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Posted
I could give you a deal on a sony ps-x45 that just needs a cart. It's relatively easy to maintain, because it's a quartz lock DD... :)

Do you know if this is a good step up in SQ compared to the Dual 505-2?

I finally found something that sounds more like real life with this most basic of basic vinyl setups. I don't know why it took me so long to re-listen to my vinyl setup but I'm (sort of) glad I did.

Posted
Do you know if this is a good step up in SQ compared to the Dual 505-2?

I finally found something that sounds more like real life with this most basic of basic vinyl setups. I don't know why it took me so long to re-listen to my vinyl setup but I'm (sort of) glad I did.

I'm afraid you're going to have to remove yourself from 'Team Not Too Extreme Tweaking' and join 'Team Too Extreme Tweaking'

Posted
I'm afraid you're going to have to remove yourself from 'Team Not Too Extreme Tweaking' and join 'Team Too Extreme Tweaking'

That's what I was afraid of, as well. I could never reach the level of tweakiness that Patrick achieves so there's no way I am worthy of being in the same group. But I guess I may have to join Team Too Moderate Tweaking.:P

Posted
What do you guys think of the seriously vintage turntables, like ones made by Garrard? Would they require a lot of DIY to make/keep functional and would they sound good?

The Garrard I'm most familiar with is the 401, and that usually takes a fair bit of work to get it going. In most cases you'll need to build a base & plinth for them and get the base drilled & setup for mounting the tonearm. At the same time the mechanicals also need to be looked at, sometimes a bit of oil is all that's needed but at other times it can get a lot more involved. But once everything's done it sounds fucking great and is damn near bulletproof.

Posted

Quality aside the Dual is belt drive and the Sony is direct drive. From that era I preferred the direct drive tables to the Dual belt drives as the lack of speed stability on the belt drives always annoyed me.

Posted

The ps-x45 isn't a biotracer, but it is a solid quartz locked direct drive. Then there's that I'm going to be in gaithersburg saturday for work...

Posted
The Garrard I'm most familiar with is the 401, and that usually takes a fair bit of work to get it going. In most cases you'll need to build a base & plinth for them and get the base drilled & setup for mounting the tonearm. At the same time the mechanicals also need to be looked at, sometimes a bit of oil is all that's needed but at other times it can get a lot more involved. But once everything's done it sounds fucking great and is damn near bulletproof.

I think I just missed out on a 301 for $50. Thanks for the info though, I'll keep it in mind for the future.

Quality aside the Dual is belt drive and the Sony is direct drive. From that era I preferred the direct drive tables to the Dual belt drives as the lack of speed stability on the belt drives always annoyed me.

My 505 has been really stable, to my ears at least. Spins up to speed within 2 or 3 revolutions and stays there. DD should be better, but I don't know how big a difference it would make in the sound.

Posted

Yeah but apparently everything needs to be replaced except the motor, and I don't know for sure that it was a 301. All the dude wrote in his ad was a Garrard table made in the 1960-65 era so it could have been something else. I'm not familiar with Garrard's history or any turntable history, for that matter.

Edit: I don't mean that particular unit. He said it was in working condition, but people say it needs a complete rehaul to eek out the best performance.

Posted
Yeah but apparently everything needs to be replaced except the motor, and I don't know for sure that it was a 301. All the dude wrote in his ad was a Garrard table made in the 1960-65 era so it could have been something else. I'm not familiar with Garrard's history or any turntable history, for that matter.

Edit: I don't mean that particular unit. He said it was in working condition, but people say it needs a complete rehaul to eek out the best performance.

There are other Garrards than the 301/401 ;)

Even one just for parts would probably fetch ~ $500.

Posted

That Bob fellow also has SUTs based on Cinemag trafos, which are less expensive.

I'm planning on doing more or less the same thing Ari did with the loading resistors (and jumpers to choose gain too) but on the inside of the box with a European-style barrier strip (which I have on hand) I figure I can just leave the lid off if I'm experimenting.

It's all a little hypothetical yet as I'm still waiting for the CineMags. We'll soon know if this is easy or if I land in hum purgatory.

Posted

I've almost committed to buying the Rek-O-Kut B12GH now. Rim/idler drive made in the '60s that was primarily used for radio broadcasts, which uses a Papst three phase hysteresis motor with faking capacitor. The B12H with one phase Ashland hysteresis motor went for $130 without arm or base and was the most expensive TT sold at the time, beating out the Garrard 301 by a whopping $30. The motor on that thing is apparently bigger than the ones on today's washing machines so uh, no thanks.:P

I'm still trying to figure out if a modern tonearm will fit in the slot on the top plate... if not I'll have to rotate the top plate 90 degrees and make a slot in the plinth. Will probably also need to damp the inside of the plinth.

3n53oa3lc5t95p25s49bpe7.jpg

Posted
I may try the Bob's cinemag SUT

nums I've got a long-term loaner cinemag SUT floating around out there somewhere. I think maybe texas marc or texas steve (by way of alaska) has it? If they aren't using it you are welcome to borrow it to see if it works for you. let me know if you are interested and I'll track it down.

anumber1 from audio asylum built it, pretty similar to the one bob sells on ebay.

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