Posted by Mike D (A) on June 12, 2005 at 11:11:53
A few months ago, several of you helped me a great deal with upgrading my ProJect 6.1. Thank you all for your help.
Changes completed:
-Carbon Fiber tone arm (same as ProJect's 6.9 and Perspective arm)
I had to drill new holes in the plinth
-Cardas hyperlitz 33awg tonearm cable run directly from cartridge through the arm to the preamp (kept old ground wire in place)
-Replacement bearing
-Replacement spindle/sub-platter
-New "Sandwich" bonded vinyl platter (same as 6.9 and Perspective)
-Replacement motor
-Removed springs that suspended the table
-Replaced springs with Black Diamond Racing Cones, screws, and washers. Now the table is no longer suspended so walking in the room is okay.
Here are the results of each change:
The sandwich platter resulted in quieter background and less surface noise. Before this platter, I was using the stock platter with Mu-Metal to block hum for my Grado Sonata, Sorbothane for surface noise and whatever other voodoo it does, and the glass platter because it sharpenned the image. The thickness of all of these layers led to a raised VTL and added spacers for the dust cover. With the new Sandwich platter, the altitude is nearly the same, but it sounds significantly better. I am not using the Mu-Metal platter to protect my Grado from hum, and there is no hum! ??? bizarre, but true
The tone arm cable and tone arm upgrades happened at the same time because I purchased the tonearm from Roy at Music Hall in New York with no tone arm cable in it. This meant I got a great price, but it took a bit of McGiveresque ingenuity. The cardas wire was dressed and terminated by the guys at DIYcable. I asked them to leave the wires uncovered for the 14 or so inches needed for the wire to go through the arm and come out the bottom. They said they would do this, but the boss was away when my work was done, and the co-worker must not have gotten the message. So the cable did not allow the arm to flex enough due to the thick shrink wrap that came with the cable. The cardas 33 hyperlitz cable comew with shrink wrap and shielding on it. When I called DIY to ask why the shrink wrap was not removed, they said, "that is how the cable comes. It is in a large spool." So I let it go and am passing this on to you. If you order a one-piece cable to go all the way from the cartridge to the preamp, either be triple specific that you want the shrink wrap removed for the tonearm portion, or be prepared to do it yourself when the cable arrives. I removed the shrink wrap and left the shielding in place at the shoulder of the tone arm. This gave it enough flexibility to work fine. I also had to remove a bit of shrink wrap at the cartridge end to allow a bit more slack due to the length of the Cardas clips. I soldered the Cardas clips to the super-thin cables and the job was completed. Shewwwwwwww
This ordeal led to a overall improvement in terms of more midrange information, smoother treble while extending higher, deeper and tighter bass, and much more imaging and channel separation.
The replacing of the springs for the Black Diamond Racing cones was a significant improvement. This was no big deal. I just went to the hardware store, bought three appropriate screws, washers, and nuts to lock the cones onto the plinth. The plinth then sat in the cups that used to hold the springs. Therefore the tips of the cones are not holding the weight of the plinth. The BDR people and most of you would say that I am wasting my money by using BDR cones in a place where any cone would work, but I had them in storage... so I used them. This change resulted in a tighter, flutter free sound.
Replacing the bearing, spindle/sub-platter, and motor led to removal of speed problems. Before these changes, a sustained piano chord would wow and flutter with the resistance caused by my worn spindle. After talking to the guys at ProJect, it became clear that I had damaged the teflon coating in bearing in college by removing the spindle/sub-platter over and over to show my friends how cool my record player was. Now the sound is clear and nearly perfectly steady. It is no primo Sychronious Drive System like the mega-buck players have, but it makes me proud to know it is closer. The oil used for the bearing/spindle was Mobile One 5W-30 synthetic. Hope that's okay.
For three days, I ran the table hooked up to an old Optimus (Radio Shack) receiver 24/7 with an old Sumiko Oyster cartridge. This was advised by a friend of mine to break in the cable. My trusted friend actually advised that I let the cable break in for a week, but I had company this weekend and wanted to play records for them. If any of you believe that the cable needs more than 72 hours of break in, I'll put the Oyster back on and let it run in a while longer. I used the Cardas Sweep record's locked out white noise tracks. During this week, I finally fingured out the anti-skating weight. From what I have read on this page, the spindle/motor/bearing all need break in time as well. After 72 hours, I'm guessing the cable and moving parts should be well-broken in. The Grado was put back and the cartridge was realigned using the DB Protractor tool. The weight is set at 1.85 grams.
Summary:
After all of this, the sound is that of more teble information, quiet back ground, noticeably less surface noise, and faster response in all frequencies.
Before all of this, the sound was nearly tubby. Now the sound is cleaner and quicker and boardering on too analytical. Over the next year or so, I will get the weight and VTA dialed in just right to get rid of this characteristic. From what I have heard in stores and during in-home trials, the sound that I have now is nowhere near as analytical/clinical as the Rega 25 and the Rega table that is one step lower in their line. Compared to the two Regas that I had at home for trials with my Grado cartidge hooked up to them, this ProJect table (before it was modified) was much easier on the ears. The unmodified ProJect's soundstaging was from a couple feet in front of the speakers to over 6 feet behind the speakers. This soundstaging was more important to me than the speed, articulation, and fully frontal soundstaging of the Regas. The Regas soundstaging was from a couple feet behind the speakers to all the way up my nose. The Grado mellowed the Regas a but, all of the above comments apply to listening impressions made while the grado was hooked up to the each table in question.
Now, with the modified ProJect 6.1, the soundstaging goes equally as far behind the speakers as it did before to all the way in my lap, but not up my nose. The channel separation is as extreme and wide as the Regas without the cost of digital sounding emphasis on upper midrange that both of the Regal tables exhibited. The information available now has created a more intricate field of music on a wider canvas. The previous tubbyness (AKA lower midrange emphasis) of the ProJect 6.1 is now gone, yet the sound is still beefier than Regas I heard. By the way, the Regas still sounded thin even when I adjusted the cartridge weight to as heavy as 3 grams. Light or heavy cartrige weight and low or high VTA, there was a persistant Sony-like quality to the Regas that I could not enjoy.
