Schiit Audio Sol Turntable Thread
Mar 18, 2020 at 7:05 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 46

Sean H

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Schiit Audio Sol
Cast Aluminum Unipivot Turntable
$799.00 USD
Includes Audio-Technica AT-95EN cartridge
https://www.schiit.com/products/sol


Yeah, we know. Sol doesn’t look like any other affordable turntable in the world. That’s because it’s designed to deliver the most amazing performance possible for the bucks, without regard to how it “should” look. If you want a normal-looking turntable, there are tons of choices. If you want the best performance for the price, there’s only one choice: Sol.

Ideal For Turntable Owners Looking For More
If you already own an inexpensive turntable, but you’re looking for maximum performance (without a second mortgage), Sol is perfect for you. All Sol turntables include the acclaimed Audio-Technica AT-95EN cartridge with nude elliptical stylus, set up and ready to go. If you want more, it's easy to swap Audio-Technica styluses to microline or Shibata versions, without changing the cartridge. And, of course, you can always use your own cartridge as well.

Engineered Specifically for Performance
Sol is the result of years of R&D at Schiit Audio. Some may say we’re just slow (and that may be true), but Sol also went through many iterations to reach its final form. That’s how we landed on something completely unique, a true unconstrained unipivot design based on aluminum die castings, with not a piece of MDF or acrylic in sight. That’s also how we decided to include an insane amount of high-end features, like on-the-fly adjustable VTA.

Separate Motor Pod
As an example of our dedication to performance, Sol’s motor is completely separated from the plinth and platter, housed in a separate, sorbothane-isolated pod that decouples it from the rest of the turntable. A low-durometer rubber motor base and composite, rubber and cork platter mat increase the isolation.

Longest Arm in the Hood—Swappable in Seconds
Sol features a carbon fiber tonearm that is longer than anything else in its price class—a full 11” long. A longer arm means more accurate tracking—much better than the “baby arms” of other affordable turntables. Not only that, the Sol tonearm can be swapped in seconds, allowing you to easily change cartridges to meet your specific needs.

Total Adjustability for Every Need
Sol was also designed to help you extract the maximum performance from every cartridge. Literally everything is adjustable. From on-the-fly VTA, cartridge angle, anti-skate, and even tonearm pivot height, platter height, and motor pulley height, we have you covered. You’ll be comfortable using an expensive cartridge with Sol, knowing you’re getting the most out of it.

Designed and Built in California
By “designed and built in California" this is what we mean: the vast majority of the total production cost of Sol—including the die-cast aluminum pieces, machined and stamped metal pieces, boards, assembly, etc—goes to US companies manufacturing in the US. Our castings are done just beyond the Orange Curtain, many subassemblies are done in Simi Valley, and assembly, adjustment, and testing are done by us in Valencia, CA. You get the picture.

5-Year Warranty, Easy Returns
Sol is also covered by a 5-year limited warranty that covers parts and labor (with a single exception: belts. Come on, do you really think a turntable belt will last 5 years? And if you don’t like your Sol, you can send it back for a refund, minus 5% restocking fee, within 15 days of receiving it.

Type: manual with cueing
Arm: Unconstrained unipivot, carbon fiber pultruded shaft, 11" effective length, with adjustable cartridge angle, anti-skate, fast swap, and on-the-fly adjustable VTA
Effective Mass: 13.0g without cartridge
Standard cartridge: Audio-Technica AT95EN
Drive: belt drive
Platter: 11.75”, 3 lb, aluminium alloy diecast
Bearing: inverted, 0.5" dia x 2.5" long, Igus
Speeds: 33 and 45rpm, selected via pulley size
Rumble: -74dB
Signal to noise ratio: >72dB
Wow and flutter: less than 0.11%
Power: 16VAC, 60 Hz, 8VA via included wall-wart
Dimensions: 16.5 x 14 x 6" (approximate, depends on orientation and settings)
Weight: 9.5 lbs

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Mar 18, 2020 at 10:00 PM Post #3 of 46
Mar 22, 2020 at 11:52 AM Post #4 of 46
Mar 24, 2020 at 6:56 PM Post #5 of 46
If anyone is interested in this, I would consider waiting til Schiit gets some kinks sorted out. I've read that some buyers have gotten Sol set up quickly. Unfortunately it's not been the same for me.

I received my Sol on Sunday and have run into multiple issues.
1. Motor pod doesn't start. I've yet to get any concrete response on resolving this.
2. Tonearm was clearly not calibrated. All the cantilevers are screwed all the way in and out of the box, the needle sits on the platter, regardless of cueing shelf height. I had to adjust the tonearm height and I'm guessing I have to basically adjust the stylus force and cartridge angle manually since I can't trust what I got out of box.
3. Manual has misprints:
a. Pointed to schiit.com/sol-setup which had a private video. They have since fixed it after I sent the info to them.
b. Stated that I should use the 5/64" allen key to adjust the cueing height, but it's actually the 3/16" allen key (2nd biggest allen key)
c. Stated that the platter height is adjusted using the 3/8" allen key, they probably meant the 1/8" allen (biggest allen key)
d. Didn't mention which allen key to use to adjust tonearm height (it's the smallest one)

So far support has not been great. First response was just to link to their newer Sol setup video on youtube, no comments whatsover on my motor pod not starting. After sending a more detailed response about what I was seeing and a photo, the second response was to adjust the brass cantilever on my tonearm, which did not fix the needle-resting-on-platter issue. I decided to go ahead and raise the tonearm height myself which fixed the issue, but now I'm dreading figuring out what other adjustments I need to make.

