New to vinyl - confused with an issue (stylus/cartridge/tonearm?)

As I said earlier, I don't disagree with most of your points. I still think the LP-60 is a decent way to get into the hobby at the lowest price level possible. The audiophile in me doesn't love the thing, but if your goal is to safely play back LPs it gets the job done, as Fremer notes in the video you linked. If your unit is a lemon you can always return it — a huge plus against vintage product for a newbie. Unfortunately OPs unit was used, so they're not benefiting from any warranty.

I think its a bit unfair to say those late model Technics are just a cheap as a LP-60. Here's my case: sure they're cheap as hell (I've been inside them myself) but the tonearm is a lot nicer vs the AT, picking up some downstream bearing tech from Technics better tonearms. Even with all the plastic crap they're much more solid and isolated which adds to the overall SQ and tracking ability, which matters when most beginners put their loudspeakers 2" away from it. As for carts, I actually like the AT P-mounts quite a bit better than the 3600, and Grado still makes p-mount Prestige carts although they are a bit difficult to track down. The m92e is still kicking around stock too. Of course all this is down to taste, but I think that provides 3 pretty distinct cart flavors to chose from.

These Technics have a very solid reputation as reliable units, the local repair tech I used to go to loved these things because he could sell them to college kids for cheap and have very little to worry about. They're also a favorite of Kevin over at KAB who sells refurbed units alongside his higher end 1200 upgrades. I see these pop up a lot on craigslist in New England, and on Ebay for around $50, so that's where my perception of low cost-high value comes from. Maybe not so much in your neck of the woods.

Legitimately curious to your thoughts on this: as someone who has a lot of repair experience with these AT-60s — do you think its worth it to get OP's unit professionally repaired if they can't fix it on their own? With the prices the techs I use charge, my gut feeling is no.

 

I actually bought a new Technics SL-BD20D in the early 2000s, but I never liked it -- it mistracked very easily even with an upgraded elliptical stylus, and skipped easily on warped records. 1.25 grams is just too light to get good performance from anything other than a high-performance, high-compliance cartridge and stylus, especially with its flimsy plastic tonearm.

I replaced it with a Sony PS-LX250H (based on the LP60 design), and while the Technics sounded a little better on LPs in pristine condition, upgrading the Sony with an elliptical stylus brought it up to par in sound quality, just without the propensity to mistrack and skip on warped records.

No, because the LP60 design is so simple that there's really nothing in it that could be fixed by a professional any better than by an amateur.

 

That model does loook quite cheap with a plastic arm, seems to be the actual bottom of the barrel for late era Technics. The 22’s have metal arms and are pretty decent, the DD has good wow/flutter too. I used to use a SL-DD22 about 5 years ago, and it was a good tracker with a Pickering cart.

 

Thanks mate,

Question - is there anything else I can do when disconnecting/reconnecting the cartidge connections (cleaning of the connectors, spray etc?) that might help?

 

I use to have Technics SL QD33 for about eight years, bought it used in 2006 for $30. With Grado Green/Gold it sounded pretty good and believe it or not, it did not have that many problems with mistracking.
Finally it fried some chip inside as result of static discharge (the air in my apartment is pretty dry in the winter) . Now to fix it will cost more than it worth but still I think it did pretty good for $30.
It was made in Japan, so build quality is pretty good even though it's inexpensive turntable, can't compare that to any of that Hanpin made crap. I doubt that any of them will last that long.

 

To the op, I think this may fix the problem...

 

To be honest... this is basically my question from the start. I can tinker and fiddle to a point - but looking at this unit, I feel as though when I reach my limit of knowledge and tinkering ability, I don't really feel as though a professional will be able to do too much more. And by then I'm in $100 probably

 

I've connected the turntable to my Denon X500 (which doesn't have a phono input). The switch whether on or off does not make an impact to the muffled sound (obviously with it off, it's a heck of a lot quieter as it's not using the tables built-in pre-amp)

 

I have the QD35. I like it better than my old Pioneer PL-200

 

That fits with what I guessed about the cart being damaged. If, in handling/transport, the arm swung around and knocked the cart around, the cart could have come undone inside. I am still guessing but that is the thing to check first, as I first wrote. But it could be its amp, and in that case, unfortunately, move on.

 

Unfortunately, for a poorly built Denon DP-200, you get what you paid for with so much limitations with respect to proper serviceability and upgradability. Believe me, I've used these variants before and they are very flimsy and not very good sounding either.

I would definitely look into getting something better, at least going with a Sherwood PM9805 brand new from JB Hi-Fi at the minimum. Otherwise, look into your local Gum Tree classified ads website and see if you can look into getting a used turntable.

 

And then it's not worth it because you can get a brand new AT-LP60 for that much, or the Sony version (PS-LX300USB) which goes on sale every holiday season for under US$80. And used turntables of this design (sold under all sorts of brands: Aiwa, TEAC, RCA, etc...) are dirt cheap and plentiful -- they show up frequently in my local Goodwill stores for around US$15 - $20.

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That's what disconnecting and reconnecting do. The action scrubs clean the metal to form a better contact. I wouldn't put any sort of chemical cleaner in there at all. If the connections are tight, then that probably wasn't it. There could also be a swith that mutes audio at record end and before start, which could have dirty contacts as well. Those are typically around the platter, under the deck and near the arm. It souunds hardly worth all the time on that deck though, sorry. Definitely don't spend anything on it, just put that towards the Planar 3 and you'll be rid of the headache.
-Bill