Realistic LAB 34 Turntable Testing, cleanup and Tone Arm Adjustment

Realistic LAB 34 Turntable was made for Radio Shack by BSR in 1975, they sold for 49.95 and came with a Sure cartridge.
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[@vtjmproductionsusa2390]

BSR was a excellent record changer.

[@senorverde09]

To remove the platter (where you can get access to the idler wheel) you just remove the decorative ring around the spindle and get the c clip out. Secondly off the top of my head that Shure cart tracks about 3g. This was a mid level offering from RS back in the day! From my experience these don't like tracking at anything less than 1.5g

[@vwestlife]

The recommended tracking force range of the Shure cartridge this turntable came with is 1.5 to 3 grams. So 2 to 2.5 grams is probably best. Also when setting the anti-skating, go by the inner scale (marked with an oval), because it has an elliptical stylus.

[@neilmansfield8329]

These are good turntables. May be you need a new needle or. Cartridge or both

[@Meridian83West]

The LAB-34 was basically a rebadged BSR 2510X turntable fitted with a cartridge made by Shure for Radio Shack.

[@teletheates]

Nice job! Just one correction: It 's not a "direct drive" but an "idler drive" (as a previous comment hinted). I have a BSR turntable built into a circa 1977 Fisher component system. You 're lucky that the idler mechanism hasn't seized up after all those years (although that 's not too difficult a fix, if it ever happens). Good luck with the rest of the job!

[@gsnfan]

Good job cleaning it up, it looks great, and sounds great, too. You made a good find, especially with vinyl being popular again. Enjoiy it! (I use Awesome cleaner all the time, the name says it all! It cleans everything!)

[@RCALivingStereo]

Could be a bad idler wheel No belt in that one

[@PAYTONLB999]

This was super useful in figuring out the Lab 36 my girlfriend found! I'm by no means an expert when it comes to record players, and this video helped tremendously when troubleshooting hers. Thank you for making this!

[@breakerbroke23]

Glad I could help!

[@davidkornblatt991]

Its a BSR record changer all the way!

[@nuttyprofessor]

That space in the upper right corner of the turntable is the long 45 RPM adapter receptacle, type SP20 to be exact

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

look what we got here it is built 1973

[@maddogmerv]

Oh good lord I had one of those back in high school. Thanks for this walk back through memory lane.

[@jamesmartin5952]

My parents had an HMV radiogram with that very turntable in the 70s.

[@RCALivingStereo]

I think the green stylus is for 78’s ?

[@Meridian83West]

I had a turntable with that stylus. It's made by Shure for Radio Shack. The stylus number is RS47EB, and it's a .4 x .7 mil elliptical stylus meant for LP's and 45's.

[@Meridian83West]

P.S.: Shure did make a stylus for their M75 series of cartridges for 78 rpm records, the N75-3, but the grip was a darker shade of green.

[@marcump]

good grief.. the first thing that you do is adjust the counter weight...AND shipping bolts.. you make me crazy.. another thing, it's made by BSR. The wide rectangular slot at the back near the tonearm weight is for the 45 record adapter which slides over the middle spindle. when you store the turntable you unscrew the shipping bolts and move the weight all the way forward... that was the condition you found it in. It was properly adjusted in the storage condition.

[@ethelryan257]

OK, electrician here, in her '60s. My children barely know what these were, much less my grandkids - this young man's age, give or take. Be nice. Be gentle. They're learning and working with something totally new. My dad and grampa had me work on these back in the day - they're really not that bad and light years better than anything you're going to find under $350 today.