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A Turntable History Question

In late 1981, or January of 1982, I took a couple of my ward sisters out to the theatre (it was a Brian Rix farce at the Apollo). Returning to Harrow, I dropped off one of them and was invited in, where I saw her husband's turntable. It was suspended at each corner by many rubber bands, and years later I assumed it was an SME that I had seen. Now I know that SME were not making turntables at that time, I wonder what it was?

dogberry
wbs
77 posts
 

The SME 30 has 12 bands per pylon, not 15.

Bill

ktarver
19 posts
 

I was a pretty heavy audiophile back in late 70’s and 80’s and never ran across factory suspension with rubber bands back in the day.  I’d say he most likely set this up on his own.  I, on the other had, had my system in a completely separate room away from any feed back from listening room.  

dogberry OP
672 posts
 

Thank you all for your thoughts. I should have stayed to have a listen!

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
185 posts
 

@wbs

I stand corrected!  The SME website for the Model 30 series two states 60 rubber rings, plus one to counteract the pull of the drive belt, plus two spares!  Of note is the fact that these rings are clearly visible.  Rubber is an elastomer with some self-damping, but additional damping was built into the suspension towers.  The designer aimed for critical damping, so if the deck was pushed down and then released, it would return to the equilibrium position with no overshoot.

wbs
77 posts
 

@richardbrand 

My Model 30 (s/n 0001) has 12 bands per tower plus the one band counteracting the belt pull.  It came with one or two extra bands, but I can't remember exactly.

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