An Automatic Turntable Rescue

    I found this Direct Drive Fully Automatic Onkyo turntable (CP-1027F) at Good Will last week. This was manufactured from 1981 to 1983. I know I sound like a broken record (player), dad joke, but vintage electronics really don't get put out on the GW's store shelves anymore. They typically go straight to GW's online auction site which I dare not speak its name.

    I thought it was weird that the hinges for the scuffed and cracked dust cover were missing. The turntable mat and the 45 RPM adapter were also AWOL, but none of these were deal breakers. 

    I plugged the player in the store's test outlet, and the light next to the Power button lit up. That was a good sign.

    

    When I pressed the Play/Reject button, the player hummed for about five second and then shut down. Pressing the Cueing button did nothing. These are not good signs.

    The platter began to spin when I manually moved the tonearm toward the spindle. The speed also changed when I pressed the 45/33 button. Also, the cartridge and stylus were intact, so I could do test runs without spending risky cash on those. Okay, now we were onto something. 

        I could have a maybe-working manual turntable for $17 ... Why not? Sold!

    The turntable's base needed cleaning, but it wasn't that bad.  

    I removed the bottom cover after giving the base a wipe down. This is the mechanism that controls the tonearm's movement (or lack thereof).

        My guess was that old grease was keeping the auto-functions from working. A thread on Vinyl Engine supported this idea. 

    The red gear in the middle is my problem. That, and the sliver e-clip that holds it in check. Both were frozen in place, and that explains why the Play button was making nothing happen. The motor would try to turn its worm gear, and Red was having none of it. 

    I don't have a tool for removing tiny e-clips, so I bent this cheap fork to help me out. I thought I'd use it to pull the clip off its post, but I ended up pushing it off instead. 

    Whew. The clip went flying, but I found it.

    The red gear was really stuck on the post. I couldn't pull it off with my fingers, and I was afraid that pliers would damage the gear's teeth. I dropped oil down the gear's center hole and let that sit for 30 minutes. Then I used the fork "tool" to pry the gear up and off. I was lucky. The gear wasn't stripped and was easily cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. 

    I lightly greased the post and the other gears' teeth once the red gear was safely out of the way. Then the red gear and the clip went back in place. I'm not gonna lie. Getting the e-clip back in place without breaking or losing it wasn't fun. These clips go on hard.

    I wonder how long it's been since that tonearm moved on its own? It felt pretty good to see this thing in action. Yay!

    What didn't feel good was the audio test. Now I could only get sound out of one channel. Boo.

    I took things apart and looked around. I somehow had torn the red tonearm wire off of its solder point. It's been a minute since I've soldered anything, so I watched a few YouTube videos for a refresher course, and then reattached the wire (flux is your friend) to the spot marked "R+".  And we were back in business. Hello, stereo.

    

     This is where the automatic turntable should place the tonearm when I press the "Play"button.  

    When the music is over and the stylus has reached the run-out groove, this is where the tonearm should rise and return to the cradle. 

    My problem was that the tonearm might do that right, but often it was dropping the needle halfway into the first song, and then later it would endlessly ride the run-out groove until I hit "Reject". The service manual explains ways to adjust the lead-in and the auto-return positions, but they require cutting wires or soldering in jumper wires. I found a YouTube video with a simpler solution of bending metal and turning screws, but I decided to think about it more before doing either of those things. 

    If the tonearm movement was always misaligned, then I could see making adjustments. But it was right some of the time. I watched some YouTube videos of owners showing off their same models of this turntable, and I noticed something. My tonearm slightly wiggled horizontally when it was set in motion. Their tone arms were rock solid when they moved. 

    I began to suspect there was something wrong with the pivot assembly that guides the tonearm, but I didn't know how it was put together. I found a seller on eBay that was parting out a turntable like mine, and they had taken apart the piece I wanted to see inside of. So helpful! 

    Turns out there's not much going on in there, and the only reason I could see why the tonearm wiggles is that the screws that hold the tonearm in place were loose.

    There's a small lock screw in the middle of the larger screw.

    I have had this screwdriver set for decades. It's amazing how many times it gets used every year. I loosened the lock screws and then turned the larger screws in to tightened them. That got rid of the wiggle. I haven't had a problem with the auto-functions since, so I think that fixed that problem.

