New turntable project, input welcome!

Wayner · « **on:** 28 Nov 2008, 04:34 pm »

Howdy,

I been thinking about this one for a long, long time and with the holiday weekend, thought I might get a jump on it. Yes, it's an old AR turntable. This one is the second best one of the 3. Its plinth was less then pretty and the motor noise was hard to tame down. I thought I would turn the design alittle and make it like a Diva or something like that. Because the table had a nice die-cast sub-platter, I thought an easy mod could be in order as the platter and tonearm all mount to it.

The basic plan is to put 3 feet under it, put a tonearm wire-output box on it so I can use some nice Bluejeans cables on it, find a way to make an arm rest for it and finally make a SAMA for it using the the very nice 300RPM Hurst synchronous motor.

The motor may be the hardest thing to do but I'm picturing an enclosure to contain all of the wiring, like a VPI SAMA, which would include the motor, on switch, starting capacitor and corded plug. There will be some math involved to get the motor pulley the right height but I see no problems, yet.

If anyone has any thoughts before I start in, let 'er fling.

Wayner aa

macrojack · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 05:09 pm »

I can't advise you directly but you might benefit from investigating Merrill turntables. They used to have a huge DIY following and I believe the aggregate probably did everything that can be done to an AR at one time or another.

AudioSoul · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 05:50 pm »

I would go to the Audiowood website to get inspiration, he has some really nice designs.....

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 06:29 pm »

Additional pointers may be found at these sites:

http://www.soundofthewood.com/

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/

Good luck on your project, Wayner.

John

Wayner · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Nov 2008, 07:37 pm »

With almost no effort and a little part scrounging, here is where I'm at:

Wayner

AudioSoul · « **Reply #5 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 03:47 am »

Good start....Anything worth doing is worth doing well !.....Have patience it will come I ........
Sorry to be so philosophical.....but take your time !

TONEPUB · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 06:49 am »

The sound of the wood guy does awesome work!

Wayner · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 03:13 pm »

The SAMM is done (stand alone motor module), and so far I've had to buy a 1/2" drill bit and a switch. Needed a switch with a round hole mount as I gots no way to make a rectangular hole.

I do need to go to rat shack for a small electrical box for the RCA jacks.

Soon........

Wayner

Wayner · « **Reply #8 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 06:13 pm »

Wayner · « **Reply #9 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 06:16 pm »

Wayner · « **Reply #10 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 07:10 pm »

With a VPI motor, this thing has torque! I will be spinning records for the rest of the day. First album was Alan Parsons, I Robot. The decoupled motor is certainly a noteworthy design concept. I can feel the SAMM vibrating, but there is zero vibration on the table. The album sounds very airy, deep and wide. It may very well sound better than the VPI Hw.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #11 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 09:38 pm »

Damn nice work, Wayner. You must be feelin spectacularly good about the results.

Wayner · « **Reply #12 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 09:49 pm »

Thanks,

It's sounding marvolous! I will spin some more. The little tiny can't even see 'em tonearm wires drove me up a frickin' wall. And of course, you had to find out which wire was which. I was debating if I needed a ground wire. The table body has no AC on it. But then I thought the gain was pretty high and the metal still has to act like an antenna, so I did. I ran the ground on the left shield, so I didn't have to fool around with a ground wire.

Wayner

Wayner · « **Reply #13 on:** 29 Nov 2008, 10:01 pm »

Here we are listening to GTR.....wow, what reverb........

The Hurst VPI motor requires a .68mfd, 400v starting cap. The C1 capacitor is a spike absorbing cap on the break before make power switch .01mfd, 1000 volt, (thanks Frank). Other than that, it's no big deal.

Wayner

Wayner

Wayner · « **Reply #14 on:** 5 Dec 2008, 10:18 pm »

The project has me slightly baffled and I am looking for ideas. I have a slight hum (with volume of AVA Insight preamp control at 12:00. Yes, I know that is incredible gain, but it's there. To fix it, all I have to do is put my finger on the metal and it completely goes away.

I guess I must be the dummy load

. Anyway, my old frail body is a gigantic (in mid-section) ground drain. Everyting is grounded now and I can't find any device I have that is inducing the hum. What is your take or suggestion?

Wayner

Mariusz · « **Reply #15 on:** 5 Dec 2008, 11:16 pm »

From the listening position-
Use the 24g silverplated cooper wire.
Drill and thread 1/8" hole in your turntable metal base.
Use the cooper screw to mount the SPC wire.
Depending on the distance between the turntable and listening position, cut the lenght needed for completing the tweak. While seating in the sweat spot , wrap the other end around your big fat toe. That is it. If the humm continues , order large pie pizza with extra topping and consume as many slices as necessary to reduce the noise.

I hope it helps.
Nice TT tho. Just like with any other DIY project......tweak, tweak and tweak - to perfection.

Mariusz

Wayner · « **Reply #16 on:** 6 Dec 2008, 12:05 am »

Thanks!

I've actually considered that idea to be the solution. Just add a long piece of wire and hang onto it during playback!

I truely am becoming the "dummy load"

Wayner · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Dec 2008, 11:43 pm »

Well, my R200 tonearm hasn't shown up yet, but I am done with the physical mounts. So I installed the Rega RB300 from my P3. Very nice. The AR turntable and bearing are very well balance. Without belt on and a hand spin will have the table spinning for about 5 minutes. The VPI motor is a brute, but with strobe disc, proves it is a steady performer and it sounds like it. The whole system is very synergistic. The rest of the evening will be spent listening to favorite LPs.........

Wayner

bluemike · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 Dec 2008, 02:21 am »

Looking good Wayner

macrojack · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Dec 2008, 03:32 pm »

Wayne -

Here's another approach.........

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1235098415