New Townshend Rock 7 owner


The Townshend is in transit to it's new home. I purchased this one-owner table as a package, complete w/ Funk Firm FXR ll arm, dc motor upgrade, Discovery Balanced phono cable and Brinkman PI cartridge. It come with all original boxes, manuals.

If all goes well, I should be able to get it up and running with one exception, my phono stage is not balanced. Since the original owner bought this from a respected dealer as a package, I think my best route would be to get a pair of RCA to XLR adapters in order to hear the package as close as possible as was intended.

Any thoughts on that aspect? What brand adapters would be recommended? Also, any thing I might need to know from experienced users to help with set-up? Thanks.
128x128slaw
bdp24,

Could you comment on my observation that when I cleaned the spindle shaft/bearing well, then inserted....I noticed some horizontal play. After installing oil and an initial set-up, this does not seem to be a problem.

I'd appreciate your comments.

Thanks!




bdp24,

I've always read great things about the London/Decca cart. You, being a musician, I'd like to know what attributes with respect to that cart/and in the Rock 7 you find appealing?

Thanks!
bdp24,

Thanks for the response. I think/hope it will be a great comparison to my VPI Classic 3 Sig. SE / 3D arm which has great bass/slam.

Cheers

Slaw, I don’t know the viscosity of Townshend’s silicone. I do know that some Rock users have experimented with thinner versions, but I’ve used only the stuff that came with my table, the old Elite version. My table’s spindle was very close in diameter to the shaft, needing to sit overnight to fully seat.

Arm’s that employ damping at the rear, near the bearings, use it more for damping the bearing assembly than for the whole arm and cartridge. Applying damping at the cartridge end provides much more damping of arm/cartridge resonances. One (American) reviewer thought the Rock to have a too "controlled" sound due to, presumably, the damping trough. The table can be used without the trough, but I got mine specifically because I’m a Decca/London cartridge fan, and they, having no internal damping themselves, benefit greatly from the Rock’s damping. The Decca was used in the development of the Rock design, and their pairing is a match made in heaven.

But ALL arms suffer from resonances, and the Rock damping greatly reduces the peak in output all arm/cartridge have at their resonant frequency. The Rock design is known for having very clean, tight bass, and the suppression of the arm/cartridge resonance plays a role in that. If you have subwoofers, or loudspeakers than go down to 20Hz, you are really going to hear the Rock’s great bass! And clean, "tidy" (as the British say) highs.

sbank,

I'll be using the FF arm that came with the package.

( I was just making an observation about the ET.)

I think I'll send my question to Dan @ EAR USA. After an initial set-up, with oil in the bearing shaft, belt on, and platter on, it seems to be fine. It's an interesting and beautiful design, IMO. I've been like a kid in a candy store this afternoon... getting to know my new friend.


Slaw, are you saying you're going to use the ET2 linear tracker with the Townshend damping trough? Based on pics of the table, I assumed that you'd need to use a pivoting arm to take advantage of the trough...am I missing something? Cheers,
Spencer
According to the manual, there is no separate ball bearing. Just wondering about the play?
The table has arrived. One question so far, I've cleaned the spindle and bearing shaft. (Wondering if there's a ball bearing still in the shaft?) When I place the spindle into the shaft, it spins freely. There is some slight horizontal play. Is this normal?
bdp24,

You may recall a thread "turntable isolation" (I believe) where I posted my using springs under my tt support (wall mount) and their effectiveness in which you remarked. I'm very excited to experience the Townshend table and the damping trough at the cartridge end. Do you recall the damping fluid viscosity off hand? I'm an ET owner. I've experienced the damping at the (other) end. This should be quite the experience!

I'm currently running Anti Cables 6.2 cryo'd tonearm cables. They use the latest KLEI rca's. I also used the original silver bullet plugs on my DIY tonearm loom on my ET. I'm a fan of his products.

Congratulations Shaw! The Rock is a very unique table, with a sound like no other. The 7 contains the Seismic Pod feet, so it has excellent isolation from the shelf it is placed upon. It requires no special considerations in set-up, except one: Do all your arm mounting and adjusting before filling the trough with damping fluid, and the same with cartridge alignment, tracking and anti-skate adjustments, as the silicone fluid is pretty heavy in viscosity.

Regarding the arm jacks, you can remove the XLR's and replace them with RCA's. KLEI and WBT are two of the best.