Apocalypse Now?—Technics sp10 problem s

FWIW, My slate plinths are huge, and I could mount as many as 3 tonearms with much much less effort than it would take to de-plinthify my SP10, if I wished to do so. The DP80 is a better candidate for deplinthification. (George W Bush, where are you? Never mind. I don't want to know.) But I think I am guilty of going way off topic. On the other hand, Banquo seems happy and that's what counts.

Ct, Plinth for belt-drive is a whole other kettle of fish. I had come to prefer no plinth for belt-drive, when last I owned one.

I visited the guy who will try to fix my TT. His name is Mirko Djorkevik and he has a shop in Huntington Beach, CA. He listened to the noise emanating from my TT motor and says it's the shaft that the spindle sits on. It's the same thing I said, earlier in this thread, was worn when I opened it up a couple of days ago. Since he arrived at that judgment independently of my mentioning anything, I feel we may have hit upon the actual cause. We'll see in a couple of days after he opens the thing up and closely examines it.

Mirko is a great guy and I think he primarily restores Thorens and Garrard TTs. He has an eBay store (user name: sq38s) that sells newly machined parts for those. You can contact him through ebay or if anyone wants his phone #, PM me and I'll be happy to give it to you. It is good for me that he has those skills, since when I opened the Technics up and saw the wear on the top of the shaft, I judged that there's no way to fix it but to replace it with a new one. Hopefully, it's possible. I'm also having him machine me a tonearm pod and some new counterweights for my tonearm. No problem, he says.

At any rate, I'll update this thread when I see how things turn out. Fingers crossed.

I think Mirko made or used to make a titanium idler wheel for the Lenco L75, and he probably makes space age parts for Garrard and Thorens as well. You are in good hands for a machinist, but I would STILL recommend an electrical overhaul, when time and money permit. I hope it all works out well for you.

Thanks, Lewm. I emailed Bill about costs for replacing all caps in power supply. I'll do that even if Mirko fixes my current problem. Are there electronic parts in the TT itself that need to be overhauled as well? I dread having to pack and ship the entire TT. I should really call Brooks Berdan.

I had Mirko make me the motor clamp just in case I ever have to ship it. But still...

Yeah, he showed me some idler wheels he had lying around. Titanium he said, if I recall correctly. From the looks of his eBay store, it seems like he can machine just about any part for those idler drives. Tempts me into getting one.

Too bad there remains so many questions about plinths for Technics and other quality DD tables.

On one hand we have Albert Porter who found sonic delight with ever more massive plinths for his series of SP-10 tables. And the fellow who restored and built new plinths for mikel favors high mass designs. Jweiss has experimented with SP-10 plinths for a few years and his current preference (in slate) weighs about 200 pounds I believe. And if you look at the plinths designed by Technics engineers for their own tables, they increased the mass of each succeeding model for the first three, with the fourth only slightly less than the third.

On the other hand we have Raul, the leader of the pack for plinth less set ups. Apparently Raul began with a massive stone (marble? If so, I agree with Lew that was a poor choice because of the higher resonant frequency -- it rings folks!) plinth, then changed to a single sheet of wood just large enough to support his tone arm, while the motor unit was supported by AT feet. Most recently he eliminated the wood mount and now has his arm freestanding of the SP-10 motor unit. A few others also report pleasing results with plinth less set ups.

Now among those who favor massive plinths, there seems to be one point of agreement. Using only MDF gives poor results. That material may work for idler designs but not for DD, at least the SP-10 series. And I think that points up the importance of the resonance characteristics of the material(s) chosen. Some have tried Corian plinths and I've read criticisms of that material as well. The MDF is slightly dull sounding and damps dynamics while Corian is usually bright with an upper frequency emphasis.

My own experience is very limited. When I got an SP-10 I mounted it on a single sheet of particle board (no one recommends that), simply to provide a platform to mount a tone arm. I will say it sounds very good. But building a better plinth has been long delayed due to finding someone with the tools to help in construction and multiple design changes for what I want.

At this point I find myself in full agreement with Lew. First, I wish someone could report on a comparison of an appropriate massive plinth directly against a plinth less set up. And second, given the critical importance of proper alignment of the stylus tip relative to the record groove, I cannot understand why someone would mount their arm independently from their table, thus giving up the mechanical integrity that a coupled mounting provides.