Have you confirmed your stylus is set within the recommended height of 8-13mm? As NoBody99 stated above, his drops when set too high. We're assuming you've followed the directions and properly set your stylus within the acceptable height range. Assuming you purchased at a dealer, they can confirm. Or if you bought at Amazon, they will simply replace it. Please let us know what the cause/outcome is if you take it in for repair, it will be helpful to other owners.
I made another short video, maybe I'm just overreacting? I'm not sure anymore. All I know is that in the beginning the lever was rock solid, as it should - right? Would you accept this behavoir with an two months old turntable? Or Should I just lower my expections and deal with it?
From the video, yes-your lever does have a bit of drop. Mine does not. After raising the lever all the way (then letting it drop as it does), rotate your tonearm so it's above an actual Lp. Then you need to measure the distance from the Lp surface to your stylus tip, this should be between 8-13mm (a proper ruler is ideal).
It appears to me, when u lower the lever the arm hard drops a bit, than the damped cueing takes over. If it were me, I would contact Technics to see what they think about this issue. I'd ask them what do they recommend. As I noted before, my AT 120x had a very similar looking issue. That model was known for loosing its ability to slowly drop the arm. It was so prevalent there was an online fix that recommended adding fluid to the assembly. This may have worked, but I adjusted the hight lift and that remedied the issue. When I contacted Audio Technica I was told to send it back to them and they would fix the table. I was satisfied with the adjustment I made so I choose to keep the TT as is. That might not have anything to do with your problem.
I'd raise it a bit (+ 3mm) and see if it stops/drops to the adjusted height, or if it returns back to 9mm. Remember you need to hold the armlift down with one finger while turning the screw counterclockwise to raise it.
the cuing lever is kind of sloppy. But imo it works fine. Do not lower it slowly, ie, attempt to control arm descent speed with the lever. The mechanism will do that. Just gently & quickly push it down to the stop. The arm will lower slowly.
I just read through this thread and thought, "what's the big deal?" Of course the tonearm will move slightly up if you apply more pressure to the lever. I own a 1210GR and was dying for a record I was listening to to end so I could test it. I just did and.... Zero give. It's rock solid. So yeah, something is off. It probably doesn't matter functionally at the moment, but who knows over time. I'd definitely contact the dealer for a replacement. Technics should absorb the cost considering. They can refurbish and sell it as a used w/ warranty model for less.
I'd only expect a new turntable if you purchased from Amazon- they will just say to return it. You can't really expect a dealer to give you a new turntable if a replacement part will fix the problem.
Hey, it now stays at 12mm. Sadly not from amazon, it's from an online Hifi dealer in germany. I dunno, it WAS fine some days ago, now it feels cheap and rubbish, everytime I spin an LP I cringe a bit inside lol
They have pills for that these days. JK. Is this something known to happen to all the new Technics TTs, or only some of the models? I’m curious if the TTs higher in the lineup are just built a bit better at least as far as the cue lever is concerned. The 1200GR or 1200G
It looks like it settles into it's preferred spot pretty consistently. I think it's just how these mechanisms seem to work. If it's ending up too close to the LP, just raise the height of the lift. I wouldn't expect servicing or replacement to solve the issue with these TT's honestly. Seen a lot of posts for the same issue on the 1500c. My M7L also drops slightly and settles. Never drops lower or onto the LP. It bugged me a little at first but got used to it quickly. Love the turntable.
Really? As with any machine, fixing/replacing defective parts fixes the problem. No different than a car. There's nothing wrong with the OP's TT as a whole, it simply has a poorly designed cue lever/armlift mechanism. Certainly has no ill-effects on the performance of the TT.
Most of these behave this way. Replacing the TT will prob result in the same thing. If the OP sends the whole TT out for a fix on the arm lift, I'd like to hear about the ending result. Too bad the user can't just get at the hydraulic cylinder and make an adjustment but that doesn't seem possible on these. The whole thing would need to be replaced and prob behave the same way. It's a benign thing like you mentioned.
My 1200G has a different tonearm mechanism and doesn’t do this. Been using it problem free for about 5 years now. The stock golden tonearm on my 1200M7L did have this issue, but I replaced it with a black one because I don’t like gold. The black one (an MK7 tonearm) has no issues.
The auto-lift was one reason why I went with the GR over the 1500C/100C. There are reports that it doesn't always work right and so I figured I'd turn it off, but having the functionality integrated into the tonearm I feared could cause an issue even when it was set to off. What I can't figure out is why there are no such turntables that have tonearm lifts and platter shut-offs that are remote control activated instead of sensor activated, as the sensor activates ones never seem to work reliably. It would be a such a simple remote with two buttons. One to lift and one to stop the platter.
So RE the SL100C I thought about this more and if the behavior is common on the SL100C and doesn't affect play I'd likely be OK with it. Maybe it "breaks" into that behavior over time, or maybe there's something you can tighten. But what matters most is how it plays. When I first got my GR, the lever action much quicker compared to my Pro-Ject 1XPression Carbon Classic and took some time to get used to it. The Pro-Ject glides down smoothly when you drop the lever so you can literally just move the lever immediately down . The GR comes down much more quickly, so you can of have to glide it down with the lever itself. I thought it was a defect at first, but now I'm used to it and it's perfectly fine. In the end, every turntable has its quirks. The piano gloss on the Pro-Ject shows hairline scratches in the light over time and was much more finicky to get rid of motor hum, ground hum, and electrical buzz. But once you get past it all they are all great. They are all just mechanical devices in the end.
