Very nice Sony PS-212 having speed problems

[saxonviolons]

Hi everyone. I purchased a beautiful Sony PS 212 direct drive turntable from the 70's for a great deal, but have been having an issue with the speed that it spins. This model has the red light on the left to check the timing of the RPMs according to the ticks on the platter. Picture below.

Now maybe I understand incorrectly, but I believe the ticks are supposed to stay SOLID based on the Hz (which is 60 in the US) and the selected speed. So in this case I keep my eye on the TOP line for 45, and the 2nd to top line for 33, and adjust the tone until the ticks look like they are not moving. Does anyone disagree?

I cannot for the life of me adjust the tone enough to get the platter to spin at the correct speeds. I've taken off the bottom, cleaned up the tone knob, sprayed it with electrical cleaner, cleaned the speed knob, sprayed it with electrical cleaner. This is the only solution I've seen online, and it's done nothing to fix the problem.

My last guess is that the knobs aren't working, the electrical components are too old, or the motor is shot. Does anyone have any experience fixing or having this (or similarly calibrated) type of record player? Maybe if they're prone to stop working, is there some way to fix it so it works? This machine has really been treated well, it's in very nice condition, so it's not like it's been beat up, and I like it A LOT. It's fully automatic, I love the look of the timing light and the spinning platter it looks old school, but is very cool.

Unfortunately if I can't find a way to fix it I'm going to have to send it back and get my money back to eventually find one that works. I don't want to because this one is so nice, but there's no way I'm just going to have the thing sitting around taking up space if I can't play my records on it.

If any of you have any ideas or can help, or can atleast give me an idea of what goes wrong with these things so I'm not completely in the dark, please let me know. I have a little less than 14 days to return it to the seller to get my money back, so time is of the essence.

Many many thanks.

[saxonviolons]

Alright just for future reference for anyone who googles this problem and comes upon this forum. If you have this Sony PS-212 turntable and want to adjust the tone but can't find any other sources for information, I found this and it seemed to help.

http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=49905

Question in case link gets broken:

"I am running out of adjustment for the 33rpm control on the deck. I have noticed that the motor control board underneath has two sets of adjustable resistors - RV1/RV3 and RV2/RV4. Anbody know if these are related to the speed controls on the top of the deck and if so which one does what?"

Answer:

"those variable resistors are for adjusting speed. RV1 and RV2 are for 33rpm; RV2 and RV4 are for 45rpm. RV1 and RV3 are the "customer adjustments" accessible to the user, while RV3 and RV4 are for service personnel. Set RV1 and RV3 to their center positions, then adjust RV2 and RV4 for correct speeds using the strobe.

If you feel up to it, you might plan on changing out all the electrolytic capacitors on the board in the future. If your GT35P runs at constant speed, you're OK for now, but as one or more of the capacitors age, you will first hear flutter, followed by extreme speed instability. I haven't figured out which one is the culprit; I've just replaced all of them."

So I adjusted all 4 of these knobs, put the RV1 and RV3 to "center" and adjusted RV2 and RV4 accordingly and "wah lah!" my 33 RPM speed is now perfect. Unfortunately my 45 RPM speed won't go fast enough no matter how much I adjust it. I am returning the unit because I'm not going to deal with a non-working unit as soon as I get it. I'm also not going to start putting money into, as well as unsoldering and soldering a 35 year old unit. Just not worth it to me.

Sorry for the long winded double post, just wanted to get a solution out there for anyone in the future.