[Scott Dorsey]

david correia wrote:
I got a mint Dual 621 turntable with a Grado cartridge that sounds fine.
The tone arm is supposed to be fully automatic. But it no longer moves
over to the beginning of the record when starting it, nor does it move
back to the right when it lifts at the end of a record. It will just go
up and down. It plays as a manual TT, but I want it fully automatic
again.

How much of a pita is this to fix??

It's probably not anywhere near as bad as the older idler-drive duals where
everything was mechanical. They were just a horrible nightmare. The direct
drive ones aren't so bad; I would first check the contacts and make sure the
control board knows where the arm is. Get the service manual, they are out
there!

Note that these do have audible cogging and some arm issues; Paul Stamler's
putty trick might help.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[PStamler]

On Jan 18, 1:43*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Note that these do have audible cogging and some arm issues; Paul Stamler's
putty trick might help.

With the arm, not the cogging!

For those who haven't encountered it, the putty trick is to wrap a
thin donut of Mortite, 3M Strip-Calk, or plumber's stainless putty
around the tonearm's shaft. If you do one halfway down the shaft and
another 1/3 of the way from the headshell to the pivot, it helps damp
down nasty resonances. You don't need much putty; if you make the
donut from a piece of unstretched Mortite (about 4mm in diameter)
then, once it's on the arm, flatten it out, you'll be fine. Of course,
the added weight will mean you need to reset the tracking force.

This won't be necessary on a really good tonearm, but on a less
stellar one it can help a lot with damping nasty resonances.

Peace,
Paul

[William Sommerwerck]

...the putty trick is to wrap a thin donut of Mortite, 3M
Strip-Calk, or plumber's stainless putty around the
tonearm's shaft.

Better make sure it can't fall off while the record's playing...

[PStamler]

On Jan 18, 3:36*pm, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
...the putty trick is to wrap a thin donut of Mortite, 3M
Strip-Calk, or plumber's stainless putty around the
tonearm's shaft.

Better make sure it can't fall off while the record's playing...

As long as it's a closed ring with the ends firmly joined together,
and the ring is pressed firmly against the shaft and flattened out, it
won't fall off. At least, the ones I've put on never have, and one of
them's been in place for 15 years.

If you're really paranoid put the gap at the bottom of the ring; then
you'll have some help from gravity. But you won't need it.

Peace,
Paul

[Harry Lavo]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
david correia wrote:
I got a mint Dual 621 turntable with a Grado cartridge that sounds fine.
The tone arm is supposed to be fully automatic. But it no longer moves
over to the beginning of the record when starting it, nor does it move
back to the right when it lifts at the end of a record. It will just go
up and down. It plays as a manual TT, but I want it fully automatic
again.

How much of a pita is this to fix??

It's probably not anywhere near as bad as the older idler-drive duals
where
everything was mechanical. They were just a horrible nightmare. The
direct
drive ones aren't so bad; I would first check the contacts and make sure
the
control board knows where the arm is. Get the service manual, they are out
there!

Note that these do have audible cogging and some arm issues; Paul
Stamler's
putty trick might help.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Actually, if you like the TT but don't want to bother with the fix, look for
a 701 or a 601. The 701, Dual's first and flagship Direct Drive, had a
massive platter that overcame cogging, and a better, extra-long tonearm.
The 601 featured moderately-heavy platter and a belt drive, and if
well-mainained is an excellent turntable. Both are semi-automatic
turntables and therefore are simpler than automatic Duals. However, be
forewarned that almost all Duals will need some attention to their
auto-mechanisms sometimes during their lifetime.

[Scott Dorsey]

Harry Lavo wrote:
Actually, if you like the TT but don't want to bother with the fix, look for
a 701 or a 601. The 701, Dual's first and flagship Direct Drive, had a
massive platter that overcame cogging, and a better, extra-long tonearm.
The 601 featured moderately-heavy platter and a belt drive, and if
well-mainained is an excellent turntable. Both are semi-automatic
turntables and therefore are simpler than automatic Duals. However, be
forewarned that almost all Duals will need some attention to their
auto-mechanisms sometimes during their lifetime.

Attention that will probably involve an incinerator or trash compactor....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."