Because of the motor pod issue, I haven't played a record yet on my Sol. I feel like I'm still in the beta test...
 
Mar 30, 2020 at 1:48 PM Post #7 of 46
If anyone is interested in this, I would consider waiting til Schiit gets some kinks sorted out. I've read that some buyers have gotten Sol set up quickly. Unfortunately it's not been the same for me.

I received my Sol on Sunday and have run into multiple issues.
1. Motor pod doesn't start. I've yet to get any concrete response on resolving this.
2. Tonearm was clearly not calibrated. All the cantilevers are screwed all the way in and out of the box, the needle sits on the platter, regardless of cueing shelf height. I had to adjust the tonearm height and I'm guessing I have to basically adjust the stylus force and cartridge angle manually since I can't trust what I got out of box.
3. Manual has misprints:
a. Pointed to schiit.com/sol-setup which had a private video. They have since fixed it after I sent the info to them.
b. Stated that I should use the 5/64" allen key to adjust the cueing height, but it's actually the 3/16" allen key (2nd biggest allen key)
c. Stated that the platter height is adjusted using the 3/8" allen key, they probably meant the 1/8" allen (biggest allen key)
d. Didn't mention which allen key to use to adjust tonearm height (it's the smallest one)

So far support has not been great. First response was just to link to their newer Sol setup video on youtube, no comments whatsover on my motor pod not starting. After sending a more detailed response about what I was seeing and a photo, the second response was to adjust the brass cantilever on my tonearm, which did not fix the needle-resting-on-platter issue. I decided to go ahead and raise the tonearm height myself which fixed the issue, but now I'm dreading figuring out what other adjustments I need to make.

Because of the motor pod issue, I haven't played a record yet on my Sol. I feel like I'm still in the beta test...


From your description it sounds at though your platter height was wrong, are you sure you followed the instructions in the manual:
Slide the Sol Platter onto the bearing housing until it bottoms out. You may need to loosen the bearing cap screws using the 5/64” allen key to get it to slide on and then tighten them up when the platter is fully seated onto the plinth.


As far as the motor not starting, do you mean it won't start even without the belt fitted or do you mean it will not start with the belt fitted? If the latter remember that the manual states:
Turn on the motor, using the switch. You may need to give the platter a little nudge in the clockwise direction, this is totally normal.
 
Mar 30, 2020 at 2:19 PM Post #8 of 46
From your description it sounds at though your platter height was wrong, are you sure you followed the instructions in the manual:



As far as the motor not starting, do you mean it won't start even without the belt fitted or do you mean it will not start with the belt fitted? If the latter remember that the manual states:

Yes I did read the instructions (and watched the newer setup video too) and I'm fairly certain I followed the instructions correctly.

I slid the platter until it wouldn't budge anymore with my body weight, and the bearing top lined up with the platter. Also verified that the platter was sitting on top of the black plastic(?) things.
.
As for the motor, I flipped the power switch back and forth, manually spun the platter clockwise as well as just manually spun the pulley groove directly. I wiggled the power plug connection in the motor in case it was a loose connection. Plugged into a different ac outlet. I even plugged the ac adapter directly to the motor (since the Sol setup video stated it was possible/ok to do so) and even plugged the Mani ac adapter directly to the motor since I saw they were the same, nothing happened. I tried everything I could think of, I really really didn't want to go through a swap and wait longer.

As an update, after I sent another response asking them again "What about my motor issues?", they decided to go ahead and initiate a swap. That part has moved swiftly and Schitt was able to ship out a replacement on Thursday. I'm still waiting for the delivery but I was pleased with their quick response once the swap process was initiated.
 
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Mar 31, 2020 at 6:27 AM Post #9 of 46
..As an update, after I sent another response asking them again "What about my motor issues?", they decided to go ahead and initiate a swap. That part has moved swiftly and Schitt was able to ship out a replacement on Thursday. I'm still waiting for the delivery but I was pleased with their quick response once the swap process was initiated.

Sorry for the trouble you have had. Hopefully, the replacement Sol will be perfectly set up and you will be able to enjoy the music. I do wonder if the mechanical Sol will be more susceptible to damage/movement during transit than the electronic Schiit components. Keep safe in these uncertain times.
 
Mar 31, 2020 at 1:37 PM Post #10 of 46
I received the replacement last night. Motor worked!

I did have to adjust some stuff though as the tonearm would not sit on the raised cueing shelf again. I'm only looking at my own small sample size of two, but I would guess that they might be tuning the tonearm and platter properly but neglecting to make sure the cueing shelves line up with the tonearm too. Luckily I was pretty familiar with the different adjustments now so I was able to quickly resolve this by raising the cueing shelf and slightly lowering the tonearm.

