Looking for some ideas on a recent issue Im experiencing with SC5000m’s. Im unable to beat match when the motorised platters are engaged. The speed of the track changes up and down, after 2 bars the track are half a beat out. If the platters are off the beats can be matched however as soon as the platters are engaged the beats come out of alignment. I have updated to the latest firmware (after the issue was noticed), unplugged and plugged back every cable. Has anyone experienced the same issue, do you have any thoughts on what the problem could be? Any thoughts would be helpful.
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There were several people with the issue like You. It was due to grease in the bearing of the platter getting too thick. The motor had issues to spinn in a steady tempo, causing drifts. Could be, that this is the cause.
Thanks mate. Did some reading and some testing today. Issue exists when the units are cold. Once up to room temp, after about 20 mins they operate as normal. I guess ill just have to use them more 
The temperature is directly relevant to the grease thickness - in cold temperature the grease will be thicker and the motor has more resistance to overcome - it will result in slower rotation or longer time to speed up to correct rpm.
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So Denon have used the wrong grease? Has anyone had any suceess in getting them to re-grease the bearings with something fit for purpose
I know people who have, and I myself will be attempting to re-grease my 5000s in the next few days 
Good luck. I’ve been sent a video showing what to do and getting at the motor bearings literally involves taking the whole deck to pieces. Denon should be the ones sorting this FOC as they have clearly used the wrong product at point of manufacture. What grease have you been advised to use. Video i was sent isnt in english so ive no idea what he was say. Be interested to know how you get on. Reluctant to take mine apart as they’ll probably never work again.
Considering sacking mine off and going back to traktor and timecode vinyl. Looking like an expensive mistake takint a punt on the Denon gear. Do quite like my x1800 mixer though. Even if the digital display on the FX section has also broken and shows only the top half of the screen. Anyone had this problem?
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I will let you know how i get on. I suspect that taking the unit apart isn’t that big a deal. I was going to use some mineral-based bearings grease. tbh I would guess that the original grease may have degraded over time (i have two units, one with the issue and the other one working perfectly), rather than the issue being a manufacturing defect. Anyway, I will let you know how I get on. Will try to take some pics so that I can share the process if successful.
So, this morning I took the motor out of the player, dismantled it, cleaned it and applied fresh grease. Everything works perfectly now. If anyone with the same issue wants to try and do it themselves feel free to reach out. I took photos and can offer guidance. The whole thing takes 15 minutes from start to finish (actually the second player took no more than 10!) and it’s pretty straight forward for any competent DIYer.
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What type of grease did you use?
Hi there, sorry for the delay in replying. I used a mineral-based velocity grease (the one I use on my racing bike hubs). It’s green and quite dense. It works and stays pretty stable at a wide range of temperatures. No problems so far!
Good luck Freddy
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Hi Freddy_gang,
Glad you were able to fix your platter issue, I’m getting the same issues and it’s impossible to keep a mix going.
My drift is quite bad. Can you send me photos, instruction on where to apply grease and name of the grease you used?
My email is info@djnam.com.au if it’s easier to send those.
Thank you in advance for your time
Check your DMs.
Please remove your e-mail address to avoid the spambots!
Any chance of sharing the photos with me as well?
Just want to update anyone else searching for this issue: Using the excellent photos and descriotion from Freddy_Gang I was able to re-lubricate my pair of SC5000Ms motors and they are now keeping perfect tempo even when starting them up at 16 degrees celcius. I used a small amount of lithium grease for this.
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Great stuff. Long live the SC5000M!
Hello Freddy, same problem here and getting worse. I’m not able to use the motor anymore. Very strange because the other player has no problems and is very smooth and if i give it a push it turns 1.5 round. The bad one maby 1/4 round. I bought theme together and are from the same batch. Did you open de player from above? Can you send me the instructions how you did it see prive message? Thanks for your reply about the grease. Thanks and greets from Anthony Moet.
Thanks to Freddy and indeed using the excellent photos and description from Freddy_Gang I was also able to re-lubricate the SC5000M with problems what did the trick. Thanks Freddy!!!
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Freddy! - Sounds like I need this same fix. Just bought two used sc5000m units and one of them has this similar issue with platter speed that changes with temp/elongated use.
Hook me up with some info regarding the fix please?!