Jump to content

allenh

Members
  • Posts

    2,902
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1
  • Feedback

    100%

Everything posted by allenh

  1. This if you can find one would be a great choice but it might take quite a bit of searching and luck
  2. Obviously it does depend where in the world you are but assuming you're in the US my first stop would be http://www.usaudiomart.com/ or for Canada http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/ or even ebay as the buyer is very well protected there or as a last resort if you're a bit braver then Craigslist. Also I suspect if you dig on google about there are other HiFi classified sites.
  3. If you like the Rega and Project style then my recommendation would be buy a used Rega P3 / Planer 3 and a better cartridge
  4. $30 Aus is a good price yes so enjoy it and yes it's a step up from the Philips There was some shocking stuff produced by some good names in in the 80's which all falls in the bracket of BPC (Black Plastic Crap) but it's still better than a Crosley, Ion, Pyle, GPO etc. etc. You can fit another cartridge to that Philips if you can't get a Stylus to get it going but I can't see if you can adjust the tracking force on it so that might make things difficult, I'd be surprised if you can't get a stylus for it though being Philips.
  5. Looks to be in nice condition so probably hasn't been used a lot but BSR tables in general and Pye equipment of that vintage isn't exactly known for hifi quality (think mid 80's Amstrad), that said though it is a perfectly good start in the world of HiFi provided it didn't cost you a lot of money. You could certainly keep hold of the table for a while as it is one of BSR's better efforts and potentially the best part of it. That sort of thing would have come from a department store or pay weekly catalogue like Empire in the late 70's or early 80's and was aimed at the casual listener who wasn't that fussed or didn't really know what they were buying when Pye was still a known name. Don't get me wrong you really could have bought a lot worse buying new as it's light years better than a Crosley, Ion, Pyle or any of the other plastic crap now available as back then even the bottom end of the market was perfectly serviceable and there are improvements you can make as the weakest bits in it will be the cartridge (unless it's already been replaced) and the speakers, Not all of them have replaceable cartridges but if it is look out a half decent Shure cartridge for it or an Audio Technica AT95 and something like a pair of Kef Coda 7 or 9 speakers if you can but keep hold of the original speakers if you decide to move it on. There is a fair amount of this sort of stuff still about as it was bought by older people and used very little and you do see it in fashionable boutiques for silly money but is also still available for between £20 to £40 in the local classifieds which is much more it's real value. For now enjoy it but know it for what it is.
  6. Ouch!!! I sort of did that with a Sumiko Blue Point Special (the open body one) so you're not alone, caught my sleeve on it and that was that.
  7. Bought this at the weekend. For those that might well not have seen one it's a Manticore Mantra with a Manticore Magician tonearm. I reckon this is probably one of the last made and it comes with every upgrade and bell and whistle they offered like an Aerolam sub chassis link a Pink Triangle, their very expensive main bearing upgrade, Manticore MB6i power supply and motor, the Magician tonearm with Van Den Hul internal and external wiring and all the arm bearing upgrades. I also have the very first table they produces which came in kit form and was called the Input Design Kitdeck so this bookends the Manticore production. They a not a table you see outside of the UK very much but are very much in the UK superdeck leagues and especially in this guise, I paid enough for it but this thing cost someone some serious money in the mid 90's and suffice to say this ones a keeper.
  8. Don't wear that stylus out they are an expensive nightmare to replace.
  9. It's not a box and I doubt the Project plinth really lends anything major to the original sound so in this instance you can go for aesthetics, something solid and thick should do it but yes the harder and therefore denser the wood the better.
  10. I'm with that nice Mr Grohl, you've got a friend who has a woodshop and a template so you could make something really nice out of this and sell the original plinth to a Beatles obsessive on ebay.
  11. That's a bit like the how longs a bit of string question. It's a standard 1/2" fitting so you can fit pretty much any cart that's in budget you like even one that's intended for DJ work. It's more that you can't use a HiFi cart for DJ work than the other way round but a DJ cart will always sound inferior to a HiFi cart because the cantilever and suspension will be heavier and therefore less sensitive.
  12. Yes both of those will work with a 2M blue as it's a standard MM cartridge but if you want a more bass heavy sound I wouldn't recommend using an Ortofon cartridge.
