Hello, I recently recieved a used Technics SL-1200MK2 for Christmas, and I have been experiencing some....bad sound from it... On the first try with it, I hooked it up through a Mackie mixer going to an AMP and some Carvin PA speakers.. IT was VERY quiet, I had to crank the pre-amp all the way to the top to get it to sound even relatively normal of a volume. I also noticed, there was a complete abscence of BASS somewhere in the ballpark of 250-375HZ and below. (EEK!) I tried it with an old tube reciever, and still no go. There is also a slight lack of high frequencies probably starting to attenuate a bit at 9 or 10kHz.
Anyway, I'm wondering what would cause this? Would it be the cartidge? tone arm? something else? Maybe even the rca output cables (I've been meaning to solder higher quality ones than those nasty cheap things one of these days.)
Hopefully this is just a sign of a cheap, or in need of replacing cartridge, just using the one that came with it.
I'd appreciate any help anyone could give me on the subject. I'm relatively new to troubleshooting turntables.
Try running through the "Phono" section of the forum. This is a recurring problem and can have several answers. Browse through the past replies and see if you don't find your problem addressed and fixes provided.