There is a lot to be said for a good, classic turntable that works. The problem is that so many of them have quirky little problems that condemn them to life in a box in the attic. I've recently rediscovered the joy of restoring these little jewels in a couple of small projects.
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| An old Marantz 6100 that I put a good bit of time into in the past, and a recent repair job on a Dual 1246. |
The Marantz 6100 was one of my first turntables, and I put a lot of time and effort into it. I disabled the automated functions and removed some of the parts, overhauled the tonearm bearings and cable, and then installed Dynamat on the sub platter and inner plinth for resonance dampening. After that I put in a new motor and belt to complete the restoration.
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| Marantz 6000 Series are really sharp looking and well built. |
Overall, the Marantz is a very capable turntable with a full and rich sound. I used it for almost 2 years before passing it on to a friend. When his turntable got upgraded this one came full circle, back to me.
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| Marantz's early stock tonearm remains one of the better mass-produced arms available. |
The second project was the recent repair of a Dual 1246 for an acquaintance. While these are much more complex and have way too many moving parts for me, they also have a reputation for being some of the best automatic turntables around.
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| Dual 1246 - One of many excellent models from this maker. |
Mostly this turntable just needed lots of adjustments. The tonearm would no longer move into place when using the automatic start and stop, and the way the system is designed makes it difficult to use it manually. A couple of hours, and a few Google searches later got this back up and running like a champ.
