allenh

Is there a ball bearing on the tonearm stub or inside the weight? if so these are usually sprung and the spring has probably gone weak with age. Usually the stubs unscrew but it isn't always obvious how they unscrew or how you get inside to get at the spring. Failing that it depends how the weight seats on the tonearm stub, if it has a ptfe of similar sleeve inside the weight that may have gone hard so you could try some ptfe or silicone spray inside the sleeve but that's a guess really and I suspect would only be temporary if it did work. If it is some sort of plastic sleeve you would ideally need to get it replaced or a new weight.

I've just replied to your post about upgrading that table and looked at the pictures again, looking at the screws in the headshell it would be easier to see from a top down picture but it looks like it's twisted in at an angle and I wonder if you have just put the Rega arm in the Thorens arm board? Both arms have a different effective length so if that is what you have done it would explain it and it would make it difficult to set correctly.

You can go as far as you like with that turntable so don't be concerned there, the limit is the depth of your pocket not the potential of the turntable. The only caveat is that there are 3 versions and ideally you want an i or an ii with the alloy sub platter but an iii with the plastic sub platter is a very competent table as well, the weak point in all three and with a lot of Thorens tables in the TD16x range was the arm. It's plus points are the the 3 point suspended sub chassis and superb main bearing Also you can just fit the blue stylus to the red body you don't need to change the whole cartridge, the stylus is the only difference between the two. Armboards are easily available for it in MDF, Aluminum, Stainless steel and Acrylic or you can easily make your own. I'm assuming you already have an aftermarket one on it or did you modify the stock one to fit the Rega? The effective length of the two is different so if you just fitted the Rega arm in the hole for the Thorens one it will all be a bit out (roughly 7mm) and I would expect you would have the cartridge all the way to one end of the headshell to get it aligned correctly?

It's one of those fiddly jobs that's really easy if you can do it and really scary if you can't, so you're paying for someones time and skill to do something you can't and it's not like you can go many places to get this sort of thing done so they can charge what they like. Like I say get an old turntable from somewhere (even an old cheap belt drive DJ table that no one wants will do) and have a go, take your time with it and give it your best shot and if it goes badly wrong it's a small amount of money to risk and a good education, but if you get it right and you feel comfortable doing it then well that's a $250 job that won't cost you that ever and you will have a spare turntable that will sound way better than it's origins. Have you searched youtube to see if there are any videos on doing it? It always amazes me just how much good info there is posted there.

Bent pins on the tubes shouldn't matter, that sounds like a lack of gain or an impedance mis match. This thing is derived from the Musical Fidelity X10 which is a valve buffer stage with no gain at all, the Chinese modified the circuit to give it some gain so it could be used as a pre amp stage, one thing they do though is to push the power supply to the very edge of being able to work so you might find the output of your transformer is too low under load which would mean the HT voltage on the valves is too low. What are you using as a transformer to power it and have you got anything bigger to try? it isn't necessarily low voltage to start with but if the current output is low then there will be a big volt drop under load which effectively means you are not giving it enough voltage when it needs it. I used one of the cheap toroids from Maplin for mine, the one 15VA with two 6V secondaries did the job, I wired the two secondaries in series to give me 12V Mine looks like this now.

It's not centered properly in the headshell but it looks straight so if it lines up properly on the protractor at both points it's an aesthetic rather than actual problem. If it were mine I'd re align and re center it though I'm a fussy sod and it would bug me.

