Lew, Sorry, I thought that you knew that I do have one for a few years now. If you look through the various threads where these have been discussed you will find that I have done a lot with mine.
Yes, your suspicion of leaky caps may well be spot on. I had mine recapped over a year ago but they just did the power supply I suspect and when I brought it to a better technician the damned thing ran like a top. It exhibits speed issues from time to time but almost never when I warm it up, and it always settles down in a minute.
I believe that you bought one with known issues so I assume that it isn't a well functioning solid state device. Anyway, I wish you the best. Gary |
Thanks, Gary. After posting my questions yesterday, I did recall that you, along with Halcro, are a long term owner of a TT101.
Today I should get the platter, and then we'll see. I am debating with myself whether it is wise even to start it up, knowing that the other guy already had a problem with speed control and now knowing that it cannot be a matter simply of supplying 100VAC vs 120VAC. If it's a matter of leaky caps, applying power could damage solid state devices in the circuit secondarily. If such damage has not yet occurred, it might be best to re-cap before starting. I think first thing to do is to check whether the PS is putting out the requisite DC voltages.
Question: Is there a switch somewhere to select the AC voltage? I am rather surprised that the label indicates one can supply 100, 120, or 220 ad lib. (Mine is still in its QL10 plinth, so some details are hidden from view.) |
Lew, my QL-10's plate says "120 volts, 60 hz, 23 watts". No choices offered. Mine does not have any selector switches, I would be surprised if yours does. But, perhaps yours is a later batch with a more sophisticated ac to dc power converter. Mine has serial number 17200235. Gary |
Hi Lew, I was watching that one but was out of the country and didn't want to bid. Congrats on your purchase.
I would change the caps and keep your fingers crossed. After searching online about a TT71 I have read multiple post of the TT71s of people having speed issues where they changed the caps and it fixed their problem. I know the TT101 is a different beast, would probably be a good idea to go through the service manual and put a BOM together.
I would suspect the AC voltage wires have multiple places to land them on the PCB and would research that first in the manual. Good luck. |
Dear Lewm:
According to the ql10 service manual, there was a model that was designated for the US Military Market that allows for voltage selection. So, hopefully all you need to do is locate the switch and all is well. Given where your particular turntable came from (near a military base), this makes sense that you got that model. Take it out of the plinth and see. |
Having never heard either the AT 20 SS or the AT 20 SLA. And dreading the thought of searching through this thread again, I just wanted to confirm the AT 20 SLA is a cut above the 20SS. |
Tubed1,
The 20SLa came out before the 20SS. As far as which one is a cut above the other, that is something only the owner of both could decide, and that persons opinion could be quite different than the next persons opinion. You could and would not go wrong in owning either one of them!
Regards, Don |
Dear Tubed1: I differ from Griffithds opinion. IMHO the 20SS is way better performer than the SLa. If you can put your hands on the 20SS just do it, recomend.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Dear Dlcockrum: ++++ " but maybe it was just another short-lived favorite. " ++++
IMHO the Empire 4000D3 ( not the Gold. ) as the one you own is not and was not a " short lived favorite ". I'm sure that any one of us that listen to it today will still in love with.
This Empire is a standard/reference MM cartridge.
I would like to have time to give a listen again and not only to this Empire but to other " short lived favorite " standard/reference cartridges but unfortunatelly I have not enough time to re-listen so many gems down there.
Right now between the Astatic MF-2500, the JVC X1MK2, the ?, several top LOMC and our self tonearm design final tests I have not time for more.
