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TW Raven Owners: Set Up Questions

Through the magic of sweet talk, I turned my Orbe into a Raven and mounted my Graham 2.2/Benz LP.
I am looking for a isolation base for the Raven. I have a 1 3/8" piece of granite coming soon so I can ditch the MDF I use now (a temp. meas.!) Symposium, SRA, HRS, etc., can anyone share their experiences with isolation bases? I saw the thread about loosening the Stillpoints.
Initially I had an issue with using the rough side of belt. The belt shimmied up/down on the pulley at a specific spot on belt. Also, the speed fluctuated and I could never get it dialed in with the PSU. So, I went to the smooth side of the belt and then raising the back side of the motor (unscrewing one of the isolation feet) slightly moving the belt down from "center" on the pulley. This moved me from 33.2 to 33.3 and I have no more belt shimmying and the speed is rock solid.
I'd appreciate any tips/tricks etc.
gerardff
moonglum
619 posts
 
Gerardff, regarding Stillpoint setup : the answer is both.
You should be able to see 2 small gaps, one between Stillpoint body and T/T, and one between body and the bottom section.
I believe it is supposed to help decoupling.

An additional note is the gaps should be as small as possible without risking random contact (about 1/2 turn ??)
With a heavy turntable like this it's quite an awkward process to get the levelling and gaps correct without subjecting the tonearm bearings (or main bearing for that matter) to excessive shock. Might make sense to remove arm+board first, then re-check afterwards?
Hope this is helpful :)
suteetat
435 posts
 
I wonder if anyone knows the weight of Rave AC-1? I could not find it anywhere and can't find it on TW website either. One review mentioned that AC-3 is 70 kg. I email TW and asked about weight of AC-1 and total weight if I upgrade motor to BN motor. All I got for the reply was that with BN motor, it would be 6 kg more but no weight for Raven AC-1! I could try to weight it myself but afraid of getting a hernia doing so. So I wonder if anybody actually know the actual weight.
halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
AC-3 weighs 55 Kg with 3 armboard but no arms.......according to Thomas.
sunnyboy1956's avatar
sunnyboy1956
424 posts
 
When I was contemplating the upgrade from the AC 1 to the BN PSU cum motor unit, I sent a barrage of questions to Herr Woschnik and he was always courteous and prompt ( same day response). If you need the weight to design a wall shell or any other mounting arrangement , I reckon you should be OK with 70kgs, ie 10kg for the BN motor, 50 kg for the TW AC plinth+platter with a safety margin.
All the best
Pradeep
suteetat
435 posts
 
Thanks for the information. It was really strange. Initially I sent eail Mr Woschnik and he answered within a couple of hours but without the actual AC-1 weight. I sent another email back to him and no answer now for 2 days. I think 50+ kg is more like it rather than 70 kg I saw in one review for AC-3. Now I found a local dealer for Minus K platform so I tried to figure outhte total load that I need. I understand that Minus K works best when you are closer to maximun load rather than being at the lower end of the range.
So I am looking at either 125BM-8 (40-59kg) or 150BM-8 (57-70kg). AC-1 definitely will fit 125BM-8 if the custom top (with larger surface area) does not add too much to the cost.
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