    I kept the price tag on in case I wanted to return the Onkyo. Now GW only extends refunds for store credit, but that's better than their old "no returns" policy.

    Ummm, yeah. I guess I'm keeping it.

        Cosmetically, the biggest offender was the dust cover. Cracks can't be hidden, but deep scratches can be lessened, and light scratches can sometimes be removed. The cover still isn't great, but it does look presentable. 

    Here's my plastic cleaning crew in order of use.

    The dust cover hinges on the Pioneer PL-4 that I keep at school fit the Onkyo perfectly. I ordered a pair from eBay, and that should solve my last problem.

    

    Parting shots and thoughts:

    The turntable mat and the 45 adapter are leftovers from a previous turntable project. I'm currently using a clear acrylic mat on the Technics I recused last year. This is still a $17 turntable as it sits today. The new hinges will push the cost to $56.76. That's still pretty good for working piece of audio history.

    If I do keep it, then I'll spring for a new stylus. There's a replacement on LP Gear for $56.25 (not counting tax and shipping). I might leave that purchase for the next owner.  Cartridges and styli are a matter of personal choice. 

    For now, I'll put it in my lineup and make sure it really is working well.  

    I'd like to thank the Onkyo for helping me get out of my February funk. Honestly, that short month is not my favorite.

    

    I think I'll use this slipmat. It works with that thick, silver platter.

Valentine's Day 2026: Group Photo

 

    Hey, not everybody loves Valentine's Day.

    1981's Canadian slasher My Bloody Valentine is good time, and I think I'll give that Blu-Ray in the middle a spin tonight since I'll have the house to myself.

    I probably wouldn't have bought the soundtrack on LP, but Waxwork Records slashed the price in half last Feb. 14, for a one-day-only sale. I thought that was pretty funny.

    For a long time the DVD on the left was the only way to see the uncut version of the film. Wow, this newer edit goes a lot harder than what I watched on HBO back in the day.

Unplanned Listening Parties

    I bought Tone Loc's Loc'After Dark on a whim. I thought it would be fun to hear "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Media" again, and that would be that. Nope. I listened to the whole album.

        I didn't have a choice.

    As soon as the first beats of "On Fire (Remix)" filled our basement, Ellie, our Great Pyrenees, sprinted down the stairs, tore around the corner, and sat right in front of where I was standing. She was wildly wagging her tail. I thought for sure she wanted to go out to the backyard to potty or play, but the tail stopped moving when I asked her.

    I rubber her behind her ears with both hands and asked, "What do you want then?" She stood up, walked over to my chair, and stole my seat in a single jump. 

     "You like this music?" 

    

    She thumped her tail once on the arm of he chair.

      I sighed and look the smaller chair next to her. She thumped the chair a few more times in thanks. Then she closed her eyes. For the next 50 minutes we enjoyed Tone Loc's gravelly raps.

    This has happened before. I knew I could move about the room as much as I wanted. I could even leave the basement. I just couldn't turn the music off. If I did, then she would slide off the chair, slowly walk out of the room looking at me from over her shoulder with her tail dragging on the carpet. Then she would go upstairs to pout. 

    It's quite a performance. 

    

    Also, I'm a pushover. 

    

    A couple of days later I gave John Mayall's USA Union LP a test spin. I brought this home from Goodwill because it was in decent shape and I thought it looked interesting. 

    No offense to the memory of the late "Godfather of English Blues," but I wasn't feeling his no-drum vibe. I was reaching for the tone arm when Ellie and our cat Bo quickly entered the room together.

    Ellie took my chair again, and Bo parked himself on the album's gatefold sleeve. I was stuck again. 

    

    I put my foot down after playing side two and moved onto a different record. Neither one minded. They were asleep. 

"Mixing It Up" with Vintage Electronics pt. 2

    Last summer I began watching the YouTube channel Born2beRad. While the host was talking about his favorite physical medias, I could see a small tube TV in the background silently playing a movie. I really liked the idea of placing a small TV/ DVD combo unit in the corner or on a shelf and playing random movies on mute. It's the media equivalent of a lava lamp.    

    I revisited my old haunts and came up empty handed.  After a few weeks of no luck, I decided to use what I already had at home.

