed into), and also exercise the viscous damper (which is the lever inside that couples the handle to the piston).

• Remove the headshell for safety, and unclip so the tonearm just floats out of the way.
• Put the lifter handle in the down position, and push and pull the lifter up and down. You can pull it up, and put a drop of oil around the piston to lubricate, but this is unlikely to do much unless it's oxidized or contaminated inside.
• Pushing down on the lifter with finger pressure, move the lift handle up and down. You should feel the "lift" and dampened "sink" under your finger. Keep doing that to free the damper mechanism and move it to the ends of its travel.

The fluid damper is filled with oil and is what creates the slow needle drop. The typical complaint is that the fluid is ineffective and the needle drops too fast, but it is also possible for the damper to be reluctant or bind.

You can also just push the lifter & damper down so it stays down, and not use the lever until it is serviced.

 

Ok well at least the arm lift works fine and the cueing lever as far as I know I just had to lock it But now a different problem .. When I get to the inner groove on certain LPs (only one so far but I am afraid could be more later) it's skipping (going over a certain part of the song over and over) in this case my thriller LP which I have played fine before even on the older worn cart so know it's not the record or the new DL110 .....! I am going to adjust the anti skate again but I fear my TT bearings or something is going bad may need service Hopefully not too much money and don't want to buy s brand new one if I don't have too ! I love my sl1200mk5 but i realize I have had it since 2007 but man I thought it would go even longer before any real maintenance ! Lol

 

You could take both the TT and the cartridge in to a shop and have both looked at simultaneously to determine the cause of the problem. That's probably what I would do. In the mean time, do you have a second cartridge that you could try on multiple records to get a rough idea if the DL-110 is the culprit?

FWIW I have had some records that have odd warps that are in the center of the record and unless I turn my antiskate way, way down one of my cartridges can get "hung up" on certain grooves. Pressing defects and odd scratches on used vinyl can cause the same problem. Sometimes it's not the cart or the turntable but the record that is at fault.

 

Unfortunately I don't anymore The ones I had from Amazon I returned ... That thriller lp has always played just fine all the way through even on my old dl110 and old AT440mla which I gave away to a friend ...I think I am going to have the table looked at ...

 

Update ... Trying different anti skate settings on this table to see if that helps .. Trying a few different settings If that doesn't work .. I will be taking my precious sl1200 to get serviced ..

 

Finally tried another Michael Jackson Thriller copy I had and it starts skipping not in the exact same spot but pretty darn close on the inner groove last track unless this is a counsidence (it's not) both fairly clean with slight warpage and have played them both before just fine in the past My TT probably needs service maybe the bearings or something with the tonearm I contacted my local pro audio ship that repairs Technics .. Hopefully it won't cost too much to fix I guess 10 years of use is a long time even tho I have taken real good care of it I like to listen to a lot of records ! Wish me luck !!