Hey all, How are you doing? Ive just been given a Grundig KS 650 Radiogram. it turns on and powers up real nice and looks good. When I use the T/T it all works really well but the tone arm wont go onto the record. It lifts and goes across and lowers to a point and wont actually sit on the record. Any thoughts on this one? is there an adjustment for it somewhere? It does not have a weight on the end like other T/Ts so I figure it works with a lever electric set up. although I'm not a 100% sure. hope you can help.

I have one of these , what turntable is it ? Philips? The turntable needs a service and to be set up. let me know what brand is in it
The Philips ones are Rubbish ,but you can remove the old grease with a Hairdryer and then set up the adjustments ..Its mechanical

Mostly whats wrong with turntables is the old grease has dried and turned to soap ..So get a spray bottle and fill it with Kerosene and heat the underside of the turntable up with a hair dryer to activate the old grease , Then spray it with Kero and flush out the old grease. Dry it and put in new grease ...some options here , You want a grease that stays where you put it . Some people use Silicon grease, I tend to use any thick grease that is " Rubber Safe "" it will say on the packet. mUst be Rubber safe . So that's where you start and dont pull the turntable a part . If this does not fix it, then and only then do you adjust it , because I'm pretty sure you don't have the specs on that unit.

A lot of Philips stuff used Royal Dutch Shell Alvania 2: Do not leave any grease behind, mixing brands & type can (and I have seen it, plus CASA was having a blitz on it ages ago) Can cause the grease soap to solidify as different manufacturers us different chemicals to get spec.

I have seen and read about some BSR turntables where the platter welds to the spindle and hell and damnation will not free it. I use an Inox Grease that can be bought in 30g tubes. This is a food grade grease.

Hey vintage pete I believe it may be a phillips. It certainly looks like it and when I saw it I thought phillips straight away,even though it says grundig on the T/T. yes I thought it may just need a good clean. and definitely do not have any specs pete. it seems to work and wants too but just wont land on the record. It does look a bit messy in there so thats my plan clean clean clean. Then replace old grease with a good quality grease.Rubber safe. and marcc thanks for that I will make sure I leave no grease behind. Thanks guys.

G day ,, Yep just give it a good clean and grease. Actually those units are quite rare and sound very good, Often they are 6 or more speakers depending on what model you have ,PLUS FM ! ....The only real thing that's a turn off is those Chassis are very complicated if they have issues, beyond me those chassis .. But great power and the sound is high quality that's for sure ....Pete

Oki Doki heres where I'm at. So I fully cleaned the T/T out and re greased it and the tone arm now sits on the record quite nicely. These things are quite back to front when you have a look at them. Anyway I found down in its little egg carton packaging under the T/T its stacker spindle which I was hoping to find and did. Its the main reason why it does not sit at the wax beginning of the record and drops half way on the record. It needs to drop record to touch on the little record sizer at the top of the T/T to read where the tone arm needs to be. This is great. The record drops fine using the stacker spindle but when the record finishes it wont allow the record to come off. Its like its jammed or something and in fact if I try to lift record off it pulls spindle out as well. any ideas? Ive tried it in multiple positions but really it will only go and sit into platter centre hole in one position. It does sound great and its 3x speakers each channel.

Okay so the next question. It is a pretty awful odd T/T. Should I swap it over with a garrard that I have? The Garrard works beautifully the stacker works its got a brand new stylus on it, its in an old HMV music centre I have and I'm thinking to myself,Well why not change it over. It is a tad more modern than the Phillips T/T but will certainly give me trouble free music and it has manuals as well that are available. ????

Anything is better that a Philips TT and a Garrard is a bit better than anything!

Spindles wear out ! Or they get bent ! Check the Key in the Spindle is working and is assembled correctly Can you put a photo on of the Turntable so I can see what model it is ,, Send it too Brad Or give me the Model details and I will find it,,,, Pete

Oh and what model Garrard would it be involved in the swap over ?

This site wont let me upload pics. So I'm thinking the Garrard 6.300. Its in a HMV solid state music centre. It works really well. As for the original T/T I think I'm shot with it.

Unfortunately, that's what people think Regarding photos on this Site and I assume that's why there are very few photos on the site,
But you can upload photos here by sending them to Admin which Is Brad and he uploads them the old fashion way.
But never mind we dont need the pic ,, , The Garrard 6300 will play Records , Its not one of the better Garrards and was very common on cheaper units . Just check that plinth Hole will work for the Garrard and not stop the mechanicals. I think Shure make a Needle for that ,,N75b ,,But check it as people may have change Cartridge, It should be a Ceramic.

Pete

Oh I forgot , take care of the Braided wires from the Turntable to the Chassis,,Pain in the ass if you need to make new ones

IIRC, Brad is part way through providing a DIY image upload capability. I seem to recall some testing being done on that.

Meanwhile I suggest uploading them to imgur and then posting a link here.

This little project is on hold, as is pretty much any new development work. Unfortunately I just do not have sufficient time to give it my all. One day I may pay someone to finish the job for me but for now, e-mailing photos continues to be the best way to get photos on the site.

Yeh pete it is a ceramic. I'm thinking I may take the garrard and its plinth, and cut the plinth to size and slot it in that way and if necessary cut out a bit of the phillip plinth to suit. anyway I will check it out and let you know.

Brad how are you? I'm shane and anyway its a pity we cant just straight out upload pics but what can you do. I'm sure someone will get to it one day mate.

There are not a lot of 60s "" Good"" Turntables in Australia unfortunately, 70s and 80s yes , but not 60s . Mainly we were stuck with BSR Or Garrard and some Philips models. The good stuff was in Europe and the states and we were way behind in terms of sound quality.
Probably because of the cost, We were all a bit more Humble back then before the Real estate booms!! Even as early as 1962 Moving Magnet Cartridges where being sold overseas to suit their Turntables !!!
There is a few Garrard Zeros kicking about which are not too bad , I sold one a while back and I'm still regretting it ,but I was in need of the cash .
Garrard here in Oz would be the best pick of the wost bunch we have to pick from, Saying that though, I'm using a RC121 Garrard now and I have the Tracking weight down ... You can probably buy a Templet for the Garrard plinth if needed, I have seen them about the place on Ebay etc ..

Pete