She's still quite homely, but she plays even better now....
Setting her up on steel shot filled string bean cans and topped with some squishy (very effective) puds from LAT International...and re-filling the damping trough with 50,000 cst silicone were major benefits added since January....
I realized recently
how important having a damped platter was in a direct drive unit.....perhaps more so than a belt driver as that motor right under it is both something of it's achilles heel
and major benefit. So, I dug out an old Audioquest Sorbothane mat (must weight half-a-pound, which in itself is good to beef up the cheap platter that JVC provided - remember, this was not JVC's top-of-the-line unit circa 1979 or so). It makes for a miserable platter mat right under the record itself, but under the Herbie's mat it damps the platter nicely and the Herbie's does a much better job of wresting control of the vinyl without robbing it of life. Tight bass and better resolution just came pouring out of the JVC after making this platter mat sandwich
So, tomorrow or the next I'm gonna Soundcoat the
entire underside and top side of the aluminum platter - in addition to the 1/4 lb of Plast-i-Clay already in place on the underside. Hopefully, it adds another 1/2 lb of mass and eliminates most traces of ringing from 10 hz to 20kHz where it's most effective. I think it should pay rich dividends in sound by totally deadening that platter - which is by it's very nature integral with the (vibrating, no matter how well made) motor itself.
Stay tuned for more episodal information on the world's homeliest (but, fine sounding) turntable
