Often times the value of a turntable is dependent on the condition of the cover. This one was brought to near perfect condition with a specialized plastic polish. Took about an hour and resulted in a very high gloss. Most of the Philips line of turntables have small cylindrical pieces of rubber inserted into the front corners of the cover. This dampens the vibration from the cover being closed. Without them records will skip when closing the cover during play. Over time they melt. On this particular unit they have been replaced.

The cover pops off easily and the hinges can be tightened or loosened as needed. The line across the top of the cover is actually a crack in the plaster wall and not the turntable cover.

The On/Off switch along with speed selection controls are touch sensitive. Has electronic quartz locking control for the speed, but also has pitch control for both speeds if the quartz locking mechanism is disengaged. The LED display is precise and reliable. Also has a built in stylus force gauge along with an anti-skating dial. The unit also has a tiny button on the platter that determines the size of the record without assuming size based on the speed selected.

The LED display is bright and a little sharper and precise than the photograph indicates.

With the quartz lock disengaged the pitch control can be adjusted manually and tends to stays at the adjusted speed unless the record is warped and even then it may flucuate by only a tenth of an r.p.m.

The deck is a little dusty, but polishes up very nicely. The black spot on the right hand corner is where the cover dampening rubber melted over time.

The deck without the aluminum platter shows 2 locking knobs for transport and adjustments for leveling the platter itself. A lot of these units were poorly adjusted at one time or another and as a result the platter dug rings into the deck. The belt is still available as of December 2017 and is a square belt.

This is the headshell and it screws off rather easily. The headshell wires have been replaced with oxygen free copper with gold connects. They are a step up from the typical ones. The next step up would be oxygen free silver with gold connectors. Replacement of the headshell wires is highly recommended. The headshells can be still found and having an extra is worth the money and time spent. The rubber top for the platter is a soft rubber and this one is in excellent condition.

Over time most of the Philips line of turntables have bottoms that tend to sag to the point where the unit does not sit flat. The isolation spike seen here is one of four used to overcome the sagging bottom issue. Not actually attached to the turntable, but sits below the bottom and stays stable as a result of the weight of the turntable. Could be glued with rubber cement if desired, but would need to be reapplied after transport. On another note, this particualr turntable sits on a shelf screwed into the wall. This offers much better stabilization than high dollar isolation cones could offer. The minor blemish seen to the left can be easily fixed by matching the right acryllic paint.

This is an image from another 977 with the circuit boards and mechanics exposed. The circuit boards are sophisticated and have multiple IC's that have not been in production for more than 30 years. If a failure were to occur repairing the circuit boards properly would be nearly impossible. For this reason it is highly recommended that delicate vintage electronics be attached to a power conditioner. The power conditioner would reshape dirty current with spikes and flucuaton. Devices tend to last longer with a power conditioner attached.