Sooner or later I will do but I can be sure when. Sorry I can't help you.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Tubed1, My AT20SLA has an ATN20SS stylus with beryllium cantilever, so I have a hybrid AT20SS and it´s superb performer. But you must be careful when ordering a beryllium ATN20SS because there are also aftermarket stylii that does not have a beryllium cantilever. Good luck. |
This beryllium stuff is toxic on its own (aka determination by its own property) but 'it' also threaten to poison our relationship. This is usually the case when humans start with comparisons like: 'I own A and you own only B'. Well I need to repeat that my Magic Diamond , Miyabi Standard, Glanz 5 and Glanz 71 have aluminum alloy contilevers. There is no beryllium 'cart' in my collection that can compete with those. Only Benz LP s is in the same league but with boron cantilever. Besides there is an obvious domination at present by boron cantilevers. There was/is(?) some euphoria about speaker membrane made from beryllium but one hears hardly anything about this development lately. This beryllium cantilever euphoria is started by Fleib because he wanted to be 'politicaly incorrect' which in his case means fighting against the 'politicaly correct' statement that there are no 'best cantilevers' on their own. 'It depends...' as we are used to say. |
Tubed1, Similar hybrid as mine on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/cellule-phono-exeptionnele-Audio-technica-AT20SS-at20ss-legendary-CARTIDGE-/370825970200?pt=FR_LC_TV_Son_Home_Cinema_Platines_Vyniles&hash=item5656f34218. Ask the seller if the cantilever is really beryllium. These beryllium cantilevers are getting very rare. Nowadays beryllium has been replaced with boron which is not so stiff and not so light material. |
Tubed1, Similar hybrid as mine on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/cellule-phono-exeptionnele-Audio-technica-AT20SS-at20ss-legendary-CARTIDGE-/370825970200?pt=FR_LC_TV_Son_Home_Cinema_Platines_Vyniles&hash=item5656f34218. Ask the seller if the cantilever is really beryllium. These beryllium cantilevers are getting very rare. In the 1980´s beryllium was used in top carts (Shure, Audio-Technica etc), nowadays it has been replaced with boron which is not so stiff and not so light material. |
From the perspective of a cartridge designer, the most commonly used figure-of-merit for a given material is propagation velocity - how rapidly it transmits sound. And this is determined by the material's specific gravity (lower is better), and Young's modulus (higher is better).
With this target in mind, the best material is diamond. Although its specific gravity is a bit high at 3.52, it is so stiff that its 16,770m/s propagation velocity is the greatest among known materials.
Second best is boron. Its 2.3 specific gravity is lower than aluminum, and it is quite stiff as well, giving a propagation velocity of 13,500m/s.
Third is beryllium. Although a specific gravity of 1.8 makes it the lightest among typical cantilever materials, it is also considerably less stiff than boron, which brings its propagation velocity to 12,300m/s.
Fourth is ruby / sapphire. Its 4.0 specific gravity is high, but it is saved by having a Young's modulus which is higher than beryllium but poorer than boron. Its propagation velocity drops down to 9400m/s.
5th is aluminum. A 2.7 specific gravity is reasonably low, but its Young's modulus is also low, resulting in a propagation velocity of 5200m/s.
6th is titanium. Specific gravity of 4.5 is very high, and Young's modulus is not so high, which in concert reduce the propagation velocity to 5160m/s.
However, the last two materials are ductile and not brittle, which means that the joint between stylus and cantilever is less reliant on glue. Any glue that I am aware of has a slower propagation velocity than even hardened aluminum, so to be able to have a thinner layer of glue between the stylus and cantilever, or no layer, is a distinct advantage which partially counteracts the other limitations of aluminum and titanium.
Also, I am reasonably sure that beryllium production in Japan has either stopped or at best is much smaller than it was in the 1970s and 80s. Since beryllium is poisonous and producing it results in environmentally hazardous wastes; regulations have become more strict, and public opposition more vocal. Various cartridge designers including myself have avoided beryllium because of the environmetal impact.
hth |
Jcarr, We thank for your scientific knowledge. I´ve had beryllium cantilevers for 26 years and am still alive and well. Oh, I will play some Johnny Winter from 1973. |
Harold-
It's not the material but the manufacturing methods used that makes it so highly toxic. Chrome bumpers on your car is a good example. Having chrome bumpers on your car will not make you ill. But working around a chrome plating facility will. It's the process, not the end results. Regards, Don |
Dear Fleib, No idea how your 'political correctness' fits in Jcarr's scientific explanation but I am sure about your 'economic correctness'. Every economic textbook starts with the so called 'scarcity principle'. It is obvious that those beryllium cantilevers will be even more scarce then they already are. Not idea how many you own but I have some idea how many of those AT 155 CL Henry owns. He will become a rich guy I hope and assume.
