Thanks, nice video. I too like these, I have had around 20 pass through my hands, and still have 3 and I did a youtube video on fixing the motor if its noisy BTW. A couple of things I've found over the years: The decks were entirely made in the Tesla factory in Czechoslovakia , designed by Jiří Janda, a very clever designer, who came up with interesting solutions to the problems of building HiFi in the Soviet Era. There were small changes to the design over the years, from flat circuit board arm to round, but also some changes to the internals. The light at the front goes from orange bulb to RED led, the internal soldering points go from DIN socket to a tagged section. Also late models had adjustment points underneath for the suspension , 3 small screws visible from below the deck. I think the main area you can improve , if you have the time , is the electrical ground continuity across the metal parts, using a multimeter to diagnose. The better the continuity from spindle tip to the tip of the amplifier ground wire, the less hum, which is the one weak spot on these decks. The main bearing and horizontal arm bearing use the same part, bolted to the metal subchassis, which is ingenious and only found on the old AR XA deck AFAIK. These bearing housings are open at the bottom with a brass sleeve. Some examples have nothing at the bottom, the bearing just resting on the sub-chassis, some have a clear plastic thrust pad (tiny disc, about 3mm diameter) , and later ones had a metal thrust pad, and provided the best electrical continuity across the metal parts, which then act as a screen to the signal wiring. As a general rule the last production variant , with RED led lights and adjustments screws below, these have the best continuity and used the metal thrust pads. Just measure resistance from the spindle to the end of the wire, and from the screws in the side of the arm pillar to the end of the ground wire. ideally you want < 10 Ohms across any of these points, and certainly not open circuit. Wiring the arm pillar to the rear RCA's is a fiddle, so well done on that. Important to have the finest litz wiring which is like cotton thread and does not inhibit the arm bearing at all. I tried using computer mouse wiring which is fine but not fine enough and I had skipping caused by the wires slight rigidity Looking forward to the next episode
I had in use nad 5120 for more or less 25 years! Great turntable. But unfortunately a day during of 2021 stop to work! No sound? The problem is in my opinion to the last circuit before the output. In my country this time there is not a service specialist in nad turntables so I bought a new one ( audio technica lp60xbt ) that is very good for the price but is not Nad! That has excellent sound and the possibility to ' wearing ' many different cartridges! So I am looking to repair nad 5120 because simple is a great music player! ❤😊
nice video! Ive got the exact same deck ran perfectly for ages, today the speed is slower & varies plus sometimes it spins the wrong way. Is there a cap that controls direction and speed? I would have thought the speed would be driven by the motor. Any ideas? thanks!
I had the flat arm version of this, bought it brand new from a dealer in Exeter in the eighties, it was a lovely sounding deck for the price, Dire Straits sounded fantastic on it, you brought back happy memories! I had a Marantz amp and Celestion speakers and Naim cables
Cheers, and a fun project. It has some quality parts in it, so well worth doing up. Yes, please on the lid buffing video. I need to buff up my old Thorens. 👍
Great video - just got one and it sounds awesome. However there's a humm/buzz coming from i think the capacitor near the power switch even when the unit is off. My motor is silent in operation but there's electrical hum/buzz that can be heard when listening near the platter. I'm not walking about speaker hum but some kind of electrical buzzing
My first turntable was a nad 5120 with a flat arm which was my dad's and it was a excellent sounding deck cartridge wise I think nagoka would be the one to go for as I had a nagoka mp15 on my 5120
Red would be very cool. I'm looking forward to all those bits you mentioned, but especially the perspex buffing. I've got a few old things that could do with getting unscratched...
Just don’t make it rainbow. There’s a lot of that about, and rightly so, but I think there should be limits to these things... Still it’s you that has to look at it forever.
Hi, I have a Turntable exactly like this. I want to open the motor but I can not take the pulley off. Will you please be kind to help me how to take that pulley off? I saw that there some kind of a screw or lock on top of the pulley, but not sure if it is a slotted screw? It looks so weird. Please, need your help with this. Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.
Hello, with my deck the pully looks like its been glued in place, so to remove it, you will need to drip a few drops of acetone into little hole on the top, that will dissolve the glue, you may need to do this a few times, I hope this is helpfu & thanks for watchingl
Hi there and thank you for your video! I need some help please. I have a problem with the motor. When i turn on few times, my motor play backward and i dont know why. I changed that unpolarized capacitor 220nf. Any advise please? thank you!
Hello, it's usually because it's wired up wrong, but as you say you've tried it both ways, I would personally contact NAD, without looking at it I can't tell you sorry, thanks for commenting & watching 👍
Thanks, nice video. I too like these, I have had around 20 pass through my hands, and still have 3 and I did a youtube video on fixing the motor if its noisy BTW. A couple of things I've found over the years:
The decks were entirely made in the Tesla factory in Czechoslovakia , designed by Jiří Janda, a very clever designer, who came up with interesting solutions to the problems of building HiFi in the Soviet Era.
