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Turntable Upgrades

Realizing that my turntable needs some tweaking to make it spin with consistent 33 rpm speed I started to look around to see what options I have.
It didn't take a while to reailize that the most popular upgrades would be:
1. An electric motor replacement.
2. Power supply... may be with a "power conditioner" built-in.
3. So-called "motor-controller" which can easily cost another $2,000.00 dollars.
4. To finilize a jorney for the smooth stable precise spinning I would need something like KAB strobe and disk (for precise speed measurement).

I just wonder WHY at the first place I would have to do it AT ALL? The turntable I purchased was about 3 or 4000 dollars. Being 10 or 15 or 20 years old I admitt it should go throughout some service...but not through replacement of every electronic and non-electronic component! I just don't get it. If I would buy Porsche 20 or 30 years old it still will be drivable reliable car. For every day. Nothing to replace except a fresh oil. It will still look great. It still will be fun to drive. With that Oracle turntable I have to replace everything (plus to buy some more staff) just to get it to a consistent speed (isn' that SOMETHING it supposed to do at the first place?) Now it needs a new motor. It needs a strobe light (Common! Even 100 dollars TT would have it as BASIC). I now need some speed switcher/controller (Oracle Delphi MK1 doesn't have it too). I need some phone power conditioner. I need all kind of replacement belts and springs. I just think what EXACTLY a consumer pays for when he/she purchases that Turntable. The tonearm is not included as well as carthidge. There is no power conditioner. There is no phono stage. There is no moving coil pre preamp. There is best of the best phono cord (most likely you would have to buy it somewhere elase for another 500 dollars). There is no super-duper power cord too. The electric motor will die soon. So you would have to buy something like this:
http://www.turntable-power-supply.com/
(which cost about 800 dollars and should be better then Oracle's one..at least it will have both speeds (33/45) and it could be used to adjust the speed.

And as a last - Delphi MK1 will not have a strob light.
So from where is that 4000 dollars price tag?! Is this price for acrylic rectangle base with alluminium flywheel on it? I just don't get it.
sputniks
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Another case of "tweekitis audiophillia".

I understand that some high end turntables use DC motors, and if these use brushes and mechanical commutators their life will be limited. (Of course there are brushless DC motors, but this more sophisticated technology may not have penetrated the analog market). However, a turntable that uses a synchronous AC motor should last for ever. Perhaps the motor bearing will need a drop of oil every decade, and drive belts will need replacement. Many AC induction motors (no brushes or commutator) that are almost a hundred years old still run fine, although their bearings (which are not of the sealed type) need more frequenct attention. The platter bearing is usually so massive as to be essentially under no load at all.
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rauliruegas
13,103 posts
 
Hi Sputniks: Who told you to pay 4K for that used TT?
Great mistake. Don't complaint about: is your " inexperienced " fault.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
blkadr
739 posts
 
Byfo- I cant believe I read this silly-ass thread the first time. Maybe you have the right idea, except the part where you read it again.
lakefrontroad
302 posts
 
Sputniks,

You know a lot of things I don't.

I own four Porsche 911's. 1965 2.0 race car, 1968 2.0 race car, 1987 3.2 coupe and 1989 3.2 coupe.

No, UNDERLINE NO Porshe will go 400,000 miles with or without anything!

After 20,000 to 50,000 miles tons of things start to go wrong. And I mean tons. God forbid you put one on a racetrack. You won't need to wait for it to go wrong. Last year we built four engines for our 2.0 liter cars.

So, let's look at the street versions. Only 18 years old and 16 years old. No problem. One has 29000 miles and the other 46000 miles. Just beginning to break in. Right?

Wrong. New brakes, rotors, suspension, exhaust and now clutch for the '87. Also the headliner needs replacement. The radios suck, the mats are gone.

But, that's not what I love about my Porshes'. I love that they are fun and they're not so fast that I'm a danger to the world while having fun. If you start with the premise that you're willing to replace whatever goes wrong, it's hardly possible that anything will become obsolite.

We race historic Group C/GTP cars. That is cars that ran professionally between 1980 and 1992. There aren't a lot of parts stores with spares for $100,000 1000hp engines, but they still need parts and we have them machined as needed.

I bet you could do a little better price vs performance point by moving up to a current production model table, but, who am I to talk, I drive a 1988 Group C car of which there is one, yes, one in the world.

Your complaints are funny, especially since you can cure them with money. An easy solution in life.
sputniks OP
30 posts
 
My father's Leica is 40 years old and it still makes great pictures. Nothing was replaced since a day it was purchased. Nothing ever was broken. One beautiful example of solid quality. It looks like hi-end audio doesn't have examples like this. Sure I will replace everything that needs to be replaced in my turntable. Not a big deal. I am sure at some point it will perform even better than 20 years ago. Too sad that would happen not because of my intention to make it better but because of malfunction of the device.
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