So I bought an old victorcraft record player this winter, and finally got a needle to play my music. But I found out that no sound was coming out of the speakers! There is sound, but it's only from the needle. I've been through the entire machine, inside and out, i've checked all the wires and they seem to work fine, maybe something in the arm, the wires might be weird. I'm not sure, but if anyone could help, that would be great!
Peace Sells....and im buying!
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I'm guessing the guy above collects only 'broken' vintage turntables. Modern turntables sound better than vintage ones?! Can you give me an example? Lets take a Rega RP3 : it costs around 1200-1500$..I can name you atleast 50 vintage turntables that actually sound 10 times better than the Rega RP3..and guess what..all these 50 TTs would safely cost between 150-500$!! A good vintage TT with a proper cartridge, tonearm and phono stage would slay any of the modern turntables..There has been no technological advancement in turntables after the 80s. Just compare the technical specifications of the two sets of TT (some modern TTs don't have any specs mentioned!)
Ok now coming back to the question : what cartridge are you using? and which amplifier?
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There is one inescapable fact about vintage audio equipment - and I collect vintage audio equipment:
It is old and old things wear out.
I could find little information about that unit other than it was probably produced in the 1960's and in Canada. Given that, it may well use vacuum tubes which could be shot. Old audio equipment also suffers from dirty switches and potentiometers as well as many other maladies such as failed capacitors and resistors. Sometimes a good cleaning with electrical contact cleaner will bring back a unit to life but if the problem is with capacitors, resistors or other electronic components there is no other alternative than to turn it over to a skilled electronics technician. Even the cleaning should be done by a technician to get the cleaner in the right spots.
If nothing else, try working all the switches and volume controls vigorously to see if you can work off the dirt / oxidation on their business end. If you are very, very lucky that may bring back sound but said switches and controls will still be intermittent and noisy.
In truth, these old record players are really rough on records and a modern turntable will be much easier on your records and probably sound a lot better too. You might want to think about going that route and ditching the Victorcraft or using it as a strictly ornamental piece of furniture.