It very much depends how hand dexterous you are, if you do any sort of model making, small engineering or an aptitude for working on small things then it's a piece of piss but if your only skill is a 2:1 in English Literature and the misapprehension that this qualifies you with an understanding of Physics or Mechanics then it will end in absolute disaster. Also the first time I did it was a lot harder than the 25th so I would practice on a old throwaway arm if you can. If it's your first time buy a cheap old turntable and practice on that, once you've done it you'll be amazed just how good your cheap table will sound. The major worry points are: Don't cut anything off until the last part Don't forget the earth wire if your arm has one which will be fixed to the arm body after the bearings (usually the headshell or arm tube) and to the outgoing earth wire and is usually black You can use one of your old arm wires as a new earth wire but if you need to replace that then you are going to be taking the arm apart to a lesser or greater degree so you need to be sure what you are doing there Oh and don't cut anything off until the last part. Basically you attach the new cable to the old and pull it all through until it's threaded through all the way from headshell to wherever it connects to the outgoing lead, do this slowly and carefully making sure you know where the earth wire is and what it's doing. Don't cut anything off until you're at the point to make of the tags at the headshell and definitely not before you're going to make the connection to the outgoing lead. I've not done a rewire on a modern Project or Music Hall arm so I don't know how the output lead is connected to the arm wire or how it's fitted into the arm base so you may need to construct something here, the older ones had the fine wires outside of the arm and the joint was done there but if it's an in line joint that's potted into the arm base then make mechanical joints in the wires before you solder and heatshrink over the individual cores and then heatshrink again over the lot but make sure the length of the heatshrink is not too long, you will then need to fix it somehow. Once it's back in place and you are left with tails hanging out at the headshell end then you can cut to length to attach your tags but make sure you leave a loop sufficient to remake the ends 2 or possibly 3 more times, the first time you strip and cut to attach the tags you'll probably cut right through when you strip which you probably found when you attached the outgoing lead. The extra length is useful if you like to change cartridges and end up breaking the wire while doing it. A 9" or 10" kit should be sufficient if the outgoing lead is joined in or near the arm base but I always use a 12" kit as it doesn't cost a lot more, gives room for error and you can also use the excess to make headshell leads for SME type headshells I'm not sure if you want the overall sleeved and screened wire or the individual twisted cores for your arm but if you can't get the overall sleeved through your bearing housing you can always strip the outer sleeve off. If I haven't put you off having a go let me know how you get on.

That must sound like utter shite. Your bass amp is most likely Mono and chances are it's not full range anyway being a bass amp. I don't know what type of turntable you're using but I expect I can hazard a guess and I've also got the distinct feeling you're not exactly doing your records or your ears any justice with what you're using. Best bet just get some reasonably sized computer speakers or better still some proper active speakers and it will sound as good as it can without spending too much money. Better still get down to your closest 2nd hand shop or get on soemthing like Craigs list and buy a proper amplifier and speakers, it doesn't have to be expensive but ideally an amplifier for only 2 channels not 5 or 7

hopefully you read this first? Basically though I'd aspire a little farther up the food chain if you can. We all have to start somewhere but any of the tables that uses the Chinese made Hanpin mechanicals or looks like the AT-60 is going to be average at the very best, anything that uses that straight chrome arm with a plastic bearing housing and headshell that you can't change the cartridge on falls into that category. The AT-60 or it's equivalents is basically acceptable but you would probably want to upgrade from it pretty soon.

Or a Uturn or a Rega

Tight on time today so I won't go into as much detail as usual Speedbox yes, speed stability is the upside there not just the ability to change speed easily and is much much more important. Not sure about the Ortofon red? Then don't bother with the blue try something else, AT maybe? Less bass when using an acrylic platter? Utter bollocks, the platter isn't the issue there unless it's massively changing the VTA in which case it's the wrong platter for the turntable or the cartridge used is extremely sensitive to small VTA changes which I find very unlikely. Basically everything being equal there are no downsides to an acrylic platter.

depends what damage has been done but I suspect it's blown drivers which unless you can find a tatty looking pair to steal the drivers from or some suitable equivalents I suspect they are due a trip to the local tip.

If anyone wants one they're back up, only missing the bundles with XS shirts. Either there were a lot of returns or the Hypogenerator was turned up to 11 when they initially put them up.

If the headphones are working it's definitely not the sources or the front stage of your amp. That only leaves the power amp stage, the speakers or speaker cables. I'd be surprised if both speakers or speaker cables have suddenly gone bad unless you've had a very drunken party and just had the volume up too high for too long but those B&O's are probably capable of being over driven by that Cambridge amp so it is a possibility. If you can borrow some more speakers you can try them to try and isolate the problem a little more but other than that go over all your connections again.