Regards, |
Hi Don, Yes I understand the material itself is not toxic, I was just joking. Btw, Johnny Winter´s voice and guitar sound is very raw on Trans-Fi/Reso-Mat/direct drim drive Delphi. This combination reveals this very aggressive, like live sound that wasn´t there earlier. Electric guitar do sound punchy and aggressive in reality. Quite impressive live feeling on that studio album (last time years ago it was much more mellow). But not peaky nor tiresome. Nice surprise ! |
Update on TT101. The seller was correct; it's broken. I've got a bunch of capacitors lying around here from repair of other DD turntables, so I will begin to replace those and order more as well.
I also notice that of all the high-end direct-drives I have examined, this one has the lightest platter. No wonder the servo is bi-directional; the platter speed is a major function of the motor control of the platter, rather than of the inertial mass of the platter itself. Thus, if the motor over-accelerates the platter, it has also to bring the speed back down, because platter inertia is minimal. (As I see it, for any turntable, the motor's ability to control the platter and the inertial mass of the platter are interacting determinants of speed accuracy. We already know from Halcro that the TT101 is dead-on accurate under all conditions, when it's not broken like mine.)
Aigenga and Halcro, Have you guys experimented with higher mass platter mats? |
Harold---,
Yes, I felt you probably were but for the uninformed, I felt it best to make it clear. I also have a love for the beryllium cantilever and I have several varieties as spares for future transplants. BTW,I found a online location for a AT150MLX stylus (gold plated boron), for $159. I bought a couple of them also for later transplants. PM me for web location if anyone's looking for one! Regards, Don |
Thank you for responding Raul. I did not expect you to go through a full re-evaluation of the 4000D/III and I appreciate your comments that it is still regarded as a "standard/reference MM cartridge".
No sarcasm or offense was intended by my use of the term "short-lived favorite".
Best, Dave |
Nandric, You still talk of cantilever material as if there is one "right" material for all carts? Toxicity has nothing to do with it. It's only toxic for workers breathing the dust. Since it's no longer being made, what are you talking about?
Did you actually read J Carr's list or you think it's just a ranking of goodness? Beryllium is lightest so for a given size the cart will have lower effective tip mass. It's not as flexible as aluminum and doesn't exhibit the lack of detail and control, yet not as stiff as boron and not as sterile. Did you ever compare a boron/ML to a beryllium/ML and aluminum/ML? My comments pertain to Audio Technics carts only and not Lyra or your Miyabi, Benz or whatever. They are voiced with a different generator, cantilever length, high frequency resonance etc. Your one size fits all mentality might apply to women's nylon stockings, but I don't think they're made that way any more either. Regards,
|
Dear J.Carr: +++++ " propagation velocity - how rapidly it transmits sound... " +++++
maybe I'm wrong but I understand that the cantilever transmit no sound but the stylus " movements ".
Now, the length of the cantilever maybe is other important issue on cartridge performance. In the other side cantilever material is only one part of several ones in the cartridge design and that's why exist cartridges with beryllium or aluminum cantilevers that outperform the boron ones.
I appreciated your explanation about because I'm not an expert as you are ( I wish Iim. ).
Looking to the ADC Astrion ( sapphire cantilever. ) manual here is what we can read it:
++++ In terms of both strength ( Young's Modulus ) and " stifness to mass ratio " sapphire is superior to almost any available material.
sapphire 490 dynes/cm2 where boron is 408, beryllium 303 and aluminum 72. +++++++
About the aluminum/titanium materials that permit the stylus be bot glued I have a bad experience following what you posted here and following the experiences of a non expert person here: I re-tip a Virtuoso cartridge with aluminum cantilever stylus pressure fitted and does not like me but when that same cartridge was re-tipped with boron cantilever " lights glow really shiny ".
My error was to thing only in the cantilever matewrial and not on the whole cartridge design that's is more important. The cantilever material is choosed as part of that cartridge overall design according what the designer wants to be achieved.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Dear Fleib: Agree with.
regards and enjoy the music, R. |
J Carr,
I understand you are undoubtedly a very busy person, but I wish you could find the time to post more often. Your posts are like lighting bolts out of the sky!
Best regards, Don |
Don, J Carr is like Zeus? (Assuming you meant "lightning", not "lighting".) Send him over to fix my TT101, in that case. Jonathan, please bring Aphrodite so I have something to occupy me while you are working magic.
