[qpoiz]

Hi everyone

I bought a tt-161 turntable from a seller on ebay that happened to be 10 min away from my house (there was actually a thread about it in the FS forum). Anyways, the table is in ok condition. A little dirty and the dust cover is actually from a sony turntable. No big deal. But i had a few ?'s

1. I bought a new belt from Vintage Electronics and just installed it today. The belt that the turntable came with made the platter spin too fast (Pavarotti sounded like one of the chipmunks), but I still feel like the platter spins fast with the new cable. Any way to check this and fix this? Is it the needle? Or is the belt not tight enough?

2. What is this small third cable? Its part of the RCA cables of the turntable. Is it a ground?

Hope someone can help. Thanks guys!

 

[003]

Oh boy, you are headed down an expensive and bumpy road. Read all my vinyl and/or turntable related threads here in the dedicated source section for sure, you will learn a lot of stuff you need to know.

 

[qpoiz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh boy, you are headed down an expensive and bumpy road. Read all my vinyl and/or turntable related threads here in the dedicated source section for sure, you will learn a lot of stuff you need to know.

haha now i'm scared

 

[goldenratiophi]

Don't know about #1, but I'm pretty sure that third cable is ground.

 

[qpoiz]

ok, so the small wire is just the ground.

Now, will a preamp/phono stage take care of the slightly high-pitch playback?

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qpoiz /img/forum/go_quote.gif ok, so the small wire is just the ground. Now, will a preamp/phono stage take care of the slightly high-pitch playback?

No. It sounds like they sent you the wrong sized belt. Try turntablebasics.com. If you measure the current belt and look for the next few sizes up on there they will send you a selection to try until you find one you are happy with.

 

[JadeEast]

Is the table playing @ 45rpm ?

Sorry if this is an obvious question but you got to
start some where.

 

[fran]

The wrong size belt won't make it play fast!

You sure its not on 45rpm, when the LP you have is 33rpm? Are you sure the belt is running in the right spot? And pavarotti sounding like the chipmunks would sound very like 45rpm.

Fran

Oh yeah, the third wire is for ground - there will be a grounding point on the back of your phono stage or integrated amp if thats what you're going to use, connect it up there.

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fran /img/forum/go_quote.gif The wrong size belt won't make it play fast!

It can do if you stretch a belt that's too small which I've seen people do in the past.

If the belt is slightly too small by say 5 mm then it can speed the deck up enough to give it the sense of being pitched up slightly if you have very pitch sensitive hearing which some people do.

 

[qpoiz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif It can do if you stretch a belt that's too small which I've seen people do in the past. If the belt is slightly too small by say 5 mm then it can speed the deck up enough to give it the sense of being pitched up slightly if you have very pitch sensitive hearing which some people do.

Will the belt stretch out until it fits right, like a pair of shoes?

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qpoiz Will the belt stretch out until it fits right, like a pair of shoes?

Yes exactly. It will slowly stretch over a period of 5 years or so until it gets too loose and needs replacement again.

Basically you shouldn't need to strech it too much to fit in the first place though as this puts strain on the main bearing. If it's running very noticably fast then it could be that they sent you the wrong belt.

If the pitch is only very slightly off then it may just need to run in for a bit and it's better that it's slightly fast than slow in this event.

 

[qpoiz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes exactly. It will slowly stretch over a period of 5 years or so until it gets too loose and needs replacement again. Basically you shouldn't need to strech it too much to fit in the first place though as this puts strain on the main bearing. If it's running very noticably fast then it could be that they sent you the wrong belt. If the pitch is only very slightly off then it may just need to run in for a bit and it's better that it's slightly fast than slow in this event.

awesome! thanks for your answer.

The sound has been improving. Initially the pitch was higher. I've listened to Pavarotti plenty of times to know he doesn't sound like a castrato singer haha.

But it has improved. I've timed songs and compared them to the same songs on my computer and if my ear doesn't lie, It has definitely gotten better.

Thanks everyone for your answers!

 

[fran]

Is it a flat belt or a round belt? Its just I can't for the life of me see why a too-tight flat belt that stretched to fit would possibly make a TT run too fast. Now, if its a round belt and you stretch it so that it rides down deeper in a v-pulley then that would make it run slower.

Please let me know how this is possible?

If you want to check the speed to be sure: Stick a little piece of tape to the platter so that it sticks out over the edge a little. Put your finger resting on the deck so taht the tape hits it as it passes. Get stopwatch/timer. Set time going as tape brushes your finger, then count 100 revolutions. As you get the 100th revolution the timer should read 3mins. 33 1/3 rpm = 100 revs in 3mins.

Hey a thought just struck me, you don't have a european TT/pulley thats meant for 50Hz whereas you have 60Hz mains by any chance?

I googled for the TT in question but came up with zilch.

Fran