Tone arm moves to the middle rather than the beginning

Since it is new, you should probably return for refund or exchange.
My guess would be it is the micro switch controlled by the arm.
Make sure the power is turned on and the unit's function selection is set on PHONO and then gently move the tone arm to the right until you hear a "click". Remove any cassettes that might be in the cassette player. Lift the tone arm and carry it over to the beginning of the record.

TroubleShooting

Move The Tone Arm Over The Record And This Turns On An Internal Switch Wich Starts The Motor On The Phonograph And The Record Will Play !

Even if the belt looks fine it's almost certainly the problem. You mentioned "cleaning" - if you got any kind of fluid on the belt it might act as a lubricant and reduce the friction between the belt and the drive wheel, causing the turntable to slow when the tone arm puts a drag on it. The problem may go away when the belt dries out.

If you study the screws around the cradle that the tone arm sits in you will see that it is adjustable. This determines where the tone arm is when the record comes up. If the machine was always wrong like this it may have been set for 45rpm records. You need to adjust the whole tone arm post with the screw that goes up into the base of the post..

Did it used to start when you lifted the tonearm?

Many turntables start when the arm is moved over the record.

There is a switch just under the tone arm. When the tone arm moves towards the centre it slowly pushes two copper strips together. When they meet it starts the motor to eject the record. If you can't Cancel the record with the cancel button then that is a different problem, otherwise you can adjust the trip switch by inserting a 7mm spanner down the hole to the right of the tone arm post.

Hi Daniel, its a bit of a long shot however try this. With the turntable powered of manually rotate the platter approx 12 times to reset the auto operation back to default. John styluscity.com

Try adjusting the tone arm weight so that the arm will be slightly heavier.

If this does not help, see if the tone arm manual lift handle is operational and fully released when the arm sits on the record.

Another possible cause are the tone arm position sensors inside the unit.

Hope you can fix it.

regards

Triarcuate

Probably a bad relay switch. Open up the turntable. Identify the motor that spins the table. Follow the wires of that motor to, perhaps, some type of little circuit board with a relay. I have a Backley-Cardy 322-487 classroom phonograph which uses a Califone 1620 amp and a BSR turntable. To get the table to spin, you have to move the tone arm. Mine doesn't move and I'm in the process of replacing the faulty relay that is the problem.

try gently pushing the tone arm (actually the piece of plastic holding the tone arm) over to the right a little. works for me, but it still gets stuck often