Technics SL-D3 Turntable

[Ray P]

I seem to have projects coming out of my ears at the moment! The same neighbour who gave me the Celestion Ditton speakers has now gifted me a Technics SL-D3 direct drive turntable, dating, like the Celestions, to the 1970s/1980s. The turntable seems well regarded from the online commentary I've found.

I have checked it and everything still functions correctly. It needs a really good clean and has some marks on the plinth from use but overall it seems in very good condition. It has a Technics EPC-270C cartridge installed, which I guess is original, that seems to get positive comments on Vinyl Engine and there are replacement styli available, including aftermarket elliptical versions (standard is spherical). Later, I'll take the bottom off for an internal clean and to check the main PCB.

It came with a lid, but the hinges are broken and it's a bit scuffed, but they can be addressed.

[Ray P]

I had a peek under the hood and decided on discretion so have ordered some replacement capacitors - it'll be a tedious task but necessary i think.

[Nick]

Why is it necessary as I thought you said it was functional?

[Ray P]

Why is it necessary as I thought you said it was functional?

It's functional but from what I have been able to see (without stripping everything down) I have some reservations about the state of a couple of the electrolytic caps, so I thought it might be best for longevity to swap them out. I need to do some other tweaking on the PCB as the strobe speed control adjustment is right at one end of its travel but I understand you can re-centre it by adjusting a preset on the PCB.

[Ant]

Give the pots a really good spray with servisol first, i found on the sl150 that the pots were actually fine, just awfully grotty because they hadnt been twiddled in years. I actually quite like the 150. Not sure where it actually is at the moment

[Ray P]

The Technics SL-D3 is a pretty reasonable turntable.

I've replaced all the old electrolytic capacitors with a mixture of modern electrolytics and Wima film caps (for values of 1uF or less). Given the pitch potentiometer and speed select switch a good clean with Deoxit, and I've done a general clean-up of the autoplay mechanism.

Everything functions correctly and pitch is very stable (I left it running without a record for two hours and there was no drift). I've played a few LP tracks through my test system and it sounds OK, so there's good promise for use within a decent system - it's going to replace the Dual in my niece's system as playing an LP at the push of a button appeals to her!

I've ordered an aftermarket elliptical stylus for it, which should be here next week.

The only other jobs needed are a repair to the lid hinges and the lid could do with a polish.