Owen Y Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Do the Terminator or the ET arms come with some sort of protractor to enable you to set this correctly? Hi Andy - no, you simply set it up to track the record radius, from spindle to outer groove. I made up a simple 2-pt 'protractor', rather like a pivoted arm, like this: Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ 1
12ax7 Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 I run the ET with 0.5mm overhang. If I recall the Souther runs downhill on wheels and was not a great arm. I'm not a fan of the downhill solution as on eccentric records the stylus/cantilever has to navigate back up the hill with each rotation.
andyr Posted June 3, 2015 Posted June 3, 2015 Hi Andy - no, you simply set it up to track the record radius, from spindle to outer groove. I made up a simple 2-pt 'protractor', rather like a pivoted arm, like this: Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ Very cool, Owen. Thanks. Andrew
Owen Y Posted June 4, 2015 Posted June 4, 2015 I run the ET with 0.5mm overhang. What difference/s do you hear, cf tracking the tangent? Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/
Full Range Posted June 4, 2015 Author Posted June 4, 2015 I use a mirrored protractor for alignment now 1
12ax7 Posted June 4, 2015 Posted June 4, 2015 Owen, I can't recall ever trying the extreme 1/8" tested in Audio, but with the 0.5 ml overhang I get a very slightly more relaxed smoother sound, does not appear to be any downsides.
andyr Posted June 4, 2015 Posted June 4, 2015 I'm very impressed you dial in to half a mil! Why should that be hard? On a pivoted arm I reckon you can get it to 1/10th of an mm, if you use an arc protractor. Andy
Citroen Posted June 4, 2015 Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) Andy you are obviously younger than me. With my eyesight, I feel blessed to get within a mil😠Edited June 4, 2015 by Citroen
Full Range Posted May 21, 2016 Author Posted May 21, 2016 (edited) An original Garrott Bros / London Decca Gold cartridge came up for sale on the SNA classifieds thanks @@juzmister A fortunate after midnight purchase as I normally miss out on these opportunities due to work schedule Anyway it was sent off on express next day delivery safe and sound and arrived Friday Today I have a day off till this afternoon so I took the opportunity of precious time and got to preparing it for mounting to the Terminatior 3 air bearing arm But first I had to construct a quick Y connector for the single common earth of the London Decca cartridge That took me about 45 min with a coffee in between This first Y connector will be miniaturised for better fit later, but the original stays for the trial Made sure I had good connection to the contact tabs on cart and the removable connector by cleaning and adjusting the springiness of the tabs After carefully fitting the cart to the arm all that was left was to fit and set up the arm on the TT It literally took me about 10 min to set the arm up on the TT Just a breeze First time test was flawless and I am listening to a few records now as I am posting this update I will need to give the new setup a little time to settle in to make a proper review Edited May 21, 2016 by Full Range 8
juzmister Posted May 22, 2016 Posted May 22, 2016 Brilliant! Look forward to your impressions An original Garrott Bros / London Decca Gold cartridge came up for sale on the SNA classifieds thanks @@juzmisterA fortunate after midnight purchase as I normally miss out on these opportunities due to work scheduleAnyway it was sent off on express next day delivery safe and sound and arrived FridayToday I have a day off till this afternoon so I took the opportunity of precious time and got to preparing it for mounting to the Terminatior 3 air bearing armBut first I had to construct a quick Y connector for the single common earth of the London Decca cartridgeThat took me about 45 min with a coffee in betweenThis first Y connector will be miniaturised for better fit later, but the original stays for the trialimage.jpegMade sure I had good connection to the contact tabs on cart and the removable connector by cleaning and adjusting the springiness of the tabsAfter carefully fitting the cart to the arm all that was left was to fit and set up the arm on the TTimage.jpeg image.jpegIt literally took me about 10 min to set the arm up on the TTJust a breezeFirst time test was flawless and I am listening to a few records now as I am posting this updateI will need to give the new setup a little time to settle in to make a proper reviewimage.jpeg
Full Range Posted May 23, 2016 Author Posted May 23, 2016 Update for the Garrott Bros / London Decca Gold cartridge I miniaturerised the earth point to make it neater Afterwards I selected more suitable weights for this cartridge for better and easier adjustment Read somewhere that the metal case, can at times pick up vibrations so I added some blue tac ( don't think it's made much difference ? ) Recalibrated the whole setup again Cartridge Alignment @ Dead level Tracking Weight @ 1.9 grams Phono Amp - MC @ 36db So far I like the dinamics of this cart It's very upfront in its presentation and very engaging with a live performance feeling Violins especially shine, horns are sharp and riveting Positives - great stage presence most instruments are well defined Very nice midrange and tweeter presentation I had no issues with tracking Negatives - some string instuments in the lower register display a tiny follower vibration ( but that could mean that I need to adjust something ) In my system it does a lot of things right and a few tiny things that may need setup adjustments to fine tune 1
awty Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 Negatives - some string instuments in the lower register display a tiny follower vibration ( but that could mean that I need to adjust something ) In my system it does a lot of things right and a few tiny things that may need setup adjustments to fine tune Can you add any mass to that tonearm? Great turntable build BTW.
