A lot of brand new buzzwords here. I'll read up on pre-amp's & a sturdy, mid-range turntable and let you know what my plans are before pulling out the tools.

There is a Philips here with a magnetic cartridge & it is floating as the set is back biased. The other trap is that it has DC blocking or it would wipe out the valve bias. It has circuitry to attenuate & match the input.

No, not a Philips turntable! Worse than the old BSR!! Particularly the truly execrable all-plastic ones!
Philips Australia would not use these in their own products! They mostly used badge-engineered BSRs.

I'd look for a late 60's DUAL as a drop-in, or maybe even a vintage DD or belt drive JVC.

Hi again! So I’ve bought a Pro-Ject T1 record player that I’m going to fit in place of the BSR changer. All well and good, should be pretty straightforward. But I’ve now cracked open the chassis for general cleanup & to check the volume knob which seems temperamental. I’ll attach some photos of my findings, but it seems the knobs contacts have tarnished(?) horribly. Do you reckon a bit of Copper cleaner would sort this out or are they too far gone?

Also, whilst I’m in here, what’s the verdict on checking/replacing capacitors & valves. The radio currently “works” (I’ve dialled in a frequency) but I don’t think I’ll be utilising the radio itself too often.

Thanks

Re the volume control, a squirt of CRC or similar is normally all you need.

Leaky wax paper caps might be making the volume control more sketchy than it should be.

ALL wax paper caps should be replaced with modern polyesters. Since the radio works already you shouldn't need to do anything else.

If there are plastic caps (e.g. Philips "mustards") in there, don't replace them, they will be OK.

Metal plated knobs ????? white Vinegar on the Knobs its only plated so if you use Brasso it will often take it all off ,,, A bit of white Vinegar on a rag or borrow the wifes toothbrush , That works well too ,,,, Pete

I’ve bought a Pro-Ject T1 record player

That's quite an expensive deck new, especially if it came with an Ortofon cartridge in it.

Based on that investment, I'd do a full resto, replacing any component that's out of spec. As always, wax/paper and electrolytics are top of the list.

Sorry disregard my last post ,I miss read your knob description .......Pete