New Townshend Rock 7 owner


The Townshend is in transit to it's new home. I purchased this one-owner table as a package, complete w/ Funk Firm FXR ll arm, dc motor upgrade, Discovery Balanced phono cable and Brinkman PI cartridge. It come with all original boxes, manuals.

If all goes well, I should be able to get it up and running with one exception, my phono stage is not balanced. Since the original owner bought this from a respected dealer as a package, I think my best route would be to get a pair of RCA to XLR adapters in order to hear the package as close as possible as was intended.

Any thoughts on that aspect? What brand adapters would be recommended? Also, any thing I might need to know from experienced users to help with set-up? Thanks.
128x128slaw
dear @slaw 

I have a heavily modified Rock Elite:

1. Berher Lahrs motor (from a DPS)
2. Acrylic platter 
3. origin live belt
4. Bernard Fuss two phase power supply.

I have posted to @bdp24  about this before.

My actual reasoning is as follows.

To my ears the only weakness of the elite was what I associate with most belt drive decks, and that is that under load they suffer stylus drag. The only deck that does not have the drag that I had heard was a DPS model 2.

Someone had a DPS model 2 motor and speed control up for sale.

The DPS motor is a high torque Berger lairs that runs at 500 rpm. Thankfully the motor came with the pulley and the pod.

The Elite platter has a wider diameter at the bottom compared to the top, so I needed a platter that would allow a peripheral belt so I got one made to the same thickness by TizoAcryl - they also drilled the hole so as to go on the same spindle.

I use a very thick bearing grease on the spindle to provide more resistance to the driving belt (this was to follow the DPS theory)

I was researching two phase power supplies and found a German review on one made by Bernard Fuss - It was considered to be a good upgrade on a transrotor power supply.

In respect of the belt I unfortunately order one that Is way too long - requiring that the motor pod is placed a fair bit from the main chassis. I went for origin live coz I heard good things about it.

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The result was exactly as I hoped, in simplistic terms it is analogous to focusing a lens. What happened most clearly was that when passages got heavy and complex there was no slowing down. This meant that bass was much better defined and in fact deeper. I also found that the soundstage became more stable.

I would love to hear it against any other Townshend because but for very recent Rock 7's which I believe have DC motors (please do not quote me on that) the rest have all used the Phillips/Airpax motors which have very little torque.

To my ears at least I am a timing freak, and a bit of torque in the drive system really works wonders - it's where I think why so many people like Idlers and DD's.

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In terms of tonearms I have a Mission/Jelco mounted at present, however, I use a Nordost tyr tonearm cable.

In addition to this I have a brand new Helius Orion that I got Geoff to make has ceramic bearings as opposed to ruby bearings. I also have Moerch DP6

That said I think @slaw touched upon the fact that Max does rate the bearings on a Rega arm and the way it transfers energy. So maybe an RB1000 may be the way to go?

All said and done - the trough very much takes the arm out of the equation - I will report back on this, because the Jelco's have good wiring internally.

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To conclude - I have a real soft spot for this turntable. I always wanted a Townshend from when I first saw one in a magazine aged 17 - when I had the money - Townshend were not making any decks - so I got something else - which I am also very fond of. 

I bought my elite second hand and it came with a Pickering XSV4000 MM - another discovery - but that's a story for another day
@parrotbee ,

Thanks so much for your post. I haven't read through this thread in a while, but I seem to remember a lot of what you just reminded us all of. Your research is to be appreciated my friend. I hope that I can find the time/motivation to do the same. I need to do a simple test...take my motor out of it's pod and discover exactly what motor it really is.

FWIW & BTW, I have a Moerch DP-8 w/ Nordost Vahallia  tonearm cable waiting in the wings.
slawI have purchased the tools that I need to do the work including a small spirit level to help with the leveling of the platter. I have been a little busy to get this project going and I'm waiting for a friend who is going to help with me and they should be coming over in about a week or two.Thanks for the interest if I have any questions I'll let you know and will keep you posted.

slawBTW
I used a Moerch DP-6 ON A SOTA Star Sapphire TT  for many years and loved it.