Very sad story sorry about that.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
We always talk about the great equipment we own or owned. What about the bad and the ugly?
Here are my choices and you have to have owned them! Provide links so we can see also.
My choices for terrible and ugly are The Transcriptors Vestigial Arm and the Win Labs Strain Gauge Cartridge.
https://www.google.com/search?q=transcriptors+vestigial+tonearm&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS869US869&sou...
https://www.google.com/search?q=win+labs+cartridge&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS869US869&source=lnms&...
The arm was a pitiful looking tinker toy which certainly did not engender pride in ownership, but worse the vertical effective mass was so low and warp wow so severe it was virtually unlistenable. I had it mounted on an LP 12.
The Win Labs was a poor tracker and was too bright in my system. I can't remember which arm I had at the time, may have been the Itoc. It was a cheesy plastic thing, glued together with adhesive oozing out of the seams.
Both items only lasted a few months. The arm was a design failure. The cartridge needed a lot more development.
Here are my choices and you have to have owned them! Provide links so we can see also.
My choices for terrible and ugly are The Transcriptors Vestigial Arm and the Win Labs Strain Gauge Cartridge.
https://www.google.com/search?q=transcriptors+vestigial+tonearm&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS869US869&sou...
https://www.google.com/search?q=win+labs+cartridge&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS869US869&source=lnms&...
The arm was a pitiful looking tinker toy which certainly did not engender pride in ownership, but worse the vertical effective mass was so low and warp wow so severe it was virtually unlistenable. I had it mounted on an LP 12.
The Win Labs was a poor tracker and was too bright in my system. I can't remember which arm I had at the time, may have been the Itoc. It was a cheesy plastic thing, glued together with adhesive oozing out of the seams.
Both items only lasted a few months. The arm was a design failure. The cartridge needed a lot more development.
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- 17 posts total
My biggest disappointments have been pieces I like but had poor or inaccessible parts. rca jacks pre-mounted to pc boards, easy to push in too hard with a nice tight connector and break them. Speaker wire terminals that become loose somehow, foam rot on woofers surrounds, glued on feet, one that walks off the job one day. Other things I don't remember. It's hard to complain about maintenance of vintage equipment, but when rubber gaskets to isolate the counterweight section wear out, it ain't easy, i.e. SME 3009 rubber sleeve; JVC Tonearm rubber washers. It's a darn shame equipment, especially vintage with POTs & Switches don't have easy access for periodic cleaning, i.e. entire front panel with slack wiring behind, loosen two side screws, pull out, hose em down, back together. |
I loved my Thorens TD124, (it with aforementioned SME 3009), could take it apart, clean/adjust, replaced the rubber suspension grommets that had hardened, made custom wood base but, the bearing, incredibly machined, was highly sensitive to vertical vibration, a bad combination with my springy floors, I traded it for a Fisher 500C I seem to remember. Lots of switches and pots to clean on it. I found this interesting https://www.woodsongaudio.com/service/thorens-td124-main-spindle-bearing-rebuild It was absolutely amazing to drop that heavy platter and bearing shaft into the bearing sleeve and see how long it took for the air to get out of the bearing to allow it to descend. |
- 17 posts total