(I too thank you for posting here. Just kidding.) |
Lew, I am very happy with a combo of a lead Merrill mat (just a thin sheet of lead - maybe a pound) covered by a thick Achromat. I have both of these spray-glued together and then removable double-stick taped to the platter. Hitting stop doesn't bring the platter to a screeching halt but I don't need it to.
I hope you fix it soon - no caps look bad?
Gary |
Comrades Don/Nandric/Dover, let's just say for the sake of sanity and this retort that the CA V-Wood Ebony is at the top of the MM/MI cartridge heap, or number one in the pile. I have to admit it does not rotate off of my turntable very often! And let's assume the AT 20 SS/SLA of your choice is also in the the top 10 list. How would your analytical engineering/legalese humble opinions rate the ATSS/SLA within that top 10? Would you give it an 8 or would your opine be higher perhaps at a 3 or 2 in comparison to the CA V-wood? Yes, I know they will be different every cartridge is different!
I am also curious after J Carr's very informative post how one goes about positively identifying a berylium cantilever when there are both berylium and non-berylium cantilvers in the market place for the AT 20SS. Fleib, how does one avoid being duped? Luck, Caveat Emptor and New Old Stock (NOS)come to mind and this approach still does not give me a positive ID of berylium. |
Hi Lew, Yes.....I tried the Micro Seiki Cu180 copper mat on my TT-101.....and it sounded fabulous. Solid, rhythmic bass and ethereal highs. Surely the best sound I have managed. The weight of the mat however......meant that the brake/stop function of the Victor could not work (it just slowed over a few revolutions rather than instantly). As this troubled me......I tested all manner of other combinations of mats trying to get as close to the sound of the Cu 180 as I could. Surprisingly........the bare platter with the Victor 1mm pigskin mat came as close as damnit....and the brake function works a treat. So that's how I use it now. Really hope you get your TT-101 operational? Does it spin at all?
Regards |
Jcarr,
Hi Jon and another heartfelt thanks for posting. My understanding of what you have posted here and elsewhere is simply that there is no magic bullet. Materials and their propagation velocities are also affected by their distinct bonding methods (not to mention distinct levels of stiffness) and, obviously, the voicing that you designers provide. That would seem to be the only way that I can make sense of the wide range of "top" cartridges enjoyed among many hifi fanatics.
I think I now understand your point about there being "no perfect cartridge" a little better: the swings and roundabouts that I perceive as underpinning this option of material not withstanding (cantilever forming but one key part of the system that is a cartridge). Maybe, as is all too likely, I misunderstand the import of your excellent reflections. Nevertheless, as others have suggested, your posts continue to bring welcomed professionalism and insight to we dilettantes.
As always.. |
Dear Lewm: The SS-300 you already have will perform great with the JVC that's similar to your DP-80. Now, you only have to test it and see what happen through your listening experiences.
The MS mat Halcro name it is a heavy one, it's a simple metal mat. I think the SAEC one could works really fine. I don't use metal mats any more.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Thanks to Henry and Gary. The TT101 works exactly as "advertised" by the eBay seller. It spins very fast, faster than 45, even. The speed is no different when one selects either 33 or 45. There is no read-out on the digital tachometer, except for the decimal point, which does light up. There is no response to the pitch controls. The "brake" does no braking, when you hit the "Stop" button (possibly because of the high speed). My plan for the coming weekend is to take it apart and order capacitors.
About the AC voltage: Even the service manual says to supply it with 100VAC. Yet, for sure, my unit is labeled as suitable for anything: 100, 120, and 220. On top of that, there is no external switch for selecting the input AC voltage among those three choices. All testing I have done is with 100VAC from a step-down transformer.
Henry, The CU180 probably weighs as much as the whole platter sans mat. (Doesn't the CU180 weigh about 4 lbs?) I plan to try the SS300 mat, when and if the problems are cured; it's lighter than the CU180. And that stock mat is made of pigskin? Very interesting. |
Dear J.carr: +++++ " However, the last two materials are ductile and not brittle, which means that the joint between stylus and cantilever is less reliant on glue. Any glue that I am aware of has a slower propagation velocity than even hardened aluminum, so to be able to have a thinner layer of glue between the stylus and cantilever, or no layer, is a distinct advantage which partially counteracts the other limitations of aluminum and titanium. " +++++
you speak of an " advantage " with aluminum where the stylus can be fixed with no glue but pressure fit.
