Keep Your Dual Alive Page

Let's face it. Most of our DUAL turntables are getting old, and they are not operating

as they once did when they were new. Careful maintenance will keep your DUAL

going for a long time! Here are some tips to help you keep YOUR DUAL alive!

Cleaning

Dirt is one of the worst enemies of all of our stereo equipment. Keeping as much

dirt and dust out of your equipment will make it last that much longer. I recommend

that every 6 months (or more if you are in a dusty climate) you clean your DUAL

turntable. Here is what I recommend:

Platter and Top Plate

Make sure your entire system is powered off. Use a soft dry paint brush and dust

off all the dust and grime you can see. Make sure you clean up the crevices by the

Start/Stop switch and the Pitch Control! Take care when brushing around the base

of the tonearm, you don't want to break those fragile wires! If there are any stains

that won't brush off, I use a SLIGHTLY dampened cotton towel. You can remove

the rubber platter mat and wash it with your dustcover. When done, your turntable

should look like new!

Dust Cover Care

The way I recommend cleaning this is to fill the bath with cool water and immerse

the dust cover (removed from the turntable, of course) and when it is totally

submerged I use a cotton towel with a little dish detergent to wipe the surface

clean. Then I drain the bath, refill with clean water and then submerse the dust

cover to rinse it. Then I remove the dust cover and dry it with a soft dry cotton

towel. Remember that scratches are put in dust covers by dry dust being wiped

rom the surface. This puts in those little "micro scratches". By submerging

the dustcover first and wiping it while it is submerged, the water acts as a

buffer and prevents those scratches from occurring. Never wipe your dustcover

clean while it is dry! I have heard that you can "renew" your dust cover by using

an aviation Plexiglas windscreen cleaner that will remove small scratches. I

have never done this, so do so at your own risk.

Preventing Cracks

Cracking of the turntable dustcover is a problem that needn't show up with

proper care. Here are a few tips to prevent this from happening to you.

1. Periodically check the dustcover to make sure that it is installed

correctly with each side equally and snugly fit into the channel

at the rear of the turntable. Uneven torque can cause cracking.

If you open the turntable by handling the same side each time

eventually the other side will loosen up and you will have a case

of uneven torque. Open the dustcover by grasping both sides.

2. Put the dustcover down when you are finished using the turntable.

This relieves the torque on the dustcover and keeps dust off of

your turntable.

3. If you have the type of dustcover that is easily removed, you may

want to consider removing it during use. An upright dust cover

may act like a "collector" of sound and transmit this directly into

the turntable, adding noise and distortion.

Lubrication

Periodically (every second or third year) your turntable should have the grease

and oil cleaned and replenished. This is important as with age, the lubricants in our

turntables dries out and becomes stiff. This results in the turntable not performing

properly, making noises or moving in a sluggish manner. Worse of all this causes

the precision made parts to wear more quickly. This is escpecially true with

turntables that have been sitting on the closet shelf for many years without use. The

exception to this rule are the CS-5000 and CS-7000 turntables, they are permanently

lubricated and normally do not need further lubrication by the end user.

. You really will need the DUAL Service Manual for your turntable to see the

lubrication points. They are available from serveral different sources, please see

our Parts/Service link on the homepage for vendors of these manuals. Don't

lubricate anything that isn't depicted and always use the lubricants indicated in the

Service Manual.

We have an example of the typical lubrication diagram. Even though this is for the

1249, it will work for most 1200 series turntables. Please note that at the bottom of

these diagrams we have offered "modern" substitues for some of the lubricants that

Dual recommends. We did this due to the fact that some of the lubricants aren't

manufactured anymore or are available only in ridiculously large quanities.

Click Here for a Lubrication Diagram - Dual 1249

Remember, when perfoming this service on your turntable always clean away all

of the old lubricants before applying the new. Work slowly and take your time.

Isopropyl Alcohol and Cotton Swaps are good to use for this purpose.

Tonearm

Be gentle when handling the tonearm! Never raise it too high and certainly don't

use excessive force with it. Don't force it against the mechanism. While DUAL

turntables are built strong, don't abuse them!

Adjustments

Make sure your DUAL turntable is adjusted per the users guide, tonearm is

balanced, anti-skating is set correctly and the cartridge tracking force is

within the range of your turntable and tracking force set the the recommended

setting of the cartridge manufacturer. This will help your records stay alive!

For information about how to balance your tonearm, please see our Troubleshooting

page, turntable setup.