Elac arm seems to stick in places?

Hi everyone,

I am enjoying my phonograph set up I have installed and have a choice of two good turntables. The Elac 50H and the Dual 1009. I have never had the Elac serviced and have noticed all along that especially on LP type or 45 records the arm has a tendency to want to stick and make a noise like hitting a blemish in the records in places. I at first thought the records were to blame, but on the Dual and other sets they don't do this. I am playing a 45 set now and the first two sides get started an then after a few seconds they start that popping effect and the arm gets stuck. Now its playing the third record and no problem. But it seems to do something like this consistently over many records. It does not do it when using the 78 speed or needle except that it does occasionally seem to hang up right at the reject point at times. Does this sound like something that perhaps some old grease or dirt might be causing?

As you wrote it has never been serviced so yes I would venture that this is the reason it is acting up.
A good cleaning and lubrication is in order. These are sturdy but complicated machines so if you are not well versed in this type of repair/rebuild I suggest you take it to a professional. You may find the spacific cause of the malfunction and repair it but more trouble lies down the road simply because of it's age and the fact that it needs serviced. Once done it will prove to be a fine turntable. I have a similar one and am very happy with it.

Interestingly my Dual that Randy was working on came back the other day and I got a chance to hook it back up tonight. Wouldn't you know its playing right though every record the Elac refuses to even start? I wonder if that is normal for the Elac or something is amiss with it?

One other thought while I am on here, anyone know if they make abit of extra soft padding for the Dual 1009 as when the first 78 drops it makes a terrible bang even with the old rubber mat. I think one reason its worse than the Elac at that is the smaller 10" turn table doesn't have the same air cushion as the wider one does. It makes a bang but nothing like this?

It could be that the ELAC needs the arm rebalanced and the stylus force set again. Shipping can knock the counterweight position off.

Is the banging the noise of the 78 itself on the platter, or the changer frame hitting the base? I investigated when I once had that trouble, and it was the latter.

I would not use an umbrella spindle to drop 78s. They tend to damage the center holes. That is one of the two umbrella spindles that uses rubber, so it is a little gentler.

The one umbrella spindle I would have trusted with a 78 was the one on the Garrard Lab 80, but it does not have the 78 speed.