I'm thinking in " high voice " and I can be totally wrong, let me explain and you as an expert could share your knowledge for we can learn about:
the stylus tip works is the hardest one of the cartridge ( at microscopic level. ): it must be in touch with the grooves at any single " second " and stay in touch always following the recorded grooves throught its own tracking abilities.
At stylus tip " level " this " tracker " has no compliance that can help to ride in " confortable " way those recorded grooves ( a toutuose road. ), yes the cartridge suspension provide compliance but provide compliance as a whole/cartridge and not at the tip directly: SEEMS TO ME THAT FAR AWAY THAT THE STYLUS GLUE BE A DISADVANTAGE COULD BE A REAL ADVANTAGE BECAUSE THAT GLUE CAN PROVIDE SOME KIND OF DAMPING/COMPLIANCE THAT HELP THE STYLUS TIP TO STAY IN BETTER WAY IN TOUCH WITH THE GROOVES THAT WHEN THE STYLUS TIP IS NOT GLUED.
So, I think ( with out any prove of that ) that a stylus glued design is an advantage.
J.carr, what do you think on what I'm thinking on that important cartridge subject?
and in the other side I appreciate that you could put some " light " on what I posted to you: that the cantilever transmit movements instead sound ( as I said I can be wrong and is very important for all of us your expert clarification. ) and from this point of view how is that propagation velocity is the main key to choose a cantilever build material.
Thank you in advance for your time and kidness.
regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Lew, The vinyl engine TT101 service manual I looked at clearly shows a selector for voltage in the schematic as does the TT71 QLA7 service manual which includes a pic of the actual switch. |
Raul, The Boston Audio Mat2 has edged out the SS300 on both my SP10 Mk3 and on my Lenco. But the SS300 still ranks as "very good"; I've been using it on the Denon DP80. Interesting you remark that the DP80 and TT101 are similar. They certainly do LOOK similar, and before I had done any research, I even guessed that Denon made the Victor tt's for Victor. But that could not be farther from the truth. The servo circuit design of the two turntables is quite different, and while the Denon uses a 3-phase AC multi-pole motor, the TT101 uses a DC coreless motor. Also, the Victor platter is, at a guess, even lighter than that of the Denon. I will be very interested to compare the sound of the two, if the TT101 can be fixed. It's quite fascinating to me that each of the Japanese companies did its own thinking about how best to design and build a top end DD turntable. Apart from the general use of a quartz-locked servo-controlled drive, they are all different.
Ecir, Where do you see the switch? Inside the chassis or outside? I don't find any switch easily accessible from outside the chassis. As you suggest, I expected to find one. I downloaded the service manual from Vinyl Engine. If that was also your source, what page shows the switch? Maybe it's hidden from my view by the QL10 plinth. I will extricate the TT101 from the plinth tonight. |
Raul, Re your questions to JCarr, we are all familiar with the fact that if one is standing very close to the turntable, one can typically hear faint music emanating directly from the cartridge. What is the source of that sound, if it is not in fact the cantilever vibrating in tune to the music? (This is not a rhetorical question; I am truly wondering about it, altho I did always think it must be from the cantilever.)
But on the other hand, implicit in Jonathan's post is the notion that capacity to propagate sound is a correlate of goodness. I can see why that might be; the more accurately the vibrations induced at the stylus tip are preserved at the transducing interface, the better. But it also raises the question of how that energy is dissipated so as to avoid interference phenomena, a kind of IM distortion happening where the coils and magnets are wiggling. |
Dear Lewm: Certainly are not similar, I only want to say that in both you can use the SS-300 with the same results/similar results: that's all.
regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Dear Lewm: Thank's for your response. I will wait for the J.carr first hand answer.
Lewm, the transducer is the cartridge not the cantilever and that's why we hear what you are saying. So what?
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Hi all, Raul:
>I understand that the cantilever transmit no sound but the stylus " movements ".
