allenh

I think there's a lot of these as well as the cart let me add 10,000, either that or they're pressing as many as they get orders for so it shouldn't be hard to get one

Same ordered one as well.

I'ts very rare (never before at full price) I cave and buy one of these overpriced box set re issue things but for this one I might just have to make an exception.

Provided your now powering from 120V rather than 240V if your comfortable doing so and qualified it looks like your going to have to get busy with a volt meter to see where the problem lies. remember 120V will still give you a nasty tickle. If you can read 120V on the primary and nothing on the secondary then the transformer is your first and hopefully only casualty. The Neon may well still work as it's on the primary side of the transformer and a lot more robust but that doesn't mean the transformer is any good still, The circuit doesn't say what the secondary voltage is but looking at the values that are given I would say between 36V and 40 V, so if it is gone you are looking for a transformer with a 240V primary and a 36-40V secondary that will fit in there which shouldn't be that difficult to find. The VA rating won't be very high as it's not exactly powering anything substantial.

This one like most Japanese decks has a transformer in it so that is the most likely thing to go first and it depends how long it lived with 240V as to whether anything after it got damaged in the process. Looking at the circuit there is a neon and a resistor across the primary of the transformer which may have also gone and there are some smoothing capacitors on the way in. The up./down and manual/auto switches are shown in the diagram in positions that don't complete the supply circuit so if you if you didn't smell burning when you powered it up and had the switches in the right position then you might have been lucky but I very much doubt it and I'd be looking at the transformer first. Unfortunately the fist rule of electricity is that everything electric contains smoke and sooner or later it has to come out.

I don't know what used tables you were using but HMV doesn't sell anything worth buying at any price turntable wise so depending on what you had used you might have been better off investing in things like new belts and needles for one of those. Yes take it back and get your money back, HMV are fine for records but not for anything to play them on and as has been suggested read the beginners thread

Ok I'm surprised you didn't get a power amp with it but that Pass labs pre is a nice bit of kit. Hang on to it until something nice power wise comes along, and I don't think they have a phono stage in as standard so you will probably need one of those to plug a turntable into it. All that said it's the pre that tends to make the most difference in an amplifier so if you can get or borrow any sort of power amp to try with the Pass Labs it might be worth it to make sure it's all ok before you invest in something good power wise.

Nice score, is the Marantz etc what you already have or did all this come together? Also is that Phase labs or Pass labs? If it's Pass labs then find a decent power amp or preferably some mono block power amps to go with it and bask in the high end glory. The Entech is a DAC and if it came with the Planet then the original owner must have used it with it, that said try the Planet on its own as it's on board DAC is pretty good, it's one of the most analogue sounding CD players you will find so the Entech might actually remove some of that particular quality. What are the model numbers of the tape deck and speakers? the tape deck might not be as shitty as you think if it was in with that level of kit.

UK page for those of us this side of the Atlantic https://ukstore.qotsa.com/products/villains

I wouldn't sit on them though the Electro in Electrostatic is quite big, about 10,000V Quite a thing the Quad ESL57 considering they were fiirst for sale in 1957, the early ones were copper coloured, very distinctive and very sought after, a real piece of HiFi history these and something you should hear at least once, like everything good in HiFi they require a lot of careful looking after but when they are right there is nothing quite like them especially when driven with valves. As it says on the Quad website The ESL was the world’s first full range, ultra low distortion electrostatic loudspeaker and set standards for accuracy and fidelity in loudspeakers that remains unsurpassed to this day. A labour of love for founder Peter Walker, the ESL-57, as it came later to be known, is still revered by audiophiles all over the world Quad certainly persevered with this technology as they still make Electrostatics today http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/product.php?cid=5

To make a suggestion on a used table I would need to know where you live but as a very small example there are many well made Japanese units both direct and belt drive, European tables from people like Thorens, Rega, Systemdeck and Lenco plus many smaller makers and also AR from the US to name just a few. The zenith for the turntable as a thing was the early 70's up until the late 90's and everything available now is heavily based if not exactly the same as what was available then. The Sony is actually different in the market as it's a completely new design in that it's not as far as I can see borrowing parts and mouldings from any of Sony's previous products but as a piece of engineering its basic design is still no different to the models that have gone before As to recording as @Tardcore says the choice of software is very wide, I use Audacity for instance which is freeware and very good. Hardware wise you need a tape out from your amplifier or receiver and a line in on your computer or laptop and a lead to connect between the two. No USB is required anywhere unless you don't have a line in and use a USB soundcard to get one.

Why would you buy a new table without hearing it but you wouldn't a used one? There is no guarantee the new one will be any good and at that sort of price range you can buy a better table used than you can new. TBH I wouldn't buy any turntable without hearing it unless it was so cheap it was practically being given away

Depending on where in the world you live there are other options new and a lot of options used turntable wise for the same money. As to using built in USB on turntables as a general rule they are poor, that said Sony has at least put some effort into their unit and What HiFi has given it a pretty good review but not having heard the table I can't comment on how good it is. There are also other options for ripping your vinyl and if you are using a PC or laptop that has a line in jack you can simply line in from the tape out of your amplifier, this then means that the quality limitations are the sound card within the computer not the external USB device which as I say are generally poor. Also some external phono stages have USB outputs which would be preferable to most on table units.

