Turntable rebuild

Satanfriendly

Satanfriendly

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LeJog 2022 Finisher
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I haven't been posting too much recently, but other than work I have been resurrecting an old hobby and been busy in the background rebuilding my turntable.

I bought this as a box of 'bits' off ebay for £350 some 15 years back and used it most days since. Probably the best record deck I have owned l (and I've owned God knows how many) and I always thought for something circa 1986(ish) it was way ahead of its time.

Still, it had started to become a bit tired and needed a lift

IMG_20210808_161547.jpg

As it was

And so I have spent a bit of time trying to make it 'not so tired'. A full strip down, a new motor mounting assembly, a new base and a few mods, tweaks and improvements and voila

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A new slicker, tidier and improved look and performance. Very very happy.

In due consideration the latest incarnation will cost in the region of £13,000 with no arm or cartridge, my £230 outlay is an inevitable bargain. Plus I really enjoyed going back to one thing I was good at, other than annoying which comes free.

So loved doing it I may yet take on another turntable as a project
 
Hiya doin,

Oh nice, is that a Phonola? Usta have one myself back in the day. Glued a silver dollar to the handle head to prevent skipping!

Actually, most of my friends and myself were audiophiles in the 70s and had some juicy set ups. Some even worked as commission salesmen in a high end stereo store with a full price range with lots of brands. We all got their discount price which was substantial.

I have zero pieces left, having sold my remaining JBL 88s 40 years ago, which I'd bought new and liked more than the 100s because of the bass. However, one friend still alive has a LOT of those 50 year old pleasant components in his home and it all works fine. Even has the quadraphonic set up with some of his speakers but I can't imagine him cranking things up much anymore. Sigh, ok then.

I do enjoy your being here and adding some spice to a mostly really dull bunch of foreign geezers and sorry to twang your post offtrack a bit. Just saying we kinda share (or shared) that crazy train of thought.

Martin
 

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Adamantite said:
Are parts easy enough to find ?
Click to expand...

Not really, and they do tend to be expensive if you can find them. As an example a new clamp will cost £325, an original drive belt £60. Ridiculous for what they are. An after market belt cost me £7 and does the same job perfectly.

I tend to machine or engineer my own alternatives or replacements, or renovate them myself where possible.

The new perspex base was the most expensive piece and then a friend machined it for me as it involved some obscure threads to be cut in and perspex is not easy to machine without damaging. He did a great job.

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dodgy said:
Hiya doin,

Oh nice, is that a Phonola? Usta have one myself back in the day. Glued a silver dollar to the handle head to prevent skipping!

Actually, most of my friends and myself were audiophiles in the 70s and had some juicy set ups. Some even worked as commission salesmen in a high end stereo store with a full price range with lots of brands. We all got their discount price which was substantial.

I have zero pieces left, having sold my remaining JBL 88s 40 years ago, which I'd bought new and liked more than the 100s because of the bass. However, one friend still alive has a LOT of those 50 year old pleasant components in his home and it all works fine. Even has the quadraphonic set up with some of his speakers but I can't imagine him cranking things up much anymore. Sigh, ok then.

I do enjoy your being here and adding some spice to a mostly really dull bunch of foreign geezers and sorry to twang your post offtrack a bit. Just saying we kinda share (or shared) that crazy train of thought.

Martin
Click to expand...

Know where you are coming from. Hifi is one of those massive holes I no longer jump down too much anymore and prices appear to have gone through the roof at the higher end.

The deck was actually made in Canada originally and until recent I have been using some Yanky Doodle Dandy amps from Audio Research Corp. Brilliant stuff and valves. Time came to downgrade a bit though as too many boxes involved. I want a simple life now.

I remain a big fan of vinyl thought but sod gluing any coins on the end of the arm. Not record healthy. Too many albums dating back to the 70's to when I started collecting to back down or sell. As my wife says, my album collection is a trip through my life. I have tried selling my wife though and keeping the records. Not to any avail though.
 
Fabulous system you have there, congratulations! I am extremely jealous! Mine is not in the same league I admit, but I am getting an insane amount of pleasure (err, yeah, ok!) from my 1970's Sansui based hi-fi which had not seen the light of day since around 1990 until last year when we moved from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom pensioners bungalow.

The second bedroom has became an all purpose office/music room/spare bedroom. I refurbished the turntable gently with some oil, a new belt, and new cartridge, replaced the heavy stand mounted speakers with small bookshelf ones, acquired some new old stock headphones and fitted new cables all round!

I then checked out the current price of vinyl records - are they having a laugh or what, £30, don't think I'll be getting many new ones, but there are a couple of second hand record shops in the area which I intend to visit! And with around 400 vinyl albums and an equal number of cd's and cassette tapes (remember those?) I have at least a couple of years worth of listening - just revisiting my past!

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Rip my flesh said:
Fabulous system you have there, congratulations! I am extremely jealous! Mine is not in the same league I admit, but I am getting an insane amount of pleasure (err, yeah, ok!) from my 1970's Sansui based hi-fi which had not seen the light of day since around 1990 until last year when we moved from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom pensioners bungalow.

The second bedroom has became an all purpose office/music room/spare bedroom. I refurbished the turntable gently with some oil, a new belt, and new cartridge, replaced the heavy stand mounted speakers with small bookshelf ones, acquired some new old stock headphones and fitted new cables all round!

I then checked out the current price of vinyl records - are they having a laugh or what, £30, don't think I'll be getting many new ones, but there are a couple of second hand record shops in the area which I intend to visit! And with around 400 vinyl albums and an equal number of cd's and cassette tapes (remember those?) I have at least a couple of years worth of listening - just revisiting my past!

View attachment 111730
Click to expand...

A Sansui SR222 by any chance? An absolutely classic if it is. Looks a nice little tidt system and Sansui were great stuff in their day.

Don't know how many albums I have but possibly quite some value in the older 1st release material. Aim to library them on Discogs and value them at the same time.

My system before the recent downsize..

IMG_20210808_161647.jpg

Too many boxes even if they are nice. Some on ebay at the moment
 
Satanfriendly said:
A Sansui SR222 by any chance? An absolutely classic if it is. Looks a nice little tidt system and Sansui were great stuff in their day.

Don't know how many albums I have but possibly quite some value in the older 1st release material. Aim to library them on Discogs and value them at the same time.

My system before the recent downsize..

View attachment 111732

Too many boxes even if they are nice. Some on ebay at the moment
Click to expand...
Yep, SR222 MK2 (think they ran out or 2's then!)
I have been thinking of indexing my records but cannot decide between grouping by name, artist, genre, date etc, etc!
 
You’ve done a first class job
really looks super.
I was a huge HiFi buff many years ago but sold it all of to fund my drinking hobby at the time.
Not an Alcoholic but certainly going down the wrong road.
Linn was my turntable of choice back then.
My Brother is a huge fan & recently spent £36,000 on a set of speakers.
probably sounds a lot to most folk but he’s not in to cars or anything really
music & his system are his life.
I was thinking of getting back in to it but i now own zero vinyl which is another big bare.
Good Luck with it & please keep posting
love it love it love
 
Beautiful mate. Certainly puts my Sondek/Naim system to shame. I keep intending to improve my Linn. It could do with a new plinth but I'm not shelling £400 on a mitred box of 4 pieces of 4x1 and £500 to have it put into the plinth. I'd rather buy £1000 worth of 45's. In my game, Northern Soul that'll get me 1 or 2 records at best. That Oracle is a thing of beauty though, just like the Gyrodeck was too.
 
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