Sony PS-X7 direct drive, slipping at 33 RPM


After a recent move, I set up my vinage bedroom system and fired up a Pavoratti LP on the PS-X7 (circa late '70s). After about 4 songs I was immediately surprised to hear the platter start to drag. It followed a slight pattern; drag a noticable step down in pitch, then back to nomral, step down, then back to normal. You could see the strobe lose its steadiness. I immediately switched it to 45 RPM's and it held rock solid. Then switched it back to 33 RPM's only to have it once again slip. I powered down the unit and fired it back up, then let the platter spin for about a half hour. I then put on another LP and it ran fine. The Pavoratti LP was clean and had only been played about twice.

Am I in for trouble in trying to service this table? It's built like a tank.

Footnote: the house has 200 amp service, and the room (and power lines) were renovated and upgraded in the late 90's.

I look forward to your remarks.
Best Regards,
judsauce

Showing 1 response by lewm

One more thing. All the electrolytic caps in your turntable electronics are likely to be as old as the table itself. Thirty plus years is ancient for an electrolytic capacitor. It is quite possible that one or more of these caps is leaky, which could cause weird malfunction, such as what you are experiencing, or could result in the destruction of an irreplaceable IC or transistor. I suggest you consider replacing all the electrolytics. New ones of much higher quality than those available in the 70s are cheap. If you don't know how to solder, get someone to do it for you. It does not require a lot of deep thought.