The Marantz is the winner there no contest, the two tables out of the box are in different classes. The only drawback with the Marantz if you are that way inclined is that there is no real upgrade path for it, so because there is such a big upgrade choice for the Rega you can of course make an RP3 a better table than the Marantz but it will cost a lot of money and there will be little or nothing left from the original RP3 when you are finished. And if you're not keen on assembly I doubt this is the route for you. If you are familiar with the social commentary of Only Fools and Horses then think of an upgraded RP3 as Triggers Broom. Exactly

Yep pretty much what I'm thinking, the OP is getting hung up on the leveling and unless it's obvious to the eye that the tables on a slant I wouldn't worry too much. Everything has a sweet spot no matter how bad the equipment but that sweet spot will be as good as it gets.

Sounds like the system is bright anyway but as @kannibal says if the tracking force is too low it will make things worse. Check the tracking force but also try moving the speakers around, if they are ported then they may be too close to walls or other things that are sapping the bass, also are they at listening height? It's a bit of a long shot and not exactly scientific but you could try moving yourself around and standing or sitting in different places in the room to see if it improves, if it does that will give you an idea of where to move the speakers to. Also what are the amp and speakers? And lastly just making sure all the eventualities are covered the amp hasn't got a phono input on the amp that you are plugging the Rega into does it? If so plug it into any other input.

I think most has been pretty well said here but just to add my two penneth. Either buy a new U Turn and preferably with the acrylic platter or buy a used Rega P3 or Planer 3. The rest in comparison are not worth the money for various reasons and avoid things like built in USB or phono stages (pre amps), at this level these things are added very cheaply to make the buyer think they are gaining something extra with an already cheap turntable when all they are getting is more cheap stuff. Good engineering costs money so on balance let someone else do the spending and buy a used Rega 3 or explore what other great used turntables are out there for the sort of money you'd need to spend on one of the ones in your list new.

Unlike solid state devices a valve is effectively dying from the moment you turn it on and the big drawback with valves is lifespan and reliability, yes some are better than others but two of the main things that were improved with solid state electronics was lifespan and reliability and valve technology hasn't changed as we are still using the same valve types designed in the early to mid part of the last century with the same basic materials and gases being used in their manufacture so I'm quite surprised AI tell you to do that. It's less of a problem with a small a signal valve over an output valve but it is still a concern. I'm not a manufacturer so they would have a lot more insight into this than I but it's something I have always understood to do and will continue to do, I do wonder though if they've looked at the hours life times claimed for a lot of these valves and taken them at face value but as I understand it yes they will still operate after long periods but not necessarily good enough for audio because it does very much depend on the accepted parameters for operation. Keeping the heaters powered is to help with warm up time so might be what they mean by keeping it powered 24/7 but I've never found that to be that effective unless you use your equipment for many hours every day and then you'll go through valves pretty quick anyway. People have tried all sorts of things with extending valve life over the years as they were expensive things in their heyday which is why I mentioned the fashion of turning the heaters off to extend their life which was pretty pointless if the amplifying part was worn out. All that said though there are many inconveniences I will put up with for audio and all of those to do with valves fall into that category because I love the sound. That's one of the upsides to me with valve amps in that you can alter the sound by simply changing valve manufacturer, it doesn't take long to work out who's valves you like and unless the basic circuit is a problem you can put your chosen valves in any amp that uses that valve type and it should tailor the amps sound more to your liking.

Pretty much all HiFi prefers to be on 24/7 but I'm not sure I'd leave any valve equipment on 24/7, yes it keeps it in its operating window but valve lifespan will be severely compromised. Solid state yes and its preferable in my experience but valve no if only for the reduced lifespan. It used to be a fashion to drop the power to the heaters only when not in use but I'm not convinced that was particularly effective. My system is completely valve and I turn it all on about half an hour before I want to listen to it and go and pour a drink or make a coffee before the needle nestles gently onto record or my finger hits the play button.

Couldn't agree more

Nice, in a classically understated but effective way

Yep I get grey for that one, weird indeed

When I click on that I get white now not grey

You might want to put the 1x4 on the bottom as I suspect that's less likely to collapse under load than the 2x4 and If you're going to empty it all to move it around just check the tightness of all the fixings as you'll be able to get at them. And yes I think the infamous photo that makes us all shudder was a 5x5 that had been assembled the wrong way up, the 2x4 is designed to go either way up but I don't suppose that's with a load of weight on the top of it. Edit This thing double posted in the same post, that's like crossing the streams, it must need a rest

I'm glad I didn't cave in and sell my original, I've been asked many times on Discogs to sell it and always politely declined. It's numbered 1111 which I've always liked.