[Jerome]

I just unpacked my Dual 604 turntable after a few years of storage. I had
locked it down and everything, but I think I locked down the tonearm with
the lift-lever in the up position. Now the tonearm won't go down when I use
the lever. The lever just springs back to the up position and the tonearm
doesn't budge.

Can I fix this myself?

[Mark D. Zacharias]

Jerome wrote:
I just unpacked my Dual 604 turntable after a few years of storage. I
had locked it down and everything, but I think I locked down the
tonearm with the lift-lever in the up position. Now the tonearm won't
go down when I use the lever. The lever just springs back to the up
position and the tonearm doesn't budge.

Can I fix this myself?

Usually some sort of lubrication issue. Dual mechanisms are generally not
for the faint - of - heart, although IIRC the 604, a later model, may not be
too bad.

It's possible that the silicon-damped cueing cylinder needs to be
disassembled and repacked, although if there was a problem here it would
more often manifest itself with a lack of damping (going down too fast)
rather than your symptom of not lowering at all.


Mark Z.

[Jerome]

Mark D. Zacharias wrote:

Jerome wrote:
I just unpacked my Dual 604 turntable after a few years of storage. I
had locked it down and everything, but I think I locked down the
tonearm with the lift-lever in the up position. Now the tonearm won't
go down when I use the lever. The lever just springs back to the up
position and the tonearm doesn't budge.

Can I fix this myself?

Usually some sort of lubrication issue. Dual mechanisms are generally not
for the faint - of - heart, although IIRC the 604, a later model, may not
be too bad.

It's possible that the silicon-damped cueing cylinder needs to be
disassembled and repacked, although if there was a problem here it would
more often manifest itself with a lack of damping (going down too fast)
rather than your symptom of not lowering at all.


Mark Z.

Thanks for the response. The problem seems to be in the "cueing-helper", a
feature that provided a tonearm "stop" for 33- and 45-rpm discs. If I turn
it off I can cue manually, or I can place the tonearm with it on, which
keeps the arm up, and then turn it off to let the tonearm drop. So I think
the problem is in the drop-lever mechanism - it is spongy and has no effect
on the height of the tonearm at all. I got the Service Manual PDF tonight
and will have a look.