Philips 212 Turntable - some questions

Hey all,

I snagged a Philips 212 turntable off craiglist for $10. It had a severed RCA connection, which I fixed in a pinch with some electrical tape. I wanted to see if the table even worked before soldering / re-cabling. I sprayed some de-oxit on the connections, mounted my Stanton 681EEE into the funky headshell thing, then fired up a somewhat decent record.

Turns out it works great! I had a few issues with skipping at first, but after finding the manual on vinyl engine, I found that the slider on the tone arm is supposed to be used for the tracking force adjustments, not the counterweight. Once I corrected this, the skipping stopped.

The bulbs on the touch controls are burnt out, but the speed stays constant. The speed adjustments do work and I was able to use a light to get the strobe right.


So far, this table sounds MUCH quieter than my Micro Seiki MB-15. And more importantly, I can actually get the thing to play at the right speed! And there is documentation, whereas the MB-15 has no doc that I could find on the net.

A few questions:

My only complaint is the weird headshell connection. I couldn't get it right because it slides into the tone arm, and when I mounted the Stanton, I really tightend the screws down. I couldn't slide in the headhsell into the arm because of this. I loosened the screws, was able to get the nuts flush with the casing, then slide it into the tone arm. I then tightened the cartridge while it was mounted to the tone arm. Is there a better way to do this?

If I were to re-cable, can I buy just standard RCA cables and solder them on? Do I need to match impedance or anything? I'm suprised it sounds as good as it does with a severed cable attached to some spare RCA jacks wrapped in electrical tape.

Also, I have seen another posting for a Technics 1210mk2. I've always wanted a Technics (for whatever reason the I dig the strobe). Would there be a significant sound advantage to buying the Technics? I know its direct drive and has an S shape tone arm, and the Philips is belt drive and straight. I'm just wondering if my $10 fix it table is as good as the Technics for $250.

Finally, the table came with an Audio Technica X-11. I can't find any info on this cart. Is it a decent cart? The stylus looks shot, so I swapped the cart with my Stanton.

Thanks!

 

I had the 212 the first year it was out. Mine had the heavier platter that got shaved down for later editions. I think I got it in 1971. When mine got really old.....I think the stop and 33 lights were burnt out, the 45 button was stille lit, anyway, if I held down the 45 button, the speed went up to 78. Weird, I know....

I had an Shure M91ED cartridge when I got it new. Later on, I got a V-15 Type 2. I liked mine till it finally started wearing down about 1990.

 

The GA-212 was my first turntable, yet I cannot remember if this is possible or not, but -- can you put the screws in from the top, nuts under the cartridge?

Otherwise, I guess the only way would be to get shorter screws.

Do you still have the little plastic alignment gauge?

Be careful playing with the dust cover down, a static charge can cause the tonearm to lift up and stick to the dust cover, until you lift the lid and it comes crashing down on your record. It probably won't be an issue if you don't use a feather duster on it while a record is playing...

Also, the steel platter precludes the use of moving-coil cartridges.

On mine, if a light bulb burned out, you had to be careful operating the switches. Hold your finger down too long and the speed would just keep on increasing.

 

For the RCA's you want to use "low capacitance" cable. If the original cable doesn't look too bad, I'd just solder some new gold RCA plugs on a clean cut. If not, video component cable (the one that comes in three together) is usually lower capacitance than standard audio cable.

P.S. To speed up the Micro Seiki, you can try applying a layer of nail polish on the spindle (where the belt rides for 33-1/3 obviously). The correct belt size and tension is important as well of course. A few drops of fine oil down the spindle shaft and motor (very little) won't hurt either.

 

On mine, the speed maxed out at 78. I got a 78 to try. It makes you wonder if 78 was going to be available on the original design and one can only obtain it through these strange circumstances?

 

Was that in the manual? I don't remember that part if it was. My 212 has been gone for about 20 years now. I just obtained a 78 to see what speed it hit holding down the 45 button and it hit 78.