[CH23]

It is a museum piece - not something I would EVER consider to play my best vinyl with it. Simply follow the Service Manual/Schematics, repair if needed to the original spec, and play "expendable" records for demo, nostalgia, etc, reasons. 

A serious portable TT ( for scouting the records at record meets/swaps/garage sales/etc is Sony Flamingo http://www.ps-f5.com/ Pricey little bugger for sure - but can pay for itself if the seller was "cunning" enough to vacuum clean a very rare record mistracked to death, put it into fresh Nagaoka inner sleeve, put everything into a fancy outer sleeve - and tried to make a quick buck by labeling it as Mint or Very Good + for vinyl. Armed with Flamingo - such lowlifes will have no chances against you...

I can tell you one thing about my PS-F9 (the PS-F5's bigger brother) it sounds ****ty, but scores high on looks/weight.

I might have to look into it, as to why it sounds crappy, i cant tell. It sounds distorted, even after replacing the needle with a brand new one.

i bought it from eBay a few years ago, bid on the last second, and am still happy i got it ;P

 

[analogsurviver]

I can tell you one thing about my PS-F9 (the PS-F5's bigger brother) it sounds ****ty, but scores high on looks/weight.

I might have to look into it, as to why it sounds crappy, i cant tell. It's distorted at the higher end.

i bought it from eBay a few years ago, bid on the last second, and am still happy i got it ;P

Interesting... - I have it on my Wiiiiiiiiiiish Liiiiiiist - for longer I am willing to admit.
 
One -  and only thing besides changing the stylus for the best one available for its proprietary cartridge, the Audio Technica ATN 55XE - you CAN do to improve its ***ty sound, would be the use of the thin carbon fibre mat like this one: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Black-Diamond-CARBON-LP-MAT-die-ultimative-Matte-fur-Transrotor-/360787468514?pt=DE_TV_Video_Audio_Sonstige&hash=item54009be0e2
It is thin enough to use on Flamingos, as the "platter" consists of clamping mechanism over the record label only and offers no support over the playing surface of the LP. This mat is 0.3mm thick and should not prove too much for the Flamingo clamp mechanism, but should appreciably improve the sound. At least that is what I will do when my piggybank replenish itself enough to get one of the Flamingos - it should not misbehave as badly as described ...

 

[CH23]

Interesting... - I have it on my Wiiiiiiiiiiish Liiiiiiist - for longer I am willing to admit.

One -  and only thing besides changing the stylus for the best one available for its proprietary cartridge, the Audio Technica ATN 55XE - you CAN do to improve its ***ty sound, would be the use of the thin carbon fibre mat like this one: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Black-Diamond-CARBON-LP-MAT-die-ultimative-Matte-fur-Transrotor-/360787468514?pt=DE_TV_Video_Audio_Sonstige&hash=item54009be0e2
It is thin enough to use on Flamingos, as the "platter" consists of clamping mechanism over the record label only and offers no support over the playing surface of the LP. This mat is 0.3mm thick and should not prove too much for the Flamingo clamp mechanism, but should appreciably improve the sound. At least that is what I will do when my piggybank replenish itself enough to get one of the Flamingos - it should not misbehave as badly as described ...

I should record it's output and let the trained turntable owning head-fiers help me figure out what could be wrong exactly.
There's a LOT of electronics in it that could be faulty.

I'm not sure if a mat would be of much use on this unconventional turntable, but i'll try and see if that helps.

 

[JamieMcC]

  Interesting... - I have it on my Wiiiiiiiiiiish Liiiiiiist - for longer I am willing to admit.
 
One -  and only thing besides changing the stylus for the best one available for its proprietary cartridge, the Audio Technica ATN 55XE - you CAN do to improve its ***ty sound, would be the use of the thin carbon fibre mat like this one: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Black-Diamond-CARBON-LP-MAT-die-ultimative-Matte-fur-Transrotor-/360787468514?pt=DE_TV_Video_Audio_Sonstige&hash=item54009be0e2
It is thin enough to use on Flamingos, as the "platter" consists of clamping mechanism over the record label only and offers no support over the playing surface of the LP. This mat is 0.3mm thick and should not prove too much for the Flamingo clamp mechanism, but should appreciably improve the sound. At least that is what I will do when my piggybank replenish itself enough to get one of the Flamingos - it should not misbehave as badly as described ...

 
Now that is Interesting and something I could have a go at making. I might even have a bit in the work shop that is 0.3 or 0.4mm How would I go about finding out the correct thickness to use with my Rega Planer 3?
 
The carbon fibre veneer made and bonded to the alloy top plate of the Bottlehead Crack I am currently building.
 
 

 

[analogsurviver]

I should record it's output and let the trained turntable owning head-fiers help me figure out what could be wrong exactly.
There's a LOT of electronics in it that could be faulty.

I'm not sure if a mat would be of much use on this unconventional turntable, but i'll try and see if that helps.

Sorry - forgot it has phono stage and headphone amp built in - it is LP walkman if you want to call it that way.
 