Full Range Posted May 23, 2016 Author Posted May 23, 2016 Can you add any mass to that tonearm? Great turntable build BTW. It is a very short arm @ approx 100mm from the twin pivot point to the cartridge, and I have made all available and beneficial modifications to the arm already
Full Range Posted May 25, 2016 Author Posted May 25, 2016 (edited) I read somewhere in the past that the London Decca design should be compared to in motor vehicle terminology a DB9 or a fine tuned sorts car So with that in mind I concentrated on that theme Today I did a bit of very precise tone arm & cartridge alignment with slight fine tune changes to the VTA settings in small progressive steps and listened to the changes Result This has at first reduced or eliminated the audible follower vibrations in the lower register playback. My feeling is that after the fine tune adjustments - some anomalies that become audible every now and again in certain spots - then it's a combination of no cantilever in the London Decca and record pressing itself that is at fault Overall Soundstage is more alive and more engaging than the previous listening session and setup Edited May 25, 2016 by Full Range 1
Full Range Posted April 25, 2017 Author Posted April 25, 2017 (edited) A quick update Today I had a desire to give the Tonearm & turntable a clean and polish First quick clean of the Terminator Tonearm and all the exposed areAas of the Garrard 401 Then a prep treatment was applied followed by the H9 ceramic crystal treatment I used this treatment to help the sliding mechanism on the Tonearm to operate smoothly well into the future and as a protective coating The Garrard 401 got the same prep & treatment I also applied another coat on the fulcrum / bearing contact points of the stylus arm with a specific lacquer product - It's specifically used as a coating on high quality string instruments as it expands and contracts with the timber (See photo of the lacquer product used ) Now the turntable is looking sharp and shiny and the Tonearm is looking to do some serious work again, and I am happy to oblige Edited April 25, 2017 by Full Range 1
Chill3 Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 On 6/4/2015 at 1:07 PM, andyr said: Why should that be hard? On a pivoted arm I reckon you can get it to 1/10th of an mm, if you use an arc protractor. Andy Seriously that very hard to believe
andyr Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Chill3 said: Seriously that very hard to believe Ummm, I'm interpreting what you wrote as "Seriously, that is very hard to believe"? With that attitude, Chill, I know I won't be able to convince you ... what you need to do is try it yourself. (Hint: what you need is a good light source and a magnifying glass, as well as the arc protractor.) Andy Edited April 25, 2017 by andyr
Full Range Posted April 25, 2017 Author Posted April 25, 2017 I overlooked the posting of my review of the Stanton 981-LZS Type - Moving Iron The stylus fitted is a new Jico fine line Album - Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon ( same as all reviews for consistency ) This cart is a little gem in the right sysrem Produced to high standards at the time by Stanton to compete with MC carts It does however require an MC phono amp to drive it What I found impressive about the Stanton 981 LZS is that it can find the intricate & delicate information on the record grooves just as well as an MC cart but can get down and dirty on hard rock passages without blinking an eye lid The cartridge can be aptly surmised as- that it does everything well as an allrounder without being a specialist in any field As I am doing this review fresh today - I would really like to revisit and review the Garott Bros London Decca Gold cart as a comparison in a day or two
Martykt Posted September 2, 2017 Posted September 2, 2017 On 04/06/2015 at 10:25 AM, Full Range said: I use a mirrored protractor for alignment now Great build @Full Range, the Garrard and Trans-fi look like a great combo. Any advice on where to get one of those mirrored protractors for linear trackers? Looks like a much better option than a printed A4 sheet.
Full Range Posted September 2, 2017 Author Posted September 2, 2017 19 minutes ago, Martykt said: Great build @Full Range, the Garrard and Trans-fi look like a great combo. Any advice on where to get one of those mirrored protractors for linear trackers? Looks like a much better option than a printed A4 sheet. Thanks for the compliment ? I see the mirror protractors on eBay - and you can normaly ( but not always) get them from HiFi shops They work very well for this application 1
Full Range Posted September 19, 2017 Author Posted September 19, 2017 A quick update on a little side project This is a build to house the air pump that feeds air to the tonearm A friend and I put our heads together after I noticed that he had some CSR Hebel offcuts Hebel is known for its acoustic deadening properties The idea is to make a box with hebel Line the cavity as needed And see how it works out So today the box was put together Feed line grooves made Sealed so dust does not flake off and a second coat to come Tomorow - I will experiment with sound insulation and a foam seal between the lid and base. Some build photos below 2
12ax7 Posted September 19, 2017 Posted September 19, 2017 @Full Range When you try your Decca out again don't forget that they like to be loaded at around 22k rather than 47k.
Full Range Posted September 19, 2017 Author Posted September 19, 2017 1 minute ago, 12ax7 said: @Full Range When you try your Decca out again don't forget that they like to be loaded at around 22k rather than 47k. When the Decca was fitted on the last occasion I had it on MC - 36db The settings available on the phono are 24db 30db 36db How does one convert 22k to db
Telecine Posted September 19, 2017 Posted September 19, 2017 There are probably load resistors internally that would need to be changed.
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