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Oracle Alexandria - time for new springs?

Hi,

I recently went through and readjusted the suspension on my Oracle Alexandria turntable according to the manual. When set up "properly," two of the three spring covers no longer fit into place as the springs are protruding too far above the deck. Everything sounds fine but this thing with the spring covers is a real drag. I bought the table used and it came with the Sumiko MMT tonearm and [ugly] head shell. I am using an older Sumiko Blue Point cartridge. I am wondering if this is a sign that the springs are bad and need to be replaced. I've always assumed that it has the correct type of springs since the tonearm is standard; maybe not. Anyone have any experience with, or ideas about, such suspension table problems?

Thanks,
rickk
inpepinnovations1e75
395 posts
 
Rickk, I doubt that the "white" spring is the problem. Have you "re-threaded" the plastic ring supports? Mine end up at about 1/4" from the top of the spring, leaving only a bit of the spring exposed on the top. Do the springs look like they are elongated?
I would go through the whole exercise of re-threading the the plastic ring supports and see where it ends up then.
BTW, if the platter ends up too high, the belt might not align properly on the motor spindle, so not higher than 11/32" is a proper precaution. I feel that the best position is really 1/2 way of the platter's travel between hitting the top and the bottom.
Bob P.
jakob5_10ce20
1 posts
 
HI out there

I have just bourt a 10 year old uesed Oracle Alexandria mkIII, and are looking for a manuel. It has not bin possibel too find one in denmark where I live. So if som one out there could bee persuede into scanning theres and mailing it I would be grateful

Jak

I now it is out of subject but I am getting desperat
vincehoffman's avatar
vincehoffman
50 posts
 
Hey Rick,

I suspect your problems actually go a little deeper than the springs. Older Alexandrias had a sub-chassis made of a cast alloy which eventually sags (bends) under the platter's weight. The fix is a replacement sub-chassis made of the same much stronger machined alloy billet as used for the current Delphi. We had the same symptoms on a used Alex I recently purchased for my wife. I did a little research on the Vinyl Asylum at audioasylum.com and came across other people that had experienced the same. A very pleasant woman at Oracle HQ confirmed this was very common and arranged to ship a replacement to my favorite dealer. It wasn't terribly expensive.

Happy Trails!
Vince@freewheelcycle.com
rickk OP
15 posts
 
Ugh! A bent sub-chassis sounds horrible. I hope that's not the problem. Vince, is there some prescribed way to test the integrity of the sub-chassis? I don't recall it looking bent when I had the table taken apart upon purchase and initial set up, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

In any case, I've recently managed to get the table to have only one spring cover that doesn't fit perfectly (platter at about 1/4 inch and even around the circumference). Sounds fine, but drives me nuts to look at it.

Jakob, I'll see if I can find someone with a scanner. Can't promise anything, though.

Best,
vincehoffman's avatar
vincehoffman
50 posts
 
Rick,

You are describing the exact symptom of a bent sub chassis. Exactly what I ran into. To be sure, you need to dissassemble the table and remove the sub chassis. Then simply put a straight edge across the top of the subchassis casting will either confirm or deny this being the cause. I'll be rather surprised if this isn't the source of your problem. Have you had a look in the audioasylum.com vinyl archives yet as I suggested in my previous reply?

Happy Trails!
Vince@freewheelcycle.com
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