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Post by dsjr on Dec 22, 2017 9:47:49 GMT
The decks I've received via courier have been ok fortunately. I remember asking politely the German supplier of my Dual 601 to pack carefully to take care and I remember that even when new, it couldn't have been packed better - platter in the bottom, deck transit clamped and layers of padding between this and the cover. Cartridge and counterweight were removed and placed in a separate little box... So it can be done and sent internationally and it's not a bad deck either once 'pimpeled' and serviced although the motor needed it's supply cutting down to remove the usual four-pole drone. I'm keeping it for now just in case the 701 motor finally packs up.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2017 12:38:18 GMT
Ive bought a lot of turntables and I'd say more than half have arrived damaged in some way. I've also sold most of them on via EBay and can't recall a single report of damage except for one Italian scammer. I'd agree with André that there's no intrinsic reason why a turntable should be more prone to damage. People have often completely ignored my packing advice, or used the excuse that "it's already packed".
One total idiot who acutually owned a dealership, thought it was OK to ship me a Townshend Rock without emptying the trough, removing the platter or protecting the bearing. His excuse was that he was very busy on the day he packed it! It's a long time ago, so I won't name and shame, but this was someone who was a well-known dealer. He had to be pushed hard to make amends and send me a new belt, bearing oil and trough fluid. Suffice to say I never spent another penny with him again.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2017 18:10:01 GMT
If nobody minds getting back to my system blog 😃. Just going through the tat that was in the bottom of the disco console, there were a few headshells and other bits. I found a couple of ADCs one of which had a cartridge with no stylus and no visible make. It needed a damn good clean, so I took it off of the shell and discovered I have an ADS QLM36 mk3 Improved. Now that’s a stroke of luck if I can find a NOS stylus or a quality replacement.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 22, 2017 18:51:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2017 19:21:46 GMT
Just a little vinyl day... Sounding Sweet
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Post by MartinT on Dec 24, 2017 21:36:06 GMT
Nice photo, Paul.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2017 22:01:54 GMT
Thanks Martin, I have to confess that with £20K worth of work cameras in the bag, I used my iPhone 6+
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 0:25:24 GMT
I got the 20% off offer from eBay so I decided to pull the trigger on one of these for less than £90 including shipping I was going to go with a Loricraft, but at this price I could not resist. The ex BBC deck on the left will go into this with the Lustre GST-1 with either an ADC QLM 36 Mk 3 improved or A JVC Z1 with a JICO stylus. The second deck and the RB200 are still for sale.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2018 13:11:20 GMT
After almost three year I managed to get our freeholders to agree that the communal FM aerial was up the swannee. I told them if they didn’t sort it out I would put a 30’ mast in the garden, with a Ron Smith Galaxie. They got their contractors to send a tech round who had a look and saw that the mast head amp was wired backwards and the output of the distribution amp was set at minimum. This is despite the last two techs saying there was no problem 🤬🤬 This chap sorted it and on checking all three outputs, living room, bedroom and kitchen are giving full deflection on all tuners and as we have no tall buildings, very low multi-path. When we were going through tuners to test sensitivity, I tried a TEAC TH-300 which I had earmarked for the bedroom and a Leak Stereofetic plus a really vintage Sony ST70. Viv immediately said she preferred the Leak to the TEAC, finding the latter a bit “clinical”, the ST70 also had a warmer, more organic sound, but not as detailed as the Leak.
This has now thrown my plans for the bedroom system into dis-array, as I had planned to get the rest of the 300 series TEAC bits. So my quandary, as I have two Stereofetics is should I go for vintage system by adding a Stereo 30 and speakers or do I add to what’s there at the moment. In the bedroom I have my edit suite, this has an i7 iMac feeding a Focusrite Sapphire Pro 40 which in turn feeds a pair of Tannoy active Reveals. I could get a small sized CD player, build a passive pre and feed the Pro 40, tuner and CD into that and use the Tannoys. Or do I go for the vintage route with the Goodmans/ Dynatron speakers I’m restoring?
Oh yes! The other thing is Viv wants a teak sleeve on the other Stereofetic as she likes the look of the one on the main system, so if I go the vintage route I’ll need a Stereo 30 with a sleeve.
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Post by Stratmangler on Jan 20, 2018 13:44:15 GMT
Result on the aerial front, Paul. I've encountered the communal aerial thing on a number of occasions, and they've all been rubbish. I'd often wondered whether they'd been installed properly too.
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Post by MartinT on Jan 20, 2018 14:36:36 GMT
Tricky issue if Viv wants the wooden sleeve. It'll be bulky having the all-Leak system with the Stereo 30 but if you have the room...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2018 22:18:23 GMT
OK the bedroom system is progressing, picked up a mint Temple Audio Bantam Classic for 60 squids at the local Crack Converters, replaced the SMPS wall wart with a cracking MCRU/LDA 12v linear supply I used with my previous STAX energiser and they sound great with the Stereofetic, so these will be combined wit a pair of very dinky JVC SM-3 metal bodied speakers, which I brought to fruition in the UK for the company in the late 70s. I will get a matching case and an ALPS selector switch so I can put a CD player, Cassette deck and the desktop Mac into the Bantam. It'll take a few weeks and I'll post some pics when done. Still need to find a teak sleeve for the Stereofetic though.
