Nude Turntable Project

Nice post In_shore.
I've never heard a Kenwood LO7D......but apart from all reports on its superb sound.......it gets my vote as one of the most beautiful decks ever designed.

Dear Inshore and Halcro, I dearly love my L07D, and I totally agree with you on the engineering. Those guys were way ahead of their time in designing and building that plinth. And what strikes me about the L07D in action is its inherent dead silence and neutrality and the (for want of a better word) smooth, unintrusive operation of that coreless motor. I even think highly of the tonearm. The only problem with the tonearm is the wiring. I plan to bypass all the internal wiring and the plug at the base of the tonearm, to make a "straight shot" from the cartridge all the way to the phono input. Yet, even with the stock wiring, the Stanton 980LZS on the L07D is a marriage made in audio heaven.

I added a second arm to my JVC QL10 (TT101 and JVC QA7045 arm and solid particle board/wood plinth) using a bracket of my design screwed solidly into the plinth, and a Micro-Seiki AX-6G arm-board. As you may know the arm-board attaches to a post on the plinth and is swung into place and tightened down.

The new board sits almost an inch above the level of the plinth - it had to swing in over the plinth to achieve proper overhang. This left me with the arm too high. So to maintain VTA I had to raise the platter. That requirement brought this thread to mind.

I raised the platter by unbolting the TT from the plinth and supporting the nude TT on three Audio-Technica feet but left it in place in the hole in the plinth. The plinth is on aurios/tip-toes, and both tonearms (epa-100, QA-7045) are solidly mounted to the plinth.

So now I have a nude TT101 surrounded by two arms on a heavy wooden plinth. Initial listening tests are very favorable. I was quite skeptical of the nude idea, but I must admit a veil has lifted as have my doubts. I can only surmise that the motor was introducing vibrations to the plinth that were picked up by the tonearm. I was very happy before, I am happier now.

I hope the pics make all this a bit clearer:
http://s1106.photobucket.com/albums/h373/Garya1/Dual%20Tone-Arms%20Dec%202011/

Thanks to Halcro and Raul.

A thought just occurred. Has anyone tried a DD TT with a plinth but with the arms mounted on external pods? Comparing that configuration to the same TT nude might shed light on the effect that a plinth has on the TT versus the effect on the tonearm.

Aigenga, I think that's a better idea than the typical "nude" approach by putting footers underneath the bottom cover. Glad you got good result from that. I always maintain there's really no true "nude" turntable in a direct drive system because the turntable itself is a plinth in holding the motor. So the motor is the real nudist. What I really want to see is to take the motor out and put it in a plinth can compare that to a nude style a la Halcro and Raul.

Thanks for the nude pictures! :-D

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