A newbie seeks help with his Beogram 1602 -- the tonearm won't lower, and the single button is iffy..

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NymanHowe Posted: Sun, Mar 4 2012 4:55 PM

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Hello all, I'm new to Beoworld, so I hope this request for assistance has landed in the right place; please forgive me if it hasn't.

Yesterday I was elated to find a Beogram 1602 TT at a thrift store for less than four dollars, complete with MMC 20 E cartridge. After setting it up at home -- and downloading the owner's manual -- it seems to have these problems:

- The tonearm won't lower. Specifically, the tonearm can lower when it's outside the platter, but as soon as it crosses a certain threshold near the platter, it becomes horizontal, never touching the record.

- The single button is a bit wonky. Only once have I succeeded in pressing "play" and having it stay down. I'm curious -- could this be related to the tonearm issue? Is it possible that the TT is stuck in some sort of "autoplay" setting gone wrong?

Any advice on these matters would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Nick.

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Dillen replied on Sun, Mar 4 2012 5:36 PM

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The button is not supposed to stay down.
Make sure the tracking force is set correctly (1.4 - 1.5 grams for your cartridge, I should say)
Press play and let the mech. do the rest.
What happens if you place a record on the platter and press play ?

Martin

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NymanHowe replied on Sun, Mar 4 2012 7:46 PM

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Thanks for the speedy reply.

The stylus pressure has been set correctly.

When I place a record down and press turn,
the platter turns for as long as I depress the button, then stops when I release.
The tonearm does not move at any point in the process, unfortunately.

Nick

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Dillen replied on Sun, Mar 4 2012 8:01 PM

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Sounds like you press "Turn" rather than "Play".
Press in the lower corner rather than the upper edge of the square.
A little "controlled" force is needed to "click" and activate the mech.

Martin

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NymanHowe replied on Sun, Mar 4 2012 8:11 PM

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YAY!!!!

It works!!!

Thank you!

Absolutely,
just pressing in the corner marked "33" was all it took...

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NymanHowe replied on Sun, Mar 4 2012 8:22 PM

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I should ask one final thing -- what is the procedure to listen to a particular album track? Do I press 33, wait for the needle to engage, and then move the tonearm manually to the band I want to hear, or could that damage the mechanism?

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Dillen replied on Sun, Mar 4 2012 8:37 PM

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Move the tonearm to the desired lowering spot by simply pushing it by hand, before you press "Play" (or "33")
to start playing from a certain position.

Press "Pause" (or"45") to pause playing, if the deck is already playing and you want to jump back or forth, then Play again.

Martin