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Post by MartinT on Jan 31, 2018 8:13:46 GMT
Class-T amps fed by a decent linear PSU do sound good, don't they?
The JVCs look very interesting, there's pair for sale at the moment.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2018 1:48:40 GMT
Well the plinth from Moldova never arrived, shoul£ have been here on the 29th a5 the latest. I queried with the seller an£ got a despatched notice the day after it should have been delivered. This came with a fake tracking number. Called PayPal who froze their account and refunded me within 24 hours. eBay have now deleted the Valeriabond account. Beware of Maldovans bearing plinths. I have now decided to go with a Loricraft skeletal plinth.
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Post by MartinT on Feb 3, 2018 11:06:16 GMT
I bought some speaker cabinets from Moldova a few years back. They duly arrived and were excellent. I guess there are good Moldovans and bad Moldovans.
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Post by naim1425 on Feb 3, 2018 13:11:57 GMT
keep up the good work on the journey Doc, i really enjoy reading this thread. thanx Alan
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2018 14:33:38 GMT
I bought some speaker cabinets from Moldova a few years back. They duly arrived and were excellent. I guess there are good Moldovans and bad Moldovans. Well eBay seem to have reinstated Valeriabond’s account, so good luck to all who sail in her. Shame as I have the two 401s to do and some Lencos. However the good news is that I now have access to a laser cutter in the new workshop, watch this space.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2018 16:21:21 GMT
keep up the good work on the journey Doc, i really enjoy reading this thread. thanx Alan Thanks Alan naim1425, glad you like it. Having a bit of a vintage day today. My first project in the new workshop was restoring a pair of vintage sound cubes that I used to use in my record production and engineering days. The were the Radio Shack version of the classic Auratones. I had them in a studio in Hackney called Opaz, when some klutz managed to blow them and the tweeters in my Meridian M2s. At the time I could not get the right 5” paper driver so I had a pair of really good SonAudax bass mid units, their equivalent of a KEF B110, which I shoe horned into the case. This needed a tweeter so I added a top pod and a tiny Audax tweeter originally made for cars and a simple crossover. Later I used them on a home cinema system and I rear ported the cases and hooked them in with a sub. My late ex had them for years and they were in a deplorable state, it took 7 coats of teak oil and much rubbing down with wire wool to sort the cases, the grilles were long gone too. Now I have replaced the crossover with a 2nd order Butterworth network, coming in at 4.5k, which is firmly mounted on stand offs inside the case, used some good quality OFC in PTFE hook up wire and replaced the spring clips with some decent binding posts. Also made some new frames for some dark grille cloth. I’m driving them with a Musical Fidelity P-140 off the Art Audio VP-1 and the sound amazing, if 8 say so myself. While there is no great weight to the bass, the midrange clarity is staggering, Viv described the sound as “Very cohesive”. Vocals and acoustic guitar have great dynamics and attack. They are not the big Tannoy/Lockwoods, but they make a nice change, especially and lower to mid volume. I will hook them up to the Art Audio monoblocs later for a listen.
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Post by jayman67 on Feb 12, 2018 19:28:26 GMT
im enjoying reading this thread too,any updates doc? ps im on audioshite,the one looking for foxbase alpha
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2018 19:33:59 GMT
Now this is WEIRD with a capital W, after the seller in Moldova sent a refund via PayPal I got an item despatched email from eBay. Bearing in mind that the first tracking number they sent was fake, I was skepticical, and by this time I had ordered a Loricraft Skeletal plinth. The seller had sent me an email saying if the item turned up I could keep it. Several weeks latter, another email telling me it was at the post office having cleared customs. Three days latter it arrived and I was bemused to say the least, then I get a demand for payment from the seller, I spoke to eBay and PayPal and they both tell me that, as far as 5hey are concerned, despite the fact I had a full refund, I can just keep the thing.
Well I thought I would at least make some kind of gesture here, but when I look at the plinth, it’s just a lump of ply, with a couple of cut outs. There is and exit for the arm cable, but it goes into the cavity under the deck, but there is no way to get the cable out unless the thing is mounted on quite tall feet. OK I thought, I can put some spikes in the corners, but no I can’t ‘cos there are screws in thepoin5 they should go, presumably to hold the ply sheets together ‘til the glue had set. Again these are things I can get around, but if I had known all the gaff it would lead to, I would not have bought the thing. Also I have not had a chance to fit the deck to it yet, but the bolts holes look smaller than necessary for the 1/4 inch BSF studs, we’ll see when it arrives.
In the mean time courtesy of our local “Crack converters” I picked up a Sony MDS-JE520 MiniDisc player for the exorbitant sum of £9.99. I alway had a soft spot for MD, as compression goes I like ATRACS, it’s lossles to all intents and the better than CD quality give a lot more “air” to my mind, plus it’s quick and easy to record and the digital out lets me load it into logic via my Foucusrite Safire Pro 24 and iMac. I have three MD recorders now, including a mint MZ-R35 portable. Anyway Viv and Imare having a great afternoon and evening playing through old Blues and Rock MDs of Steve Miller, Zappa, Johnny Winter et al. I took the new machine to the workshop yesterday stopped and cleaned the mechanism and laser, gave the whole thing a good clean and it sounds bloody good.
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