An amazing creation!!
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I recognise an SME arm and a Formula IV (I think) on the right hand side, but Iām stumped as to whatās fitted to the left side. Some exotica from Japan perhaps?
Question is, why would anyone want to have such a beast? I can only assume that it was built to special order.
Fascinating, but can anyone shed any light on whatās going on here??
I remember seeing that in radlett audio back in the late 80ās
when they were actually in radlett
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I think the arm on the extreme left is Transcriptors own arm (unipivot design), and I had one with the transcriptors turntable. Very good to use as the arm lowering was well thought out.
If only I (we) had kept hold of these old thingsā¦
I can think of plenty of stuff that has passed through my brief ownership to be sold onā¦now quite a few of the items are very rare and sought after with a price tad to match. I am thinking of not just hifi, but cameras, motorbikes and carsā¦
Hindsight or foresight???
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Agree with that, but I am failing to ID its āpairā. A Hadcock 228ā¦?
The 2 on the right hand deck are. I think, a Formula 4 and an SME 3009 (looks to be removable headshell type, I thinkā¦?).
With regard to the Transcriptors Reference turntableā¦ Iāve never understood what, precisely, about its construction or function is āhydraulicā. Is it actually driven by a hydraulic motor?
Can anyone enlighten me?
The turntable had a hydraulic damper for the platter which was a circular trough that was attached to and fitted below the platter that allowed a paddle to drag in a thick fluid contained in the trough (the hydraulic fluid was a thick silicone fluid, very sticky and you did not want it anywhere else other than in the trough). The paddle was on an arm that allowed adjustment by varing the length of the paddle dangling into the fluid in the trough. This adjusted the speed as well as providing the damping to the rotation of the platter (less wow and flutter).
The unipivot arn also had a hydraulic part as the pivot had a damping arrangement for the bearing.
Townsend had the damping for their arm at the end.
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Ahhā¦ thank you, fergch, for your prompt and detailed response.
Iām familiar with the Townsend (the āRockā, was it called? Or was that the Elite?) - so this was tackling a similar issue but at the āother endā of the system. That was a possibility that hadnāt occurred to me! Thanks again.
So whilst we are on a Gyrodec roll, here is my Gyro SE again. With its new RB 3000 arm and existing Benz ACE Sl cartridge.
LP is Blue Train. Why they made it red, goodness only knows.
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What arm did you have before?
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Lovely, but I think we need to see a video or gif of it rotating to really appreciate the unique beauty of a Gyrodec. Any chance?
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Thank you. I did not know John well but met him a few times he was quite a character and a very good engineer. Less well known in these circles is that he was also a model maker for films in the early days and made the model of the spaceship āDiscoveryā used in filming 2001 A Space Odyssey for example.
Michell Engineering is still a good company run by the family and can supply upgrades and parts for any of their turntables. Great service too.
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I had an rb330 before.
The (original) Mission 774 tonearm also had a silicone trough and different sized paddles for damping. I donāt recall which of these two designs was first on the market.
I had a Mission 774 equipped Thorens TD160S at University, bought with the proceeds of holiday jobs. When I left University, I could then afford to upgrade to a Linn LP12, which I still have over 40 years later, although most of the LP12 has been replaced or upgraded since.
The Mission arm was something of a classic in its time, although largely forgotten now. I still have an armtube for it which Iām about to bung onto an online auction site.
Happy, carefree days in those times!
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Elite was the name of Townshendās company but it went bust some time in the 80s. The Elite Rock is also known as the Townshend Rock mk2. This oneās been modified to use the later air damped coil spring feet.
I canāt say I find it a thing of beauty but it is pretty effective, The surround is my own and doesnāt help with the looks but it doesnāt touch the actual deck, resting on the