The Sol sounds great! Definitely all smiles yesterday as I spent hours going through different genres of vinyl. And I also had some fun tinkering with the various knobs at my discretion (VTA, anti-skate) as I switched between albums.

Sorry for the trouble you have had. Hopefully, the replacement Sol will be perfectly set up and you will be able to enjoy the music. I do wonder if the mechanical Sol will be more susceptible to damage/movement during transit than the electronic Schiit components. Keep safe in these uncertain times.

Thanks for the kind words, stay safe yourself.
 
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Apr 1, 2020 at 9:30 AM Post #11 of 46
I received the replacement last night. Motor worked!

I did have to adjust some stuff though as the tonearm would not sit on the raised cueing shelf again. I'm only looking at my own small sample size of two, but I would guess that they might be tuning the tonearm and platter properly but neglecting to make sure the cueing shelves line up with the tonearm too. Luckily I was pretty familiar with the different adjustments now so I was able to quickly resolve this by raising the cueing shelf and slightly lowering the tonearm.

The Sol sounds great! Definitely all smiles yesterday as I spent hours going through different genres of vinyl. And I also had some fun tinkering with the various knobs at my discretion (VTA, anti-skate) as I switched between albums.



Thanks for the kind words, stay safe yourself.
Sorry to hear your motor was DOA, but glad Schiit took care of you. In my experience they will work hard to correct issues. I too thought I had a motor issue. But it turned out that the pulley was set down onto the motor casing and rubbing. I also had to tweak the cueing mechanism as it was set too low and the VTA was set tail up. All very easy fixes. For my table the cart was aligned correctly and the VTF was within spec. Platter height matched the video I linked below. Don't forget to level your plinth! IMO, with any new (or used) table I would still check setup no matter where I procured it from. Plus with Sol, I think most users will want to tinker. Certainly, on the fly VTA is very, very cool! I can't wait for Schiit to start selling additional tonearms as that feature is another key reason I purchased this table. So far I' very happy with the sound.

For those interested, a friend referred me to this vid (Conrad Hoffman - Sol Setup ) for setup tweaks. So far I've found much of what he's recommended to translate past the beta program.
 
Apr 4, 2020 at 10:11 AM Post #13 of 46
Currently running an older Rega P3 with a Ortofon 2M Red thru a Mani and considering a Sol.

What do you guys think of the Sol with the AT-95EN? It’s hard to find current reviews.
Well, I'm happy with the sound. But I must caveat this. One, I'm still dialing it in and the cart is so new that I expect some break in as well. Two, my only reference for comparison is a Nagaoka MP-110 which is a cart that works very well with the Mani. But its mounted on my Sony PS-X45 which is a decent vintage piece (especially considering it's price). In that config, the Nagaoka is warm and chewy-gooey at times. Its also forgiving which is great for used vinyl. It's fun but doesn't approach the detail retrieval of the AT-VM95EN mounted on the Sol. As soon as Schiit starts selling the tonearms, I plan to play. I have a NOS Stanton 681eee that I want to try out.

I think the AT-VM95EN was a good choice for an out of the box setup as it's super easy to swap in the microline and shibata styli to alter the sound without chasing cart alignment.

Disclaimer: While I gravitate to a particular sound profile, I don't consider my self a golden ears audiophile. I'm also not an objectivist listener, I give in to emotion despite the measurements. I'm also in my late 40s, so my ears have some mileage on them.
 
Apr 13, 2020 at 4:05 PM Post #14 of 46
I received my Sol last week, but finally was able to set it up Sunday. I only had to change 2 settings:
I moved the motor pulley up about the thickness of a piece of paper (slight rubbing on motor housing), and raised the tone arm lift. Everything else seemed correct.
I was surprised how nice this AT-VM95EN cartridge sounded. I listened to the Beethoven - Bohm cycle and it sounded wonderful. There seems to be a lot of potential here!

Now I just need a dust cover to keep my cats from destroying it! I'm currently using a large, white cardboard box.
 
Apr 13, 2020 at 7:20 PM Post #15 of 46
I received my Sol last week, but finally was able to set it up Sunday. I only had to change 2 settings:
I moved the motor pulley up about the thickness of a piece of paper (slight rubbing on motor housing), and raised the tone arm lift. Everything else seemed correct.
I was surprised how nice this AT-VM95EN cartridge sounded. I listened to the Beethoven - Bohm cycle and it sounded wonderful. There seems to be a lot of potential here!

Now I just need a dust cover to keep my cats from destroying it! I'm currently using a large, white cardboard box.
Congrats! I'm more and more impressed with the AT-VM95EN each time the needle drops. Also like you, I'm also concerned with animal hair (in my case dogs). I just ordered a custom cover from the following vendor after getting good recommendations.

https://www.displaycasej.com/store/category/turntable-covers

Unfortunately he's got a 10 week lead time. But it's for a good cause. He's making protective shields for the CDC.
 

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