Vintage Turntable maintenance/repair - know anyone in Eastern ON who does it?

[Oddmott]

So, I picked up a used Dual 506 2 weeks ago. It worked great in the seller's home, and it worked great when I tested it at my place as well.

However, once I moved it to its permanent location, the L-channel would periodically cut out. A light wiggle of the wires and it would return.

Then, after about 4 days of this, the L-channel cut out completely and won't come back. I've isolated the issue as being somewhere with the turntable (by swapping L & R on both my receiver's phono & tape inputs), but can't figure out where/why.

Turns out the Duals are a little bit odd-bally and I'd really like to just take it to somebody with some level of experience greater than my own. Doesn't even have to be a business, just an experienced hobbyist would be great.

Please let me know if you know of anybody within 100ish kms of Ottawa!

[northernontario]

I'm guessing a bad solder joint. Are you comfortable with a soldering iron? Pop the covers off and check the joints, touch them up with a little solder.

[Oddmott]

I'm guessing a bad solder joint. Are you comfortable with a soldering iron? Pop the covers off and check the joints, touch them up with a little solder.

Haven't soldered, ever. But it doesn't look that difficult. I found a local guy who is a pro electrical engineer who is also a turntable hobbyist. He's touching it up for me.

I have another question for the audiophiles here - i know there are more than a couple - I want to make a nice wooden plinth for my Dual 506 as the plastic stock one is pretty beat up and none too attractive even when it was new.

Are there any woods deemed optimal to build these with? I'm assuming something quite dense/dead to reduce any vibrations/hum/tone to the TT/tonearm would be best... but i don't know which woods have those properties...

[sawbill]

I can tell you which woods are dense--maple, ironwood (hop hornbeam) yellow birch are the most common.
Oak, ash and elm, while heavy are ring porous so you might lose consistency of sound travel.
Pines, spruces and cedars are light so stay away from those.

[jaycee]

You would have to get this at an Exotic Wood Dealers , African Ebony ,Ebony is a dense black hardwood, most commonly yielded by several different species in the genus Diospyros. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely-textured and has a very smooth finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood.

there is a dealer in Cambridge On. and one in Burlington On. you can google both under exotic wood dealers.

Another possibility is by making your plinth out of a slab of Granite or Marble, nothing denser than that , it all depends on how much you want to spend.