A Copernican View of the Turntable System

The real story here – and I say this from my direct experience the last 6 months, and from the emails I have received is about the ARMPOD.

People in this “very small” specialized hobby that are into the mid and higher end categories want to add arms and experience other cartridges with their Existing turntable. They have TT’s of all types. That is the story.

Manufacturers are you listening. This is the next level for this hobby. And until manufacturers wake up and stop charging ridiculous $$ for a machined piece of metal people will continue to make their own – those with more money will have them made. It costs me $150 to make a 16.5 lb brass armpod. Come out with one that costs twice that and I will buy it to save the time and trouble.

Ecir38 – over half the emails I have received for the pdf on making a basic pod were from people with idlers. My next project heading into the winter was to be an idler that I was going to put the “platter/motor only” in a plinth to use with a couple of armpods. That was the plan. As it goes a very special Lenco 75 fell into my hands, so now I am looking forward to listening and comparing heading into the fall.
Cheers Chris

Dear Banquo, Your remark directed to Halcro speaks honestly to one point I have been trying to make with the plinth-less crowd. The torque of an SP10 motor (Mk2 OR Mk3) is sufficient to move the chassis, if the chassis is unfettered by a plinth. Thus I would fear in theory what you may be observing in fact, that your turntable may be able to "walk" away from correct alignment. I think this is fixable by maybe using double-sided tape between the bottom of your chassis and the top surface of the AT616 footers. Of course, I personally would fix it by building a plinth or some sort of substantial anchor for the chassis. I recently read that the servo mechanisms in these turntables apply full torque instantly, each time they are triggered by a speed variation. Heretofore, I thought the motor controller via the servo system could call up "just enough" torque to return the platter to correct speed, when needed. If that were true, the effect of torque to move the chassis would be minimal during actual play. But now that I have learned that the servo simply gives a full on or full off signal to the motor, I am even more convinced re the value of a good plinth. By the way, I did not mean to imply that you (personally) were dogmatic re AT616 feet, but there seems to be a general trend in that direction among other disciples of the Copernican approach.

As regards the tendency of an LP to slide on the surface of a Boston Audio mat, I have observed the same thing. I use a Mat1 on my Lenco. The Mat1 had a tendency to slip against both the surface of the platter underneath it AND against the surface of any LP on top of it. I finally cured the former issue by inserting a few slivers of double-sided carpet tape between platter and mat. Just small pieces were sufficient. As regards the tendency for LPs to slip, I too notice that when using a carbon fiber brush to remove dust from the surface of an LP prior to play, but it does not seem to be an issue during play at all. You might want to try an SAEC mat; they are often for sale on eBay and Audiogon for around $300. No slipping issues with SAEC. But based on what I hear from my Lenco, I think the Boston Audio mats may be (even) more neutral sounding than the SAEC. After hearing either one of these mats, I could never go back to the OEM rubber mats. And I am sure there are other candidate mats that would best the OEM ones. This was very true for my Denon DP80 as well. The OEM Denon mat might be even worse than the Technics one. (Alas, the Denon sits, loved but unused, on a shelf in my basement.)

Dear Ecir, Idler-drive turntables need to be mounted in well built plinths for best performance, IMO. I think that is much less controversial than the use of a plinth with a direct-drive. I don't think you will ever get the best out of your Garrard without some sort of plinth.

Dear Chris, This is exactly what my thoughts and intentions
were. My Kuzma Stabi Reference, as many other TT's, was meant for just one tonearm. I wantend an second tonearm also because my Basis Exclusive has two independant phono pres.I was not able to solve the problem myself but was searching on internet for the solution. This way I discovered the Reed company and thy were willing to accept
my order. They just started producing TT's and tonearms.
But Lew is right considering the problems involved by an
armpod. First the dimensions needed for the armpod in relationship to a given TT, then the tonearmlenght, then the problem where to put the armpod next to the TT, etc.
Not an easy task for an amateur. I needed to describe all
dimensions of my Kuzma and my rack very exact before they
started this project. My armpod was btw the first they constructed. But despite the fact that I owned 7 different tonearms non of them was adequate. The point Lew made . I needed an 12" tonearm for my Kuzma. So I ordered both the armpod as well as the 12'' tonearm.I got not only the armpod and the tonearms but also some friends in Lithuania
but I am aware that my whole project could go wrong. One can't count in advance reg. the capability and integrity of people one ask help from. I was lucky I am sure.

Regards,

Lew, I agree with you that idlers need a plinth thats why I said it wouldn't be a great idea. Now a idler with a plinth and arm pod that is the question.

Chris, were those email request of guys wanting an arm pod for idlers that were nude or with a plinth?

I'm surprised nobody but Halcro has asked more about the ingenious arm pod Corby made. Think you can get him to elaborate a little more of the breakdow with the micrometer, maybe pics. For most arms, having precision VTA would be a plus.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1294870073&openfrom&370&4#370

Like you said manufactured tonearm prices are expensive especially if you would need more than one.

Couple of fine example of the cheaper ones out there.

http://www.ttweights.com/catalog/item/7725503/8678734.htm

http://www.ttweights.com/new_power_arm_pod.html

Notice the second one with the dissimilar materials stainless, lead and derlin. I'm sure this was tried and tested so something to note that there is probably some canceling going on there.

Other than cancelation going on lead would add mass while the derlin should be easy to machine.

Brad

Nikola - if I was in your position with a tuned up virgin Sp10mkii in my house and that Reed armpod and tonearm already in place I would not be able sleep until I put them on a small temporary stand with appropriate height footers under the sp10 just to hear what it was like.