On 17/02/2015 1:04 AM, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77. I know there are Denons,
Thorens etc. around but I have a budget...

Here's why I chose it:

The price was right! I've seen them on sale for £120+ and another Dual
505 on Ebay for 'spares or repairs' went for £60 just after I snagged mine.

**The 505 was a disaster. You WILL be sorry. The 505-1 & 505-2 ,etc were
brilliant. The original 505 was a fine turntable with an extremely
crappy 'headshell'. They ALL fail. New headshells have not been
available for a very long time. Before supplies completely dried up, I
had seen them sell for as much as US$40.00 each! The only potential
replacements I've seen recently appear to be 3D printed ones. eBay
sellers have them at around US$20.00 ~ $25.00 each. They look very
flimsy and I doubt they will last. The subsequent 505 models used a far
superior headshell, which doesn't fall apart.

I wish you had consulted us before you purchased.


A reputation for solid, long lasting performance. Made in Germany before
manufacturing went to China in 2000.

**Dual was sold to Thorens. AFAIK, Thorens is still made in Germany.
They still use some of the Dual items in their turntables.


Unlike the 506, the headshell will take standard cartridges which brings
me to..

It has a M55E cartridge which the seller tells me was recently fitted.

Comes with Dual's ultra low mass tone arm.

With manual and in original packaging.

Support and spares such as belts seem to be readily available, although
the seller says he isn't aware of any issues.

**The drive belt is easy. They can be sourced from a variety of sellers.
The speed control belt is not so easy to source, but that is not a major
problem. The headshell, OTOH, IS a major problem.


I see a few people doubting if vinyl--digital is worth it. Rationally,
I'm not sure either but I think it will be fun trying.

**Fitted with a really nice cartridge, the Dual 505-2, 3, etc will
provide excellent results.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

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On 17/02/2015 7:11 AM, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 17/02/2015 1:04 AM, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77. I know there are Denons,
Thorens etc. around but I have a budget...

Here's why I chose it:

The price was right! I've seen them on sale for £120+ and another Dual
505 on Ebay for 'spares or repairs' went for £60 just after I snagged
mine.

**The 505 was a disaster. You WILL be sorry. The 505-1 & 505-2 ,etc were
brilliant.

**OOps. Should read: "The 505-2 & 505-3, etc...."

There never was a 505-1. It was just the 505.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

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On 16/02/2015 21:17, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 17/02/2015 7:11 AM, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 17/02/2015 1:04 AM, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77. I know there are Denons,
Thorens etc. around but I have a budget...

Here's why I chose it:

The price was right! I've seen them on sale for £120+ and another Dual
505 on Ebay for 'spares or repairs' went for £60 just after I snagged
mine.

**The 505 was a disaster. You WILL be sorry. The 505-1 & 505-2 ,etc were
brilliant.

**OOps. Should read: "The 505-2 & 505-3, etc...."

There never was a 505-1. It was just the 505.


Whatever, it was the first of the 505s.

As you will realise, it has a headshell adapter fitted to accomodate the
Shure cartridge.

So, why was this model 'a disaster' ?

On 17/02/2015 8:40 AM, Sumatriptan wrote:
On 16/02/2015 21:17, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 17/02/2015 7:11 AM, Trevor Wilson wrote:
On 17/02/2015 1:04 AM, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77. I know there are Denons,
Thorens etc. around but I have a budget...

Here's why I chose it:

The price was right! I've seen them on sale for £120+ and another Dual
505 on Ebay for 'spares or repairs' went for £60 just after I snagged
mine.

**The 505 was a disaster. You WILL be sorry. The 505-1 & 505-2 ,etc were
brilliant.

**OOps. Should read: "The 505-2 & 505-3, etc...."

There never was a 505-1. It was just the 505.


Whatever, it was the first of the 505s.

As you will realise, it has a headshell adapter fitted to accomodate the
Shure cartridge.

So, why was this model 'a disaster' ?


**The headshell falls apart IN EVERY SINGLE ONE. The headshells are NLA.

Send it back.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

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On 16/02/2015 21:58, Trevor Wilson wrote:


**The headshell falls apart IN EVERY SINGLE ONE. The headshells are NLA.

Send it back.


I see people discussing fitting of CS505-3 or later headshells. (Not a
trivial task, apparently) But my understanding was that this was related
to cartridge compatibility and an alternative to the adapter kits. I
haven't seen any online info on the early ones actually falling apart.
If you could point me to such info on the mode of failure I would be
interested.

From the photos, the adapter on this CS505 does not look pretty and
must add some mass and therefore may affect performance. I'll take a
good look when it arrives.

Of course there was a Dual CS 505-1.

Here's a link to an image of a genuine service manual cover: http://elektrotanya.com/PREVIEWS/634...05-1.pdf_1.png
Here's another link to further info: DUAL 505-1 Turntable
Here's a video clearly showing CS 505-1 on its model ID sticker and 505-1 on its serial number sticker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOt5UNFKds

Here's a link to a 505/506-1 service information sheet dated 1980: http://elektrotanya.com/PREVIEWS/634..._sch.pdf_1.png

Here's a link to an image for a CS 505 instruction manual: http://dual.pytalhost.eu/505/cs505_1.jpg

Printing errors aside, it may not be that far-fetched to assume there are worldwide variations which include models: 505, CS 505, CS 505-1, CS 505-2, etc.
Whatever the accuracy of this assumption, it's an inescapable fact you couldn't walk down Tottenham Court Road without tripping over a CS 505-1.

