No Sound from Turntable

sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
I just hooked up my used Technics SL1200-MKII and I am not getting any sound through my speakers. I can hear it on the turntable but not the speakers. This is my first turntable, am I missing something in the setup. I installed a cartridge hooked it up to my phono inputs on my receiver, grounded it, and nothing. No sound. Please help. I am going insane. Thanks.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Well, be sure to check the obvious stuff like: receiver is set to the phono input, receiver isn't muted, and all wire connections are secure.

I'd also double-check the connections on the cartridge. It would be my guess that maybe that isn't in securely enough and isn't getting the signal from the cartridge to the rest of the system.
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
Checked all those things. I checked all the connections on the cartridge and they are fully connected. I can hear music coming off the turntable but nothing through the speakers. I think I may have gotten a broken table and am not too happy about it. I guess thats what you get when you buy off ebay.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Hopefully one of the turntable gurus will see this thread and chime in. I'm sure that there are ways to troubleshoot this. I haven't used my turntable in well over a decade and haven't swapped out a cartridge in even longer, so I can't think of the steps to go through.

Sure, the turntable might not be working, or the cartridge, or the phono input on the receiver - but hopefully it's something relatively minor and easy to fix.

EDIT: By "I can hear music coming off the turntable...," are you talking about the sound coming from the surface of the record? That just means that the stylus is traveling through the grooves of the record - there could be an electrical disconnect anywhere between the stylus and the internals of the receiver to cause you to not get sound from the speakers.
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
Yes, the sound coming from the surface of the record. I think it is something with the wiring because it seems like the cartridge is working fine but the sound isn't traveling through to the rca cables. It seems like this could be grounds for returning the turntable right?
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Yes, the sound coming from the surface of the record. I think it is something with the wiring because it seems like the cartridge is working fine but the sound isn't traveling through to the rca cables. It seems like this could be grounds for returning the turntable right?
Well, the problem could be with the cartridge, though (if my memory of turntables is correct). That cartridge turns the vibrations of the stylus into an electrical signal (I think, but am too lazy to Google :)). So, if the cartridge isn't working properly, you end up with the same effect of not getting sound from your speakers.

You are hearing the sounds of the stylus itself vibrating, but that doesn't mean that the cartridge is fully working.
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
I suppose it could be the cartridge but I am skeptical because it is brand new. The turntable looks like it has been used but nothing to indicate it's been abused to the point of not working. The seller said that it had been tested and was working great. However, it did not ship with a cartridge so I am thinking the seller turned it on, saw it spin around and said that meant it worked fine. ebay sucks
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
Adam, btw, thanks for responding to my frustrated rants. I'm sure you understand the anger and frustration brough along with something like this.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Adam, btw, thanks for responding to my frustrated rants. I'm sure you understand the anger and frustration brough along with something like this.
No problem! I just hope that we can help you to get that working properly.

Something that you could try is to plug the cables from the turntable into the CD input on the receiver. That would be to check if the phono stage of the receiver wasn't working properly. The output from the receiver would be very quiet with that connection because it wouldn't have the phono pre-amp as part of the chain, but you should be able to hear something (although quiet) from the speakers if you were to turn it up.

Now I'm curious. I'm going to go in and take my turntable out of the closet and look it over.

EDIT: In case this is your first turntable (I haven't read all your posts on this, sorry), be sure not to plug some other component into the phono input on the receiver to try it out unless you start with the volume all the way down. If that phono input is working, it will pre-amplify the signal from your other component and it will be VERY loud.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
This is the cartridge that you got, right?



Make sure that you've got the four pins connected to the correct wires on the headshell (the front of the arm) and that the headshell is securely connected to the rest of the arm (to try to make sure that all electrical contacts are being made properly in that area).
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
Yup thats the one, I'm going to try your suggestions right now, brb.
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
Ok, phono input seems to work, it played music from my ipod. Tried plugging the turntable into the CD input, no sound from the speakers. I've checked the connections multiple times on the headshell, cartridge, and arm and everything looks good. This is my first turntable and so I'm just sorta winging everything here but it all looks good on the outside.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
You probably already have the owner's manual, but if not, the PDF file linked here is the one that Panasonic has listed for that turntable.

I'll look a bit and see if I can find info on other cable connections. You can get replacement arms and interconnects, so there might be diagrams of where those all get connected. Something might have come loose.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
I found some informative videos on YouTube from a gentlemen that shows how to fix various things on a 1200 and take it apart. I'm not suggesting that you take it apart just yet :D, but you might find it interesting and maybe helpful.

Here's one, but he has a number of them on there.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
Yeah, I don't think I want to go opening it up when I shouldn't be expected to fix it. The guy's ad said it was in good working condition. I think I'm going to have to try to return it. I rather find one in good working condition.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
I totally understand. I would suggest that you wait for (or PM) some of the turntable experts here before you go through the hassle of returning it. There might be some simple checks that you can do to see if it's the cartridge or the turntable, or maybe even some really easy fix.

It's a bummer to get a new toy and have it not be working, especially on a long weekend. On the flip side, imagine how elated you'll feel once you have a working turntable! :)
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
I just hooked up my used Technics SL1200-MKII and I am not getting any sound through my speakers. I can hear it on the turntable but not the speakers. This is my first turntable, am I missing something in the setup. I installed a cartridge hooked it up to my phono inputs on my receiver, grounded it, and nothing. No sound. Please help. I am going insane. Thanks.
Don't know about your receiver and didn't check on line but are you sure it has the right inputs for a TT and the right kind of cartridge? There are two kinds used, one has even lower output than the other so the receiver has to have the phono amp stage built in, or, even an external phono amp may be needed. Also, since this is going back in time, the receiver may still have a phono input without having a phono amp built in.
Then the wiring path as was discussed.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Also, since this is going back in time, the receiver may still have a phono input without having a phono amp built in.
I checked. That receiver has a phono amp built in, so it should be good to go with that turntable.
 
sgtpepper9

sgtpepper9

Audioholic
My receiver has a built-in phono amp. In the manual it says to plug it into the Phono Input unless using a turntable with it's own amp, then to plug it into the CD input.
 
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