Micro Seiki RY-5500 motor noise repair pdf

Dear Kipdent: Thank you for that very useful information. I'm sure that like me many RX5000 owners really appreciate that.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Kipdent, excellent!

Kipdent,
Great! You da man!

At least I'm assuming you are of the male persuasion... :^)

Thanks so much Kip for this support. After a while the motor can get a bit noisy and I believe I messed up my motor by following "informed advice" to oil the spindle shaft because it was noisy and then I ended up having to find a tech in Japan to fix it. Now I have a local tech just about finishing work on putting it all back together because I was shorting out the board somewhere and your pic is very helpful to other users. A true Audiogoner!

Steve

I am happy to hear this information is useful! I'll be posting some more experiences about things I've learned soon, including some stuff on the HS-80 High Speed Inertia unit flywheel. I feel a calling to get as much information as possible about these 'tables out into the ether. :-)

Yes, T-bone, I am xy.

BTW Kip, those Scintilla's in your system look fabulous. I have been messing around with a pair of Stages, great midrange, but their limited size defines real low end output. Bigger Apogees are on my list, and thinking about Magggies as well. I really miss my old ESL-63's for accuracy and spacious lifelike presentaion, but they had limitations.

On the RX-5000, one item that I would like to share more on is effective isolation of the base and motor unit. So far, a sprung solid wood base, has given the best results over granite, rock maple, or a sandbox. I will try and post a pic tonight. I would like to try the machine dynamica springs shortly.

Steve

Steve--

Thanks for your reply. I am beginning to learn that proper isolation is something I really need to explore for the Micro 'table, so any help you can provide would be very welcome!

Kip

Kip,
In the past, I have had some success using laboratory equipment isolation equipment (Herz, Kinetic Systems (the makers of Vibraplane), Shima-Koki, etc). This lowers the resonant frequency of the TT base to 2-3Hz in both the horizontal and the vertical plane. The air suspensions require 'maintenance' (filling/topping up the bladders every now and then) but it's easy. If you go for the truly active suspensions, they cost a fair bit more money (though some swear by them). They can be found used on 'that other auction site' for a lot less than new.

just purchased a set of machina dynamica springs and I will report back.

Hey everyone--the Vinyl Engine kindly posted my repair instructions on their web site and it is easier to download it from there. I'm appreciative!

http://www.vinylengine.com/library/micro-seiki/ry-5500.shtml

Kip

Dear Kip: I use Audio Technica AT-666 pneumatic footers: four in the main unit on the MS each footer and three in the PS. Works great.

A proper isolation is a must to achieve the " best " on the RX 5000.

Btw, tremendous/great job you made with those lovely Apogees, congratulations!

Regards and enjy the music.
Raul.

Sorry: AT-616.

Hello Raul ..........

I have had both the AT-616 and EquaRacks on the 5000 and I would give the nod to the EquaRack, although the AT-616's are very good and clearly superior to cone type devices.

Nevertheless, experimentation to date a DIY has a compression spring base in the lead position for the most effective isolation system. I a hoping that the machina dynamica spring system will give a benchmark comparison.

I am a firm believer that effective isolation of the RX-5000 is very important as there are lots of inherent internal resonances from the chassis, platter and arm board interfaces. They must have an impact on sound - as does the wood and resins used in a violin define its tone n'est pas?

Steve

Dear Steve: Yes you are right. The Rx 5000 has no isolation and we need to take care about.

I never hear a MS 5000 on a spring isolation system but there is no reason why does not works fine.
Till today I don't know the perfect TT isolation because this subject has many interactions overall and some isolation systems are very good in some " areas " and other systems in other areas.

Yes, I know that certainly there are better isolation ways than the AT-616 but these ones works for me and I never have the opportunity to test a different one in my system.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Another quick note on RY-5500 noise: I recently received an e-mail that described a subtle "clicking" noise emanating from the RY-5500 when under various thread or belt tensions. I noticed this too from day one of ownership and thought it might be normal. When the major noise occurred and I fixed it as described in my article, I noticed this clicking also went away! I can only suspect that sound is abnormal, too. The good news is it is possible to have a completely silent RY-5500.

