[Harry Lavo]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
david correia wrote:
I got a mint Dual 621 turntable with a Grado cartridge that sounds fine.
The tone arm is supposed to be fully automatic. But it no longer moves
over to the beginning of the record when starting it, nor does it move
back to the right when it lifts at the end of a record. It will just go
up and down. It plays as a manual TT, but I want it fully automatic
again.

How much of a pita is this to fix??

It's probably not anywhere near as bad as the older idler-drive duals
where
everything was mechanical. They were just a horrible nightmare. The
direct
drive ones aren't so bad; I would first check the contacts and make sure
the
control board knows where the arm is. Get the service manual, they are out
there!

Note that these do have audible cogging and some arm issues; Paul
Stamler's
putty trick might help.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Actually, if you like the TT but don't want to bother with the fix, look for
a 701 or a 601. The 701, Dual's first and flagship Direct Drive, had a
massive platter that overcame cogging, and a better, extra-long tonearm.
The 601 featured moderately-heavy platter and a belt drive, and if
well-mainained is an excellent turntable. Both are semi-automatic
turntables and therefore are simpler than automatic Duals. However, be
forewarned that almost all Duals will need some attention to their
auto-mechanisms sometimes during their lifetime.