On 16/02/2015 14:04, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77.

Hi all,

More from a born again vinyl user..

When the tt arrived it was packed in the original Dual packing which
would have been fine, except the transit screws were not tightened and
the counterweight was left attached to the tone arm for transit. The 505
counterweight has a plastic stem, unlike later 505-x models. Sure
enough, it was broken and the weight was rattling around in the package.

The sender agreed to compensate me for purchase of a replacement if I
could locate one. A few messages at the Vinyl Engine forum resulted in this:

http://www.dualfred.de/

Alfred and his wife who run this shop in Munich have a large stock of
apparently new Dual and Thorens turntable parts. I saw the exact part I
needed on their website. It took a week to arrive and the brand new
boxed part is labeled 'Original Dual Zubehor'

As I don't have a fully functional preamp and the main point of this
exercise is to get some/all of my collection digitised I decided to
obtain a Behringer phono-USB UFO202 interface to quickly get up and
running.

I haven't done a proper setup yet apart from tracking weight adjustment
to try out the tt for basic operation. All seems well so far, after a
listen via Audacity...except for one issue. There is significant mains
hum which I haven't tried to fix yet.

And that's where I'm at.

I did rather fear for you. If you can't find a SIMPLE fix without
hacking things around, send it back as not fit for purpose.
Frustrating I know, when you're eager to get going, but you really
don't want the hassle of trying to fix a hum - to convince yourself,
read again what I had to do to get rid of the one on my old deck, you
really don't want to be going anywhere near there if you don't
absolutely HAVE to.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2015 20:09:31 +0000, Sumatriptan
wrote:

There is significant mains
hum which I haven't tried to fix yet.
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On 27/02/2015 7:09 AM, Sumatriptan wrote:
On 16/02/2015 14:04, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77.

Hi all,

More from a born again vinyl user..

When the tt arrived it was packed in the original Dual packing which
would have been fine, except the transit screws were not tightened and
the counterweight was left attached to the tone arm for transit. The 505
counterweight has a plastic stem, unlike later 505-x models. Sure
enough, it was broken and the weight was rattling around in the package.

The sender agreed to compensate me for purchase of a replacement if I
could locate one. A few messages at the Vinyl Engine forum resulted in
this:

http://www.dualfred.de/

Alfred and his wife who run this shop in Munich have a large stock of
apparently new Dual and Thorens turntable parts. I saw the exact part I
needed on their website. It took a week to arrive and the brand new
boxed part is labeled 'Original Dual Zubehor'

As I don't have a fully functional preamp and the main point of this
exercise is to get some/all of my collection digitised I decided to
obtain a Behringer phono-USB UFO202 interface to quickly get up and
running.

I haven't done a proper setup yet apart from tracking weight adjustment
to try out the tt for basic operation. All seems well so far, after a
listen via Audacity...except for one issue. There is significant mains
hum which I haven't tried to fix yet.

And that's where I'm at.

**The hum is likely to be one of the following:

* Dodgy RCA connectors/leads.
* Dodgy arm wiring (unlikely).
* Dodgy headshell (most likely).

If it is the headshell (the detachable bit that hold the cartridge),
send it back.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

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On Thu, 26 Feb 2015 20:09:31 +0000, Sumatriptan wrote:

On 16/02/2015 14:04, Sumatriptan wrote:
Yesterday, I got a Dual 505 on Ebay for £77.

Hi all,

More from a born again vinyl user..

When the tt arrived it was packed in the original Dual packing which
would have been fine, except the transit screws were not tightened and
the counterweight was left attached to the tone arm for transit. The 505
counterweight has a plastic stem, unlike later 505-x models. Sure
enough, it was broken and the weight was rattling around in the package.

The sender agreed to compensate me for purchase of a replacement if I
could locate one. A few messages at the Vinyl Engine forum resulted in
this:

http://www.dualfred.de/

Alfred and his wife who run this shop in Munich have a large stock of
apparently new Dual and Thorens turntable parts. I saw the exact part I
needed on their website. It took a week to arrive and the brand new
boxed part is labeled 'Original Dual Zubehor'

As I don't have a fully functional preamp and the main point of this
exercise is to get some/all of my collection digitised I decided to
obtain a Behringer phono-USB UFO202 interface to quickly get up and
running.

I haven't done a proper setup yet apart from tracking weight adjustment
to try out the tt for basic operation. All seems well so far, after a
listen via Audacity...except for one issue. There is significant mains
hum which I haven't tried to fix yet.

And that's where I'm at.


Now you have to look at the earth wiring.
There are almost certainly 4 wires to the cartridge, via headshell
connectors. When they leave the arm at the bottom, 2 of the wires become
L and R signals and the others become signal grounds. Note that none of
them must be connected to the chassis in any way whatsoever! The signal
grounds are only earthed in the amplifier.

Wire colours are probably:
Blue - outside - left channel ground
white - pin - left channel signal
Red - pin - right channel signal
Green - outside - right channel ground
To clean the connectors on the headshell try the eraser on a pencil.

The chassis *should* have a connection to mains earth for safety reasons
and that's all. This is sometimes via a separate wire to a screw terminal
on the preamp or amplifier.

Have fun...