HK t-60.....

Heyraz, I took your advice finally and mounted the Ortofon OM20 on the T55c. You were right, the Signet was a bad cart/tonearm match. It's playing Alan Parsons Vulture Culture right now, and no issues with acoustic feedback or footfalls - just sweet analogue sounds :)

Wayside-Glad to hear that worked out for you. When I first got my T60 I tried mounting a Micro Acoustics cartridge and it simply didn't work. It skipped all over the place and sounded terrible when it did track. That's when I learned about things like compliance and resonance. The Microrace tonearm is considered lightweight, so not all cartridges out there will work with it. The info from the Analog Depot really turned my head. All these years I had no idea how complex the mating of a cartridge to a tonearm could be.

One issue I am having, now that I'm using this TT more often, is speed accuracy and stability. It's running slow with the quartz lock, and the speed adjustment needs to be turned way up in non-quartz mode. According to the service manual, it needs a new motor pulley. I assume this is because the pulley has become smaller over time?

Also, the speed seems a bit wavery. My other deck is a Technics 1600MK2 so I'm used to rock-solid speed control. Any suggestions here?

Mark

Mark-
It's not the pulley, that's ridiculous. Even if it did wear away over time, that would not cause the occasional speed dips when out of quartz lock mode. Did the service manual actually suggest that? I would have suspected a bad belt before a pulley.
The problem you are having is because the electrolytic capacitors in the speed circuit have gone bad. I know this because the exact same thing happened to my T60 and T65C. I'm not sure if lack of use had anything to do with their degradation, in theory the electrolytic paste can dry out and depolarize if they sit around too long. But none of that matters now. The problem is fixable, I took care of my 2 units and now they run steady. I couldn't find a technician locally that would do the job reasonably, so I decided to do the job myself. The parts were cheap (less than $10) and as I was an electronics hobbyist as a kid, I was fortunate enough to have the skills.
A proper sized belt is also necessary, too loose and it slips, too tight and it pulls the platter towards the motor pulley.
The first thing I thought of when I saw your username was Wayside NJ. If that's where you live, I am nearby (Long Branch) and can give you a hand.
Good luck.
Rich