I have four of these turntables and I love working on them. I have renovated and repaired them all to a standard where they all look as if they have just left the factory. Don't understand your frustration at all, they are great, I love them. Just because you do not have the knowledge or the patiencience to work on this turntable does not make it bad. OK you do not like it but there are plenty of other people out there who do. Many of the problems you were having were to do with the 45 year old electronics. You made no attempt to look at the circuit board or replace any of the ancient electrolytic capacitors, this is one of the first things I would have done.
Since I work on so many other (simpler) tables, I am not a fan of the design…similar to Dual turntable design. Unnecessarily complicated in my opinion. This one is still sitting in the shop…not a very popular table with consumers it seems. We’ve sold dozens of Technics, Pioneers, and even two Mitsubishi tables ahead of this abomination :)
I had this turntable but I stopped using it, I was using penny's to keep it turning, then that stopped working. I looked inside and all the lights are working but the contact for the end sticks is what I thing the problem is. Not fixed using a gum wrapper to make 33 stay on.
Here in Europe and specially here in The Netherlands Philips vintage turntables sell for big money. They are so well engineerd and far ahead of their times. Not only they look great, they can compete with brands back in the day that sold their decs for much higher prices. I own a AF-729 Mark II for years now and upgraded the 401 stylus elyptical with a 401 shibata, The cartridge is much cheaper than similair AT or Ortofon shibata ones but sound so much better / natural. The only downside of old Philips turntables is that most of them has a plastic cover underneath that will bend over time, I put some feet from another turntable underneath it to raise it and make the table level. Greetings from The Netherlands.
Check out the needle cartridge business in either Henderson nevada or Las Vegas I forget .I think the name is needle guy or something , I ordered several different cartridges of different types and brands with a bunch of back up needles a couple years ago , awsome service and they work with the companies designing there house brand stuff which is super .
I use LPGear quite a bit. The problem is that there is a high markup so I only use them for more expensive carts/styli. For entry level carts I try to source them as inexpensively as possible.
Would you sell the dust cover? Have nearly finished the struggle with the 312 (same crap, different pile) Personally, I learned a lot watching all of your videos on the 212. I appreciate the time you invested. Thank you!
You loosen screw #11, which is the lock screw. Once you loosen 11, you can then adjust screw #22 in or out to set the correct shutoff location. The return too #11 and tighten ti lock in the adjusted setting. Btw, I couldn't disagree more re your negative comments on the 212. These are great turntables, evidenced by the popularity and high resale value they and the 312 still command.
Not sure of your location, but I’ve only come across one, and we can’t give it away at the shop. Not sure where they are popular and command high prices. Several on eBay for less than $150 shipped currently.
Thx for the reply, and thx for your video. There are a few current listings out here in Portland right now. One for $350, one for $400 on CL (doubt they will sell for that); up in WA, one for $150, one for $250 ON FB. Saw a couple go recently for $200. The few I have sold or traded got $175-200 no problem. Personally, I wouldn’t pay more than $150 for a good clean one w/ a decent cart and cover. But these go fast like that. There are plenty of parts units that have been beat up for cheaper ($50-100). Philips sold so many of them over the decades there are lots out there. But in my experience they remain relatively popular because of their unique styling with the touch buttons, nice suspension, the industrial MCM look, and relatively small size. Folks on Audiokarma and VinylEngine seem to love them. As you noted in your video, they do have some unique quirks that frustrate some folks: the head shell sled, the touch buttons, the photo-trigger auto stop and a few others. So maybe they're not for everyone. But when I see one that looks repairable I usually grab it, and I always keep one in rotation. Most important, they sound good. Thanks again for posting your video. It was helpful for me.@@millervintagehifi3034
I had a similar auto stop issue with a Yamaha recently. I effed with it for several days, before just tearing it down for parting out on eBay. Funny enough, I saw one of the Philips tables again this morning on FBM and was like… nope.