Ideally the cantilever will only transmit the stylus movements, but in reality a cantilever will have its own resonances and eigenmodes, which will be added or subtracted to the signal. In my experience, each cantilever material has its own sound.
>the length of the cantilever maybe is other important issue on cartridge performance.
Pragmatically the length of the cantilever from stylus to sensor (magnet or coils) will be in the vicinity of 6mm. Since the cartridge designer needs to keep some clearance between the LP and the cartridge body, in order to shorten the cantilever, he must increase the cantilever VTA (smaller VTA --> longer cantilever, bigger VTA --> shorter cantilever), truncate part of the cartridge structure, or something similar which will have side effects. No free lunch.
>cantilever material is only one part of several ones in the cartridge design and that's why exist cartridges with beryllium or aluminum cantilevers that outperform the boron ones.
The biggest issue the matching of the damper and suspension to the cantilever. The cantilever will have a sound and a mass, which the designer must control by means of the suspension and dampers. The higher performance dampers in particular are a closely guarded secret - every designer has his own range of damper shapes and rubber formulations which are unique to him. Part of what determines whether a cartridge sounds good or not is whether the designer possesses dampers and suspensions which are a close match to the cantilever material that he wants to use.
Some designers prefer aluminum over boron or beryllium, others prefer sapphire. Theoretically boron should be better than sapphire or beryllium, but practically speaking, sapphire or aluminum with a well-matched set of dampers and suspension may deliver better results than boron or beryllium with a not-so-well matched set.
BTW, with MMs and MIs, the damper and suspension are usually embedded in the plastic knob that carries the cantilever assembly, so when you swap out an A-T (for example) MM or MI cantilever from aluminum to beryllium, you should be getting the right suspension and dampers. With MCs, however, the suspension and dampers are mounted to the cartridge body, and the coils need to be removed to get at the suspension and dampers. This is why I usually recommend that, if you want to use a non-original retipping company to retip an MC rather than having the original manufacturer provide a complete rebuild, at least try to keep the cantilever material and dimensions the same. This should help to minimize mismatching between the cantilever and suspension / dampers.
>In terms of both strength ( Young's Modulus ) and " stifness to mass ratio " sapphire is superior to almost any available material.
First time that I have heard anyone claim that.
I did a quick websearch for "specific gravity" and various cantilever materials, and I came up with:
3.52 for diamond
Corundum (ruby, sapphire) 3.95~4.05
Boron 2.34
Beryllium 1.85
Titanium 4.54
Aluminum 2.70
Ruby is quite heavy, which negates much of its stiffness, so it would not be my first choice in a cantilever material. Yes, I have built sapphire and ruby-cantilevered cartridges, and heard any number of such cartridges by other manufacturers, so I am not only going by theory. But my ears and your ears are not the same, and you are free to like whatever you want to.
>I re-tip a Virtuoso cartridge with aluminum cantilever stylus pressure fitted and does not like me but when that same cartridge was re-tipped with boron cantilever " lights glow really shiny ".
It could simply be that you, Raul, didn't like the sound of the aluminum cantilever with pressure-fitted stylus. This is no guarantee that other listeners would agree. Or disagree, for that matter. Personal likes and dislikes are important to that listener and that audio system, but they are not universal and therefore ill-suited to base engineering decisions on.
>My error was to thing only in the cantilever matewrial and not on the whole cartridge design that's is more important. The cantilever material is choosed as part of that cartridge overall design according what the designer wants to be achieved.
This is completely correct. The cantilever has its own sound, the stylus has its own sound, the coils have their own sound, the yoke material has its own sound, the suspension has its own sound, the dampers have their own sound, the body structure has its own sound, the output pins have their own sound... Designing a phono cartridge, IME, is a combination of engineering and subjectivity. And by subjectivity, I mean similar to painting, or cooking, or playing improvisational music.
Although the biggest part of the job (by far) is to get the engineering right or improving it, when it comes to matching the various components (which may all be excellent in isolation), it is the designer and builder's subjective decision to match X cantilever to Y dampers, to T yokes, D body, and so on.
Having spoken with many of the designers, I know that even for many of the audio components designed by big companies like Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and so on, the designer's subjective likes and dislikes played a key role in determining the final product.
hth, |
Hi Lew, the picture of a switch is in the vinyl engine QLA7 service manual not the TT101 service manual. The description of its location is vague.