There were small changes to the design over the years, from flat circuit board arm to round, but also some changes to the internals. The light at the front goes from orange bulb to RED led, the internal soldering points go from DIN socket to a tagged section. Also late models had adjustment points underneath for the suspension , 3 small screws visible from below the deck.
I think the main area you can improve , if you have the time , is the electrical ground continuity across the metal parts, using a multimeter to diagnose. The better the continuity from spindle tip to the tip of the amplifier ground wire, the less hum, which is the one weak spot on these decks.
The main bearing and horizontal arm bearing use the same part, bolted to the metal subchassis, which is ingenious and only found on the old AR XA deck AFAIK. These bearing housings are open at the bottom with a brass sleeve. Some examples have nothing at the bottom, the bearing just resting on the sub-chassis, some have a clear plastic thrust pad (tiny disc, about 3mm diameter) , and later ones had a metal thrust pad, and provided the best electrical continuity across the metal parts, which then act as a screen to the signal wiring. As a general rule the last production variant , with RED led lights and adjustments screws below, these have the best continuity and used the metal thrust pads. Just measure resistance from the spindle to the end of the wire, and from the screws in the side of the arm pillar to the end of the ground wire. ideally you want < 10 Ohms across any of these points, and certainly not open circuit.
Wiring the arm pillar to the rear RCA's is a fiddle, so well done on that. Important to have the finest litz wiring which is like cotton thread and does not inhibit the arm bearing at all. I tried using computer mouse wiring which is fine but not fine enough and I had skipping caused by the wires slight rigidity
Looking forward to the next episode
I had in use nad 5120 for more or less 25 years! Great turntable. But unfortunately a day during of 2021 stop to work! No sound? The problem is in my opinion to the last circuit before the output. In my country this time there is not a service specialist in nad turntables so I bought a new one ( audio technica lp60xbt ) that is very good for the price but is not Nad! That has excellent sound and the possibility to ' wearing ' many different cartridges! So I am looking to repair nad 5120 because simple is a great music player! ❤😊
nice video! Ive got the exact same deck ran perfectly for ages, today the speed is slower & varies plus sometimes it spins the wrong way. Is there a cap that controls direction and speed? I would have thought the speed would be driven by the motor. Any ideas? thanks!
I had the flat arm version of this, bought it brand new from a dealer in Exeter in the eighties, it was a lovely sounding deck for the price, Dire Straits sounded fantastic on it, you brought back happy memories! I had a Marantz amp and Celestion speakers and Naim cables
When are you posting the rebuild video you spoke about, the silver cables etc thanks?
Cheers, and a fun project. It has some quality parts in it, so well worth doing up. Yes, please on the lid buffing video. I need to buff up my old Thorens. 👍
Had from the beer of course. Just got one of these so very useful video, cheers!
Looking forward to see how this develops and sounds like. Cheers. 🍺
Hello. How's the turntable doing? Any plans for a follow up video? Thanks for posting this
I do have plans, hopefully some time this year, thanks for commenting & watching 👍
Great video - just got one and it sounds awesome. However there's a humm/buzz coming from i think the capacitor near the power switch even when the unit is off. My motor is silent in operation but there's electrical hum/buzz that can be heard when listening near the platter. I'm not walking about speaker hum but some kind of electrical buzzing
Great vid my system is nad, nad rega, turntable and nad 3225pe amp great sounding equipment
Best video on CZcams. Mine no longer lifts the arm….
Thumbs up just for the intro! =)
Look forward to the videos and I could do with a beer....
My first turntable was a nad 5120 with a flat arm which was my dad's and it was a excellent sounding deck cartridge wise I think nagoka would be the one to go for as I had a nagoka mp15 on my 5120
Red would be very cool. I'm looking forward to all those bits you mentioned, but especially the perspex buffing. I've got a few old things that could do with getting unscratched...
Just don’t make it rainbow. There’s a lot of that about, and rightly so, but I think there should be limits to these things... Still it’s you that has to look at it forever.
Balls! Had ME from
Hi, I have a Turntable exactly like this. I want to open the motor but I can not take the pulley off. Will you please be kind to help me how to take that pulley off? I saw that there some kind of a screw or lock on top of the pulley, but not sure if it is a slotted screw? It looks so weird. Please, need your help with this. Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.
Hello, with my deck the pully looks like its been glued in place, so to remove it, you will need to drip a few drops of acetone into little hole on the top, that will dissolve the glue, you may need to do this a few times, I hope this is helpfu & thanks for watchingl
Hi there and thank you for your video! I need some help please. I have a problem with the motor. When i turn on few times, my motor play backward and i dont know why. I changed that unpolarized capacitor 220nf. Any advise please? thank you!
Hello, it's usually because it's wired up wrong, but as you say you've tried it both ways, I would personally contact NAD, without looking at it I can't tell you sorry, thanks for commenting & watching 👍
How is your deck sounding? I paid more for my deck than I paid for my first car lol
Hello Tony ,I'm still breaking in the tonearm cable, wll do a video when its sounding its best, stay tuned, & thanks for watching.
its made in czechoslovakia, so not really japanese.