Signs your belt needs replacing
Audio-Technica's comparison of drive types is plain about it: the drive belt will need replacing at some point due to wear, and belts are usually affordable and easy to replace yourself. The Pro-Ject Debut Carbon user guide lists an overstretched or dirty belt among the causes of wrong speed.
- Music sounds slightly flat or slow, or the pitch wobbles on long notes such as piano or organ.
- The platter hesitates or stops when the stylus drops into the groove.
- The belt slips off the pulley or the platter does not turn at all.
- The rubber looks stretched, cracked, shiny or sticky.
- A speed check reads consistently slow even after the turntable has warmed up.
Before buying a belt, rule out the simple things: the right speed setting for the record and a belt that has just slipped off. Our guide to checking turntable speed helps you confirm the problem.
Buy the right belt
Belts are model-specific: a belt of the wrong size can slip or turn the platter at the wrong speed. Look up the replacement belt for your exact turntable model in the manual or on the maker's support pages, and note whether your deck uses a flat belt, a round belt or both.
Remove the platter and the old belt
Switch off and unplug
Turn the motor off and unplug the power cable; Pro-Ject asks owners to disconnect the power before any maintenance. Put the tonearm on its rest and fit the stylus guard.
Take off the mat
Lift the mat away and set it aside somewhere clean.
Lift the platter straight up
Many platters have finger holes near the spindle; Audio-Technica tells owners of the AT-LP60X to lift by these, straight up. Do not lever it off with a tool.
Remove the old belt
Slide it off the platter rim or sub-platter and off the motor pulley. Note which pulley step it was on.
Fit the new belt
Where the belt goes depends on the design. On many entry-level decks it runs around a rim under the platter; on others it goes around a smaller sub-platter or hub, and on some around the outer edge of the platter. Follow the drawing in your manual.
Clean your hands and the contact points
Pro-Ject warns that sweat or grease on the belt shortens its life and hurts performance, and suggests absorbent kitchen paper to wipe oil off the hub and belt.
Loop the belt around the platter side
Fit it around the rim, hub or sub-platter first. Check that it is not twisted anywhere along its length.
Refit the platter
Lower it gently onto the spindle. On designs with the belt underneath, turn the platter until an opening lines up with the motor pulley.
Pull the belt onto the pulley
Reach through the opening, or use the ribbon or hook supplied, and slip the belt over the pulley step for 33 rpm. Audio-Technica's instructions for the AT-LP60X describe this exact move.
Spin it by hand
Turn the platter slowly a few times. The belt should stay centred on the pulley and feel evenly taut.
Check the speed and settle in
Put the mat back, switch on and let the turntable run for a few minutes. Then check both speeds. The speed check in the CrateCore app reads the platter's rotation with your phone's gyroscope and reports how far it sits from 33 or 45 and how steady it is, as an estimate. A printed strobe disc under a mains-powered lamp is a good second opinion.
- If the speed is still slow, check that the belt sits on the correct pulley step and is not twisted.
- If your deck has speed adjustment, follow the manual; otherwise a consistently wrong reading points to the wrong belt or a motor fault.
- Write down the reading. Next time the music sounds off, you have something to compare against.
Make the new belt last
- Handle the belt as little as possible and only with clean hands.
- Keep the turntable out of hot, humid spots and direct sun; manuals ask for this, and rubber lasts longer that way.
- Pro-Ject suggests removing the belt if the turntable will not be used for a long time, to prevent uneven stretching.
- Store the old belt as an emergency spare only if it is not cracked.
Not sure whether your turntable has a belt at all? Our guide to belt drive and direct drive explains how to tell the two apart.