What is similar is the power supply schematic for the QLA7 (TT71) and the TT101. The trannys primary input has multi taps coming from a pcb that has multi taps for a selector switch. Then there looks to be a fuse and filter on another pcb for the power cord. Location of selector switch should be evident once you open here up if in fact you even have one. If you do hopefully it is set wrong and the cause of faulty operation.
The tranny primary taps are multi tapped to handle all countries voltages so hard wiring a/c could be possible also. Not sure about 50Hz or 60Hz though. |
Thanks, Ecir. The proof will no doubt be in the pudding. I will report back. Thanks, too, JCarr. |
Hi Raul:
>So, I think ( with out any prove of that ) that a stylus glued design is an advantage.
If you are only concerned with tracking performance, rather than hearing what the stylus is picking up from the LP groove, perhaps some kind of suspension mounted right at the stylus tip could be an advantage.
However, compliance (movement) at the stylus tip will absorb signal energy, and prevent this energy from being transmitted to the magnetic sensor (or transmit it after some delay). I wouldn't consider that an advantage, but my priorities and your priorities are not necessarily the same.
One of my most respected cartridges is the Sony Soundtech XL-88D Custom. According to the designer, only 7 pieces were ever made (and it cost JPY 350,000 or JPY 360,000 in the early 1980s), so I wouldn't bother searching for one. Its stylus and cantilever were made from a single piece of diamond - no glue joint between stylus and cantilever. At the time, its sound was head and shoulders above anything else that I had heard.
But to play the devil's advocate, linear transducers (including speakers and cartridges) are woefully inefficient at converting one form of energy into another.
Less than 10% of the mechanical energy picked up from the LP groove is converted into electrical energy. Given that inherant wastefulness, one could argue that it is not such a big problem to introduce some extra loss at the stylus.
If someone else wants to try this and document their results, I would be willing to read the research paper (grin).
>that the cantilever transmit movements instead sound.
I am not sure that I understand what you are trying to categorize, but the goal is to have the sensor (magnet, iron, coils) follow the LP groove, one-to-one. A perfectly stiff and massless cantilever would accomplish this, but no such thing exists. In reality, any lack of stiffness in the cantilever will cause flexing, and any mass means that it has more difficulty in transmitting higher frequencies than lower ones.
It is possible to build a cartridge based on a bending-wave cantilever (my understanding is that Grado's "telescoping cantilever" is based on this philosophy), or the designer can attempt to make the cantilever as stiff as ingenuity allows (such as the aforementioned XL-88D Custom).
hth |
Dear J.carr: I think that only a cartridge designer like you can answer in true about that stylus damping right there because only you can build a cartridge prototype with, test it and find out what really happen.
For what you posted here, elsewhere and my own experiences I can say that the cartridge is full of compromises, no perfect one but several trade-offs and IMHO it is in these choosed trade-offs where belongs the cartridge quality performance level: trade-offs choosed by the designer that certainly are part of that subjectivity you was talking about.
Even that I still think that exist or can exist " the best " cartridge that could be with the trade-offs that interfere the less with the reproduction of what is recorded in the grooves. I think that well regarded cartridge designers as you are want to present the market that " best " cartridge: his best design effort and that's why in the Lyra line exist the Atlas and certainly some other in the future.
I think that J.carr can't exist if J.carr don't think can design the " best ".
Design " the best " is not only a commercial target but a personal proud to be achieved a dream audio life finally.
Waiting for your " best ".