    This trio is on a book case in our basement. I've written about the 13" Panasonic TV before. Char used to use it for playing Animal Crossing on the Game Cube and later on the 360. She has since moved on to the Switch. I like the Panasonic DVD player because when you first turn it on the words "Welcome to DVD World" scroll by on the display. I often say back, "Why, thank you." A friend at work gave me the JVC VCR. 

    

    I could use a blu-ray player with the CRT TV, but I'd have to change the player's output resolution to 480i and I didn't want to think that hard. DVDs look great on this old TV as it is.

    I had a lot of fun in December playing muted Christmas movies like How the Grinch Stole Christmas along with various Christmas LPs. It was like giving the film a new soundtrack.

    I probably would have kept these three in action for quite some time, but I think I found a replacement. I had an appointment last Wednesday, and that gave me a few hours to kill before I picked Char up from school. I got to go thrifting at time when I'm usually working. That's when I found this.

    It's an Emerson TV/DVD combo with a 9 inch screen, and it stands proudly at 12 inches tall. This CRT is exactly what I have been looking for. The size was right, the price was right ($15), and it had been well taken care of. The only problem was there was no remote. Usually this is a deal-breaker for me. Experience has taught me that buying the missing remote can easily cost three times what I paid for the player. This time I ignored my own rules of thrift.

    I discovered that if I played a movie and the DVD's menu selection was already highlighting "Play," then I'd be good to go. I could press the "Play" button on the unit, and the movie would fire right up. I was out of luck if anything else was highlighted on the menu. 

    Gemini universal remotes are my favorite solution in a situation like this. The remotes from this era have codes that even work with Laser Disc players for crying out loud. 

    Find what type of device you want to control (DVD), find the brand name you have (Emerson), follow the steps for entering the first code (241), and then press the power button the remote. If your device turns off you're golden. If not, then repeat these steps with the next code. 

    

    Pro tip: Try adding a 0 in front of the code number if none of the listed codes work. My correct code is 0247.

     It works!

    It took me awhile to discover that I had to press the "Menu" button twice before trying to navigate the DVD's menu. If I didn't, then I'd switch the screen from DVD to TV static and have to start all over and watch the introduction programing again. Irritating. 

    Using the Gemini remote did allow me to change the display language from Spanish to English. That was nice.

    So, I now had a basic, working remote for the TV. I could have stopped there, but I went shopping to see if I could find the correct remote. 

    See what I mean about finding the exact remote that you need being expensive?  It was time to do some more research.

    

    The CRT Database states that my CRT, "Requires a compatible remote with a "Picture" button in order to access picture settings (Emerson, Sylvania, Symphonic, Magnavox).

    Hmmmm... a "compatible" remote? Let's look for similar remotes from those other brands mentioned...

    

    To make a long story short, I bought a Magnavox remote for my Emerson TV.

     The Magnavox remote is a little discolored from age, but that's okay. So am I. And for once a remote was actually cheaper than the player's price (by ten cents). The button layout was exactly like the Emerson's. The function names were slightly different: "Standby/On" vs. "Power,"ect... but I had hopes this wouldn't be a waste of time. 

    It wasn't. Every button on the Magnavox eemote works with the Emerson TV. I'm stoked to have a fully working TV/DVD combo. Thanks, CRT Database!

It's another mixed match that works just fine.

"Mixing It Up" with Vintage Electronics pt. 1

    I like playing CDs with my old Pioneer CD player, but taking out the 6-disc magazine to play a single CD is a somewhat of a clunky process, but whatever. This image from the Pioneer manual can explain it better than I can.

   I spotted a solution while shopping online for another cartridge. Pioneer made a magazine the size of a 6-disc that would mimic the action of a single, sliding disc tray. Pretty cool.

    My new problem was that most online stores were sold out (see above), or the magazines for sale on eBay were too expensive. 

    While shopping I noticed that many 6-disc magazines looked alike despite being labeled with different company logos. I found a single disc magazine for a Denon CD player on eBay that looked like it would work, and it was quite a bit cheaper than a Pioneer one. 

    I asked AI if they could be compatible. 

    Sorry AI, but I didn't believe you. I bought the Denon one anyway.

    

    

    Here's the Denon in it's new Pioneer home. Fits like a glove.

    

    I like how enthusiastically the magazine ejects, "Pow! Here's your disc, friend!" It's the show after the show. 

    I suppose I could cover the Denon logo with paint or tape, but that would ruin the fun. Things don't have to be all matchy-matchy all the time.