There can be LOTS of electronics issues, one certain to rear its ugly head is capacitor deteroration after nearly 30 or so years. That electronics might not be so great to begin with - but that is pure speculation on my part, never saw one in flesh or seen its schematics.

 

[analogsurviver]

   
Now that is Interesting and something I could have a go at making. I might even have a bit in the work shop that is 0.3 or 0.4mm How would I go about finding out the correct thickness to use with my Rega Planer 3?
 
The carbon fibre veneer made and bonded to the alloy top plate of the Bottlehead Crack I am currently building.
 
 

 Catch in succesful turntable mat is precision cutting. 0.3 mm thick carbon plate is close to nightmare if one lacks proper tools. Remember - in above no doubt beautiful looking amp you could hide slightly imperfect carbon fibre cutting under wood - and carbon fibre is not supporting anything, being glued to the (wooden?)  surface of far greater thickness. None of these unfortunately applies to carbon fibre mat - CNC usually required.

 

[JamieMcC]

   Catch in succesful turntable mat is precision cutting. 0.3 mm thick carbon plate is close to nightmare if one lacks proper tools. Remember - in above no doubt beautiful looking amp you could hide slightly imperfect carbon fibre cutting under wood - and carbon fibre is not supporting anything, being glued to the (wooden?)  surface of far greater thickness. None of these unfortunately applies to carbon fibre mat - CNC usually required.

 
Yes when thin it can be very difficult to work with I know! However I have worked with composite for a long time and picked up a few tricks and special tools. CNC is great for complex parts but luckily a circle in not complex and can be cut out perfectly with a high speed router fitted with a diamond tipped cutter and a bit of trickery.

 

[JamieMcC]

Here's the thing I hooked the Crack up to the turntable today for the first time and with a little fiddling with the adjustable gain on the phono stage the sound coming out was absolutely can't stop jiggling about slamming fantastic. My other half was giving me some very strange looks but this was a seriously good sound coming through the headphones, T1's.

Normally I listen with the Cracks volume at about 7 o'clock which is just right 8 o'clock starting to be a little uncomfortable and never reaching 9 o'clock

The phono stage has adjustable gain, playing around I adjusted it right down and the music I was listening to really came alive when the cracks volume knob started going round past 12 o'clock the position.
 
What's going on? Is there a way a simpleton like me can reproduce this result with a digital source . Or is this just a taste of the Vinyl thing that many rave about and the penny is just finally starting to drop?

 

[suicidal_orange]

Is this thread still alive to help with vinyl newbie's questions?  Only one way to find out...
 
So I've recently dusted off my turntable (a Pro-Ject RPM5.1) and re-fitted the original cartridge (an Ortofon 2M Red) which has only seen maybe 15 hours of use.  I've used an alignment disc and have the tracking force set at the recomended 1.8g and have tried to set the VTA so the bottom of the cart is level with the record by eye (the tracking angle is supposed to be 20° if that's important), but I'm still getting much more crackle than I would hope for during quiet passages (more than one click/pop a second) so I suspect something is off.  Some records it's the left channel others the right, so nothing obviously wrong.  Maybe the records are just dirty?  I would think that would affect both channels though...  Oh and I haven't put on the anti-skate weight if that makes any difference.
 
It doesn't help that I only have four albums on vinyl and haven't listened to them in any format for years as my taste has changed, and I've never heard them on a good (well set up) rig to know how the vinyl version should sound!
 
Any thoughts?

 

[Eee Pee]

  ... when the cracks volume knob started going round past 12 o'clock the position.

 
Less resistance, so less volume knob sound in the signal path?  Could be it.  

   and have tried to set the VTA so the bottom of the cart is level with the record by eye 

 
This sentence stuck out.  Start out making the TOP of the cartridge about parallel with the record.  Or the (imaginary) centerline of the tonearm.

 

[bbophead]

And cleaning might be a real good idea given the age, etc..

 

[suicidal_orange]

   
This sentence stuck out.  Start out making the TOP of the cartridge about parallel with the record.  Or the (imaginary) centerline of the tonearm.

Thanks!  I've just had a quick look and my tonearm has a helpful centerline, leveling that would mean raising the arm slightly - I'll let you know how it goes in a couple of days when I've had time to adjust it

 
 

  And cleaning might be a real good idea given the age, etc..

Was this aimed at me?  If so clean what, and how (yes I'm a complete newbie when it comes to vinyl

)

 

[Eee Pee]

Bah, I meant to mention that, also.  (the cleaning)
 
Edit: My old VPI has that line too, nice touch.  

 

[Arsis]

static?

 

[suicidal_orange]

static?

Haha, as above - is this aimed at me and if so how do I tell/fix it?  I've kept the records in ex-static sleeves which are supposed to help (if I remember rightly...)
 
Did a quick search, found that you can get lots of anti static products from mats to fluid and even a brush attached to a second arm

  Thanks for the suggestion, it needs more looking into than I have time for now (it's gone 1am on a worknight, I should sleep!)