Kip

Dear Kipdent,

Great process. Quick question, does the RY-5500 motor have an air bearing for isolation?

Thanks,

Simon

Simon--

The RY-5500 is the *drive motor* for the RX-5000 turntable (as well as many other models). The famed Micro Seiki "air bearing" that you may be referring to was for the platter on the plinth, and found only on some of their very top-line models. The bearing in the motor, for which I describe a fix, is a straightforward DC motor with a traditional sintered bronze bushing.

Hello all, I am beginning to set up my RX/RY3000. Have a wall shelf (1.5m x .6m) and am debating whether to isolate the whole set up with one unit (eg a vibraplane or similar) OR isolate the motor and the platter base separately (eg by use footers etc. like Raul was suggesting). I was leaning towards the former but see in this thread and others that some people are using the latter OR are they doing both!

The feet on the motor base are solid solid brass pins and seem to me to have no isolating properties at all. Has anybodyt replaced theirs or do they resort to the above isolation measures.

Cam

feet on the motor base are solid solid brass pins and seem to me to have no isolating properties at all. Has anybodyt replaced theirs or do they resort to the above isolation measures.

I did a few experiments with the RY-5500 motor
I used Sorbothane feet below it, but the Bass Performance was gone. Same with springs.
It is the result, that the Motor is nor REALLY stable, a touch of movement which was reflected via Belt to the Platter.There was a change in the Performance, but not to the better. I always went back to stock feet.
I use a Vibraplane below both units. The result is stunning.

Just a note to let everyone know I am extremely gratified the repair instructions were helpful, and I'm even happier it stimulated some discussion about the Micro Seiki turntables--something I'm quite hungry for!

I was lucky enough to find a Micro Seiki HS-80 High Inertia Unit flywheel (now shown on my Virtual System page) and it is an impressive upgrade, improving the bass and apparent size and stability of the soundstage (which was already pretty amazing). The discussion of what to use under the RY-5500 makes me think what I should use for the HS-80, too. This unit had no feet when it arrived, so I had custom ones made and they are beautiful! They work very well, but I do want to research isolation platforms more.

Thanks again to everyone--

Kip

I was lucky enough to find a Micro Seiki HS-80 High Inertia Unit flywheel

Are there more? :)

Syntax,
Am HS-80 just showed up on the auctions in Japan this week and went for about $1800. That's more than I have seen it go for, and I am sure one could build a new one (get a new one built) at a metalshop for a fair bit less.

Hello, I am in the process of purchasing an RX 5000 that has been completely and metuculously restored. I am looking forward to commnication and info about the table. Kip has already been a great resource.

Thanks, Trptplayer! Very kind of you.

Just a heads up--I am having the NOS aramid thread knot and installation instructions in Japanese translated and will post those soon. Fun stuff!

Kipdent. Do you have a link to those instructions? I can have a look.

I'd just bought a RX 5000 this week and my RY-5500 has a slight whirring noise during play.Hopefully Kilpdent's helpful instruction will fix this. Thanks again for sharing.

BTW, i have also found this Japanese webpage which might be useful for some in the future. Lots of detailed pics and hopefully the google translation will come through.

RY-5500 repair pictorial record from japan

If the link/translation does not work, here's the original webpage.

http://amp8.com/amp-etc/record/micro/ry5500_3.htm

Hi Jaspert,

Reading your thread I see you just got a Micro Seiki 5000, I have been looking but with no luck any advise how to locate one?

I also read you own a TW Raven One, do you still have that?

I do not have a table currently (use to own a Teres years ago but want to do another set-up) and through research my quest being #1 a Micro Seiki 5000 or 8000 and #2 TW product.

Only want to do it once, any thoughts and/or suggestions.

Regards,
David