Hey guys, I've asked Martin, but I also thought I'd post here just in case anyone had some other ideas.  One channel is much quieter on the output of my 1202.  I've tried different receivers to confirm it's the turntable.  I've also tried another cartridge to confirm it's not the cartridge.  Does anyone have any ideas of things to try?

Thanks,

Austin 

Austin:

I've never worked on the 1202 but the signal path from the cartridge to the outputs is fairly straighforward.

Check the following:

1) RCA or DIN connector.

Take a an ohm meter (cartridge removed) and do continuity from chasis to each pin of the DIN or RCA cable. They should all be 0 ohms or pretty close.

 I had a beogram 3400 with a muted channel. It turns out that the wire inside the molded RCA jack was broken. Wiggling it produced sound. The cure was putting new RCA jacks. You may have to do this or resolder the DIN connector if that's what's gone.

2) Check the muting relay. Typically beograms have some sort of muting relay or switch. Makes sure the reeds have not oxidized and is passing the signal through.

Do a continuity check from the tone arm to the point where the shielded output cable (ie rca or din cable) connects to the chasis. You may have to engage the turntable to get the mute switch to unmute. You should get 0 resistance. If you don't this may mean cleaning with a tuner cleaner or replacement.

3) Check to make sure that the edge connector is not broken/making contact with the cartridge.

Hope this helps,

Derek

Ugh, the problem was my preamp.  I built the RIAA preamp myself.  When I tried different amps I was still using the same preamp.  I just remembered that I had never tried switching the channels at the input to the preamp from the turntable.  I only tried switching channels at the input to the main amp from the preamp. When I switched channels going from the turntable to the preamp, I was still only getting sound from the same side, meaning the turntable must have been outputting sound on both channels, but the preamp would only let it go through one.  I used an ohm meter and looking at the pins on the main chip, found that there was no connection on the chip from one channel.  I then found a spot on the circuit board that looked like a jumper could go there.  Checking the instructions for building the board again, I found that they only told you about the jumper in one of the captions of the diagrams, not in the main instructions.  As soon as I wired the jumper in it worked perfectly.  Sorry to trouble you guys with something that wasn't even an issue with the turntable.  I'm really happy the turntable is fine, as it's in mint condition and I'd hate to have to take it apart chasing after an electrical issue.

Austin