  13. Sadly I have to agree the quality some people are prepared to accept makes me shake my head in disbelief sometimes, that said I'm not an Ortofon fan but they have been at this a very long time so I'd be surprised if they made a cartridge that bad, Ortofons are more than a little bright but maybe the geometry of the Project is not exactly good and making a poor cartridge worse. It might line up on the protractor but if the overhang they quote and allow is wrong for the effective arm length then you will get IGD in spades and if the VTA is wrong then that will add to the sibilance that is usually there with an Ortofon cartridge. Set it up by ear using trial and error for the inner grooves if you can and I bet you'll be able to get it usable. You won't get rid of the sibilance because you're stuck with the VTA but you should be able to sort the IGD.
  14. Ok not a bad table at all and can be very respectable when working properly but yes of course you can do better and a Planer 3 would be an upgrade, personally I'd try and get the JVC working properly first though. Misbehaving speed control yes one of the joys of old and complex electronics I'm afraid. More likely to be a problem in the speed selection than the speed control pots, if you had speed stability issues then yes but if it just wants to run on 45 then it's going to be speed selection somewhere.
  15. Hmm a U Turn or a Crosley? let me think now That's got to be the most one sided question since do you want to eat chocolate or shit? Any Crosley is only good for target practice or use as a door stop, never ever under any circumstance put a record anywhere near one
  16. Short answer you can upgrade any Rega to astonishing levels so that you are left with basically the power switch from your original turntable. Even shorter answer don't bother with either and buy a used Planer 3 I've written on here at length about the Rega upgrade path listing out lots of bits etc. And some of the history of them so use the search button as I don't want to write it all again but basically any Rega's strong point is it's arm, the RB250 and 300 were industry standards for years and are still used on a good few high end tables in various guises now, they are all pretty good apart from the very early RP200 and the Rega turntable as a whole is fundamentally unchanged from the very earliest mid 70's examples. So basically buying a new one is pretty much pointless and like I say buy a used Planer 3 and upgrade from there. Out of interest what are you using as a vintage table now? There is very little new in turntable design so you might already have a winner and not be aware. The only real improvements have been in motor control and this can be adapted for any turntable.
  17. I doubt it but it is possible, the weight would alter the VTA so the easy check is put a steel rule beside the platter with and without the weight and see if it drops by more than 1mm with the weight on, 1mm you shouldn't really notice at that end but 1,5mm or 2mm and up yes I expect it will have an effect.
  18. Try and find one of those angled headshells they put on the new Lenco's and similar. Put that on and you go from DJ to HiFi in one easy fit. When you do tell me where you got it from becasue the moment I do I'm buying one of those really expensive Stantons to see just how good I can make it.
  19. yes the correct angle is 18 degrees and the only really bad arms are those that are straight with a straight headshell. On the straight with angled hedshell or S or J shaped debate there are pro's and cons but mostly the straight with an angled headshell is considered best.
  20. Yep pretty much that. I've heard the Teac and hated it for the money, it was flat and lifeless which is a real pity for such a nice looking table and I understand the issue is that the arm is just rubbish so not an easy fix. I haven't heard the Fluance so this is just an educated guess but I expect it's better than the Teac and not as good as the U Turn Bottom line is you need to go to a hifi shop and listen to some of this stuff and form your own opinions but don't be suckered into buying something there and then unless it really jumps out at you as being the one, ideally you want to mull it over before hand over all your hard earned cash, oh and make sure you get them to play music you like not something they suggest that makes the table sound good with that particular record.
  21. That's becasue when it says line out it means line level out as in signal level and in that line out and pre out are the same signal level. Some equipment will say fixed and variable line out for line (fixed) and pre (variable) which is more helpful and you will also see tape out on some kit which again is fixed line level.
  22. No the thickness shouldn't really matter but you have used the cables that came with it haven't you? I mean just removing the phono stage board and joining the arm wires to the outgoing wires? If you used different wire that isn't for audio signal i.e. properly screened then yes all you are doing is adding a big antenna to the back of your turntable. Provided your joint is both mechanical and electrical then it should be fine but if it's not then there will be a high resistance there or if any of the cables are snapped inside. A couple of photo's of what you have done might help.
  23. Ground problems are always a sod to diagnose when it's not in front of you but to help diagnose where it is you can try touching things like the arm or platter or spindle etc and your body should ground it to a degree and make the hum less if it's not properly grounded. Obviously be careful though don't touch inside the unit as there's mains voltage in there and you don't want to shock yourself.
×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist