I sort of destroyed a part of my spouse’s beloved turntable, and I’m trying to figure out whether it’s salvagable, but I don’t know a damn thing-- terminology or anything.
So, I have a broken object here: there is a bit with a needle and the surrounding stuff (“cartridge”? I’ll call it the ‘hand’) that attaches with screws into another larger bit (“wrist”) that plugs into the turntable’s arm. Four wires go from the, um, hand part to the wrist part. The wrist part, right next to where it plugs into the arm, is what is broken. The plug is circular more or less, with 6 holes arranged in a ring and one in the center. The hand’s name is Denon DL-60 and belongs to a Denon 51F turntable. The wrist just says Denon.
Where would I get one of these? Are there a variety of compatible ones? Is this a standard generic type that can be replaced with something that is being produced now, or will I need to buy an expensive old part? Is this part not really available without whole turntables (I know spouse sighed loudly and grimaced when he noticed this, and never attempted to find a replacement)? Will I just need to be careful with some superglue?
thanks!
How old is the turntable? How bad is the break–will it balance OK if you fasten it with glue?
Here is a link to an authorized Denon service place http://www.audio-services.com/ Click on Parts and Accessories and it has a form to request replacement parts.
Does it look like this? A headshell: http://needledoctor.fastcart.com/showitem.cfm?catnum=21&parentcatnum=0&itemnum=546 This says it fits most straight-arm turntables.
Is it actually broken? The headshells of most nicer turntables are supposed to be removeable (in which case, you better not glue it on because hubby may want to change the headshell some day and will be royally pissed to discover that somebody glued it on!).
If you notice in the picture gigi’s link, the wires aren’t really broken, they have little metal sockets that fit over the pins of the cartridge, so you may have just pulled them loose. The whole headshell probably slides on the tone arm and secures with a thumbscrew.
The hardest part will be balancing the tone arm after you’ve got it back together. The proceedure for balancing varies widely from one make/model to the next.
Ah, yes, it is the headshell! That’s exactly it. The dark plastic large chunk just broke straight through, up above the wires, not in the socket. It is removable (I have removed it, in fact); it is also broken. It is, indeed, broken. I may be clueless, but. . .
I’ll try the superglue first-- I’ll let you know how it works out. Great to know that it’s a replacable part. Thank you!
Ummm… I’m not a golden ears but if the records you play are valuable you may want to be careful. If the previously pre-set mounting angle on the tonearm - headshell- cartridge assembly is changed by the glue job the needle will possibly track quite differently and may score the vinyl where it has been previously untouched.
If it’s just the headshell that’s broken replace it instead of gluing it. They are generally not that expensive and generic headshells are readily available. Depending on what happened to break the arm (ie if cartridge was impacted) you may also need to replace the cartridge even if it looks OK.
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