yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

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Ant
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#121 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Ant »

Its a paper backed veneer with a pre applied pressure sensitive adhesive, i use that type because its very flexible which is good for following the curve of the plinth and stays where it is without needing any taping. I use a hardwood block to smooth it on, pulling the backing off abit at a time then using the block to apply pressure.

No getting high as a kite off contact adhesive fumes, no cleanup other than binning the offcuts. It 'says' it can be repositioned, but it cant really, pull it off and the glue loses its stick, so its a one shot application. But no worse than normal stuff and contact adhesive. Balls it up, buy some more and try again.

Its a pain in the arse in one particular way though, the substrate you are veneering needs to be sealed, and very smooth, which is fine on flat surfaces, but on the edges of a laminate alot of prep work has to be done.
If you are going round a curve, it has to be bang square all way round the curve too otherwise it can start to pull away. Its not very forgiving on curves, but as long as the prep is done right its fine.
I paint the bare plinth first to seal it rather than using sanding sealer, that way all the cutouts are painted so they look nice if the platter is taken off. It cant look fine on the outside but look a bugger inside.
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IslandPink
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#122 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by IslandPink »

Great work.
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Ant
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#123 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Ant »

Finished the setup and testing of this deck, first time ive heard one of jeff spalls series 6 audiomods arm.

Bloody hell this arm is good. Better than the series 5 and the classic which i had. In fact, amazingly, it does almost the same disappearing act that my air bearing arm does. It is barely there. This is with the at33ptg as opposed to the at33sa on mine, its very close, perhaps the audiomods has slightly better bass, a little richer than the air prodigy which is drier than a dry thing. I can detect a little tiny bit of character to jeffs arm, the airprodigy has none.

If i didnt have the airprodigy to compare it to i would not be able to pick it up at all. When i bought the linear tracker i was very very close to buying the 10" version of this arm, and if i hadnt been aware of the airprodigy i probably would have.

Its beautifully built, pretty much peerless of all the arms ive had through here, although if i had bought it i would have had the satin finish instead of the polished finish, it picks up fingerprints like nobodys business

The airprody remains my reference point, the audiomods my absolute top recommendation for anyone wanting an arm. I shall continue to point any of my customers who ask straight at jeff with a big red arrow.

Interestingly, the 33 ptg seems a little more lively than the sa of mine, not a little laid back.

The rega rb330 sounds..... fine :D
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Neal
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#124 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Neal »

I really rate the AT33PTG I don’t find it lacking and seems to run at its best a little tail up, it’s on a par with my Ortofon Kontra B to my ears.
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Ant
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#125 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Ant »

Yes its a great cart, its as good as either my at33sa, (its a slightly different flavour to the sa, which is unsurprising as they are identical other than the stylus) or my dv20x2, and i think its better than the hana sl (my subjective preference, i seem to prefer the microline to the shibata for some reason) although i cant compare directly as i dont have the hana any more
Granted, ive never had a kontra, or anything considered high end, ive grubbed around in the bottom of the barrel for years, so i cant compare the at33 with anything in the group above it, but i cant see it comparing anything other than favourably
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Ant
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#126 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Ant »

this one is almost finished
has an obnoxious platter mat

ImageType 3b lenco OL RB300 audiomods 5 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

or a technics one which does not look obnoxious

ImageType 3b lenco OL RB300 audiomods 5 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

there is an pete riggle vta adjuster to be fitted on the audiomods 5 arm that hasn't arrived yet, apparently he has been unwell unfortunately so it has been delayed

It ended up 18" square so that there is plenty of room to handle the rear arm without clouting the main arm.

I have 2 more decks to be building, a teardrop for this same customer which will have an audiomods 6 on it, and another teardrop for someone else. And a dead Thorens td124 to get going again (motor is working, theres a problem in the wiring and linkages somewhere) I had the opportunity to take the Thorens as is, i.e. broken, as payment for the teardrop lenco build which i had to be sensible and decline, i may well kick myself at some point down the line as i doubt ill get the opportunity to get my hands on another 124, but i dont need another deck and bills need to be paid.........

onwards!
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Ant
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#127 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Ant »

Finally finished with 4 turntables.
First is the dual armed Lenco. Has now got a black platter, great big 401 style bearing, Audiosilente idler wheel, and a pair of Audio Technica carts. One is a vm540ml that was sent off somewhere and had a nice milled aluminium body fitted in place of the original plastic one, the other is a vm740ml that has also had a new body. Abit of an odd one to do as it already had an aluminium body, but it aint my money. The threaded holes in it make it much easier to mount it though.

ImageType 2 and type 3 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

Second is the other one for the same customer, a type 2. This one took forever to do due to delays on getting bits.
I milled a complete one off 6mm aluminium chassis for this one, this meant I was able to build in much more stiffness to the chassis by reducing the idler hole to allow 33 and 45, removing all the spurious holes, and make it ring much less. Was abit of a pig to do, milling the curves was a right pain in the arse but it was worth it.

ImageLenco teardrop new chassis by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

Fitted with an Audiomods 6 and an at33 pgt.

ImageType 2 and type 3 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

It also has an Audiosilente idler wheel and big bearing, the mat is some dirty great copper thing, adds a load of mass to the platter, and contrary to my own narrow minded thinking on mats, sounds good too. It shuts the platter up better than the thick rubber ones I use.

This one is another teardrop, it's meant to be having a 10" arm, a Supatrac one I think. It is built so that the arm boards are interchangeable and anything from a Linn pattern arm to the 10" arm will fit on it.
It's got my tabriz on it for testing it.

ImageType 2 lenco by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

not a great pic.

And lastly, the td124 is now restored. It's not perfect, but that was never the job. It has had to have quite alot done to it to get it working again, theres more hours in it than I charged for but thats how it goes sometimes. But it now runs properly. I haven't tested it yet though, the 3009 is mine, the deck had a cutout for it to go on. I need to check the SME over though as it might have a wiring fault on it that needs dealing with before I can.

ImageThorens td124 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

It will be interesting to see what it sounds like, its built like a brick outhouse but the engineering in it is very well thought out and slick.

Don't know what to do with myself now

Might put a record on...
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Ali Tait
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#128 Re: yet another boring one trick pony turntable build

Post by Ali Tait »

Grand job as always Ant.
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