Technics 1200 turntable cable replacement

A friend of mine has two Technics 1200 MK2 turntables, and the RCA plugs were damaged when someone removed them by the cables instead of the plugs. One of the ground cables was also cut short, and the other was in rough shape.

Here are the steps I followed to replace the cables on both turntables. Click any of the images to view in full size.



Remove the slipmat to expose the platter. Lift the platter directly up by the two holes to remove it from the spindle (one of the platters came out attached to the spindle... I'm not sure why but it still works fine so I didn't worry about it). Secure the tonearm and place a cover on top of the turntable.


Flip the turntable upside down so it's resting on the top cover. Unscrew each of the four feet to remove them, and then remove the screws that hold rubber bottom cover in place. There are a few different types of screws so I kept them arranged exactly as they are when installed.


Remove rubber bottom cover by gently prying it off with your fingers.


Remove strain-relief from cables by prying side latches with a small flat-head screwdriver. Remember to pay attention to how the cables are routed and how the strain-relief pieces are oriented because you will have to route the new cables through here.


Remove the circular metal plate by unscrewing the two screws, and then carefully slide it off the cables to expose the internal electronics.


Snip the cable tie to free the cables. Carefully unsolder the cables, and remember to pay close attention to where each is connected on the printed circuit board. Red is the right channel and white is the left channel. The shielding is negative and the center conductor is positive. Clean the pads using a copper wick or a desoldering pump.


In addition to replacing the RCA cables, I chose to also replace the ground cable. The old one was desoldered from the metal tab and pried off using forceps, using care to leave the ground cable coming from the tonearm intact. In the image you can see the cable from the tonearm still attached, while the external ground cable and the RCA cables are all detached.


I had some RCA cables available that I chose to cut in half. They have gold plated connectors and I cut them slightly longer than the originals to allow for more options when situating the turntables among other DJ gear. Since these are not brand new I decided to measure the resistance of each conductor.


The measurements confirmed the cables were solid. I also opted to check the fit of the plugs on her DJ mixer to make sure they wouldn't be too loose. The ground cable I used was the same length as my replacement RCA cables, and it was slightly larger than the original to minimize breakage, which was a problem with the original ones. I verified that it was still small enough to easily fit two through a typical ground connector on a DJ mixer.


The ground wire was pulled through the hole in the metal tab and soldered to the tab. The audio cable and ground wire were then secured to the PCB with a zip-tie. This holds them in place for easy soldering. All 5 wires are re-soldered in the right-hand image below.


After all wires are re-soldered, the cables are fed back through the metal plate, which is re-attached with two screws. Now the strain-relief needs to be re-attached, leaving just enough slack in the cables such that they aren't pulling on the zip-tie. The strain-relief is screwed to the metal plate with two screws. It is important to insert the bottom of the strain-relief with the correct side facing up. At first I couldn't get it to lay flat against the plate, then I finally realized I had the bottom piece upside down.


Finally I could replace the bottom cover and secure it with all of the screws. The feet were also screwed back in place. Put the platter and slipmat back on, and connect the new cables to a mixer for testing. There was no hum (ground works) and I had a clear signal of equal volume in both left and right channels--SUCCESS!


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Lenovo customer support

I have a ThinkPad X61 Tablet and a few days ago the hinge suddenly became very loose. It still worked, but even the slightest movement would cause the screen to fall completely open or shut, and I noticed a separation of the two sides of the screen bezel, which also functions as the hinge in that area.



Luckily I opted for a two-year warranty (knowing this was a tablet and there was a significant chance something would work loose near the hinge!) and I purchased the tablet in September of 2007, so I have three months of coverage remaining.

When I finally got around to contacting Lenovo business support, the man on the phone was very helpful, and he understood exactly what my issue was. They overnighted an empty box (with foam padding) that day. The next day I received the box, packed the laptop inside, and dropped it at the nearest UPS center with the pre-paid label attached.

To my amazement, I received the laptop the very next day! The hinge was repaired at least as good as it was when new, and they even replaced the rubber screw covers that had fallen out during the past year.

This isn't meant to come across as blind love for Lenovo, but after this positive experience I will definitely be purchasing another ThinkPad when the time comes to upgrade. Many people say the build quality has gone down since Lenovo took over the ThinkPad brand, but the only thing that changed is the name. I do think my X61 is slightly more durable than the T61 (now T400) that we use at my company, but they're all put together better than the majority of laptops that are available. Apple is the only brand I've seen that feels as solid as the ThinkPad X series, but the X200 fulfills my needs better in a package that I prefer.

My rant is over. Maybe this will help someone who is trying to decide on what new laptop to purchase.

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First post!

This blog will be used as a repository for my thoughts on all topics of life that interest me, including technology, entertainment, politics, health, gardening, cooking, animals, cars, and social interaction. That seems broad but I doubt it covers nearly half of what will end up here. Read more!