Technics SP-10 mkII speed adjustment question


Hi,

I'm on my way to complete my Technics SP-10 mkII project. Actually, a friend of mine, a professionnal audio technician, is working to upgrade the PSU, which is done but a small adjustment on the speed must be done and he need some cue on this issue.

We already asked Bill Thalmann, Artisan Fidelity and Oswald Mill audio. Plus, I'll post on DIY Audio today. We'd like to get the answer as quickly as possible to finalized this for the week-end. Hope someone on Audiogon can help.

Here's the message from my technician:

"Hello,

I'm an electronic technician and I do repair for audio equipments, vintage, hifi pro and more. I have a client here that brought me his turntable Technics Sp-10 MKII to fixed. I have a little question about it and he gave me your email because he pretended that you have some experience with this kind of materiel. So, hope that you can response my technical question.

I replaced all capacitors in the power supply and a big solder job. I checked for defect solders or capacitors on the circuit boards inside the turntable and I tied to do the adjustments . Everything seem good right now, the turntable work fine. I tried do do the period adjustment with the VR101 and VR102 potentiometers like in the service manual ( see attachment, Period adjustment method). When I looked the stroboscope at the front of the turntable, It's pretty stable but I can see a tiny rumble at 33 1/2 and 78 speed. 45 is the more stable speed for the stroboscope. So, I fixed the phase reference with T1 at 18us of period and I try to do the period adjustment at the point test T and S on the board with the O point for reference. When I put my scope probe on the T point, I can observe the stroboscope running. It is not stable at all. If I pull off my probe, the stroboscope is stable again. So When I have the 2 probes at point S an T at the same time to do the adjustment, it's impossible to fixed the wave T because it going right to the left on my scope. When I turned the VR101, the T wave going faster or slower but never stable. I tried to ground lift my scope, plug it into the same power bar and try to pull off the reference at the O point. I can't have a setup that I can see a stable T wave in my scope with the one that I can do the right adjustment. Why? Is there a problem with the turntable or maybe it's a incorrect probe or ground setup? Please let me know what you think.

Best regards"

Thanks for help,

Sébastien
128x128sebastienl
Albert, move on man. Continually bashing your competition reflects more poorly on you than it does on them.
Tim, I should have added that because of the drastic difference in shapes, a plinth custom-made for a Mk3 would not fit the submergible portion of a Mk2 chassis. It's a square peg into a round hole, where the side of the square is at least the same as the diameter of the hole, and maybe bigger. Vice-versa mismatch would "work", as described.
Lew, thanks for your clarifications.

I think I should have approached my question a little differently.

Since I have a SP-10 Mk2A I'd be interested to hear from anyone who modified their Mk 2 chassis. Since the number of Mk 2 and 2A (same chassis I'm sure) so greatly exceeded the production of Mk 3 motors it seems reasonable there might be more interest in Mk 2 and 2A upgrades. I'm not interested in going to the extent of eliminating the chassis and mounting the platter/motor directly to a plinth but if performance upgrades (reduced resonance) can be achieved by chassis modifications (damping) I would like to hear about specific recommendations.

Thanks.
Yes, if you mean performing the Krebs mods on the Mk2, I too would be curious, as I think there is even more to be gained vis the Mk2 than vis the Mk3. Moreover, according to Bill Thalmann, the Mk2 Krebs mods are less expensive than the Mk3 ones.
12-18-12: Lewm
Yes, if you mean performing the Krebs mods on the Mk2, I too would be curious, as I think there is even more to be gained vis the Mk2 than vis the Mk3.

A friend who listens with us occasionally is the first person getting Krebs MK2 mods, at least on this side of the world.

His MK2 was still at Bill's two weeks ago but hopefully it's near completion.

My friend (Ken) also has a Krebs Technics MK3 so he's clearly the person to answer this question. He has an ultimate system, very high resolution and pro tape machines that serve as baseline for sound.

Depending on his report I may invite myself back to his home so I can hear for myself.