Yes that's the bearing at the bottom of the spindle and yes it should be removable but there is no real need to remove it but they are a push fit. You can replace them with ruby ones but unless you are going to do a lot of other upgrades and the rest of your system is up to it I doubt you will gain much from it, chances are a clean, re oil and a new belt will yield much more benefit. I can't remember how many system decks I've owned over the years but most of them have left me upgraded in some way. I've replaced the platters with thick acrylic ones, replaced the base boards with acrylic ones, made new armboards, replaced the arms, rewired the arms, replaced the motors with DC ones and made new power supplies (both AC and DC for them), I've never felt the need to replace a bearing once except when the whole bearing assembly has been worn but the ball is usually the last thing to wear.

If you're in no hurry PM me, I ordered 2 although I won't get them until mid next summer as I shipped them to my parents in the US.

They're up again I just snagged one. The site says This item is currently on pre-sale. It may ship in January, and we cannot guarantee that it will arrive by Christmas. All other items purchased with this order will be held until the vinyl is ready to ship. http://www.carlyraejepsenshop.com/signed-emotion-side-b-vinyl.html

If you're using a BSR changer isn't it already built into a radiogram or something with an amplifier and speakers built in? I know some made it into stand alone turntables in the US but they were generally intended for radiograms, music centre's and Dansette type record players. Also does it have a ceramic or magnetic cartridge? Either way they're not exactly the sort of item that needs to be run through a decent quality phono stage so if it has a magnetic cartridge any amplifier or receiver with a built in phono stage will do or if you do need a stand alone one then any of the cheap Chinese or Radio Shack type ones would work. If it has a ceramic cart you might want to see if you can replace it with a Magnetic one or you will need to find something that will accept a Ceramic cart, you can use it into a normal magnetic input but it will be more than a bit quiet.

ebay Here's the link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1Pc-6J1-Valve-Pre-amp-Tube-PreAmplifier-Board-On-Musical-Fidelity-X10-D-Circuit-/291786271575?hash=item43efd12b57:g:44sAAOSwMNxXV914 There's lots of different variants of them but this is the one I bought

This just arrived all the way from China. It's a cheap valve pre amp board based on the Musical Buffer X10 Buffer and using Chinese 6P1 valves. It cost £8.50 including shipping, came complete and you just feed it with 12V AC. I know the equipment before and after it is of a reasonable standard but for £8.50 it's absolutely amazing. Its particularly good at voice, I was expecting loads of hum and basically average sound but no its quiet and sounds superb, I might have got lucky and got a good one but for the price its got to be worth the wait on shipping. This one will be going into a nice box with a decent toroidal transformer and quality volume pot. So if anyone is ok with DIY projects and fancies a go at valves this is a very good and cheap way into them.

No both are doubles so they could be the same plates.

I'm actually amazed this hasn't been booted yet, Hot Fuss for instance has been booted in every colour in the rainbow. Does anyone know if this press is from the same plates as the original or did they have to produce new ones for this?

Anyone know what stops WB re pressing it as well just for the fun of it?

I wondered how often this actually sold for such high sums and did a Popsike search, my conclusion, not that often and quite possibly the same few copies changing hands more than once. Certainly the same ones seem to sit for sale on Discogs for quite a long while. This says to me that the market for high priced copies is actually pretty small, yes a lot of people want a copy but not at any price. I also did a bit of thinking about some of the rarer modern records I own that I get asked if they are for sale via Discogs. The five most common I get asked about in no particular order are Mutmath S/T, Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Killers Hot Fuss and Paramore Riot, Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards. All have been repressed so far except Mutemath and all were available at very normal prices (although Howl Howl Gaff Gaff was a limited 2nd pressing and I don't think there are more than about 750 in total in existence still), Hot Fuss, Robbers & Cowards and Riot were around in high numbers and I saw Hot Fuss in HMV yesterday for £9.99. Regardless of how it's justified, to me $75 before shipping seems excessive for any album let alone a re press, its more what I expect to see the pointless re-issue box sets priced at and I won't buy those either. I'm sure it will sell but I'm very interested to see how quickly and to how many, mostly because the precedent worries me.

You either bundle them and pay the tax or pay more in shipping individual orders so you pay your money and make your choice. On the whole I find it cheaper to bundle them and pay the tax but it's no fun either way