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Well Nandric, the 'guy' I speak of has sent an Astatic MF 300 cartridge, he accepted $50cdn and it should be here any day! Sunday, I found an Empire 4000 III for $25!! But the real kicker is: my buddy came up from Oregon with some great Open Baffle speakers for me, and.... The Panasonic Strain Gauge cartridge with 2 custom built gain stages.. I can't stop listening to it! I have yet to hook up the Empire, and the poor Acutex hasn't had a chance to break in yet!! I've decided to buy the Panasonic setup, it's just too good! When the Astatic cart and stylus arrive, I'll pop it on the Lenco for a spin, But back to the SG: it's SO 'right' on my setup, that I haven't even bothered with tape... And tape is what had my Lenco gathering dust for this last year! The OB's have retired my horns, and the SG has retired my Studer! I'll be seeing what this Empire , and Astatic are all about soon enough! As an aside, I got a Decca Maroon after a friend told me about the synergy they have with Lencos, but it just wasn't happening, wrong arm I think. Anyways, it's exciting to be rediscovering my record collection again! Harv |
Hi Hxt1, The guy you speak of posted to you, I assume, the Astatic 300 body; you already owned the 300 stylus. My comrade Don owns the Glanz 31 E as well as the Astatic 300 stylus. He was impressed with the Glanz (elliptical) stylus which should be 'the same' as the 300. He can tell us if they are actual the same. My guess is still that Astatic and Glanz are the same carts. The only difference being the shibata by Astatic 100 and 200 and line contact by Glanz 71,51 and 31L. So the Glanz 31 E and Astatic 300 should be 'identical'.
Regards, |
Raul, Nandric, Could you confirm the construction of the AT-150 ANV cantilever? AT web site says it is both solid sapphire and a tube. I don't think tube (opposed to rod) construction is generally available today, but it is usually far superior, lighter, and more rigid than a rod type.
Today we have cartridge price tags as high as $15K, yet these designers are limited to availability of parts. Goldfinger uses a 12 magnet array to boost output to .9mV and tiny gold coils for resistance of 4 ohms (what I read). Why gold? Gold is heavy. Wouldn't gold coils slow down transient response and increase effective tip mass, as opposed to silver or copper in a MC design? I suspect gold was chosen for because the coils are tiny and the voicing demanded that an overly bright design needed taming. Besides, a few grams of gold are good marketing. Like seeing the plumbing fixtures in a Hilton hotel the first time, audiofools are easily impressed.
Now we have elaborate magnet arrays, titanium bodies (one asymmetrically cut) and the same old ho hum boron rod cantilevers in this 40 year old technology. Isn't it time for improvement? As you read this, the US Senate (the rich guys) is being lobbied to institute a "No Cantilever Left Behind" program. This program is a little different than what you might expect. Rather than increase the groove reading ability of all stylus/cantilevers, the focus is improvement of ultimate performance which might trickle down to budget entries. With this in mind, methods of fusing a diamond stylus to a boron, beryllium, or ruby tube are being developed.
Three cantilevers walked into a bar.....
http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/0fdd550387445ba6/index.html
Regards, |
Dear Fleib, Sapphire is transparent so looking must be combine with thinking. The place where the stylus is fastened is cut at an angle such that the stylus can be seen on both sides. The cut part is massive suggesting solid sapphire but right behind it one can see a kind of an border line which may mean a tube behind this, say, front part. My own impression is that the whole cantilever is solid sapphire. BTW the cart is beautifuly made and I am glad to have purchased one; they are made in limited numbers so....But I am reluctant to advice others how to spend their money.
Regards,
|
Dear Raul, You wrote, "Lewm, the transducer is the cartridge not the cantilever and that's why we hear what you are saying. So what?"
Couple of things: (1) To say that the cartridge not the cantilever is the transducer is a semantic argument. And in any case, I did not mean to say that the cantilever per se is the transducer; I meant to say (and did say) that the interaction of the cantilever with the magnet structure (in an MC) or with the coils (in an MM) are what allows the conversion of the mechanical energy imparted to the stylus tip in the groove to electrical energy that is the music signal (at the output of the cartridge). That's the definition of "transduction"; mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. (2) You say, "So what?" The cantilever is vibrating like crazy, that's what. I suggested that the faint music that can be heard in the vicinity of a cartridge is the result of cantilever vibration. I don't know for sure that this is the case, but that would be my best guess. If you know something different, I am here to learn. To say that I am hearing the "cartridge" tells us nothing. |
Dear Lewm: +++ " I suggested that the faint music that can be heard in the vicinity of a cartridge is the result of cantilever vibration. " ++++
that's obvious and the same I think: cantilever movements that put on " action " the trasducer. We agree: so what?
just kidding.
Regards and enjoy the music, R: |
"Three cantilevers walked into a bar" The Bartender says: "What is this, some kinda joke"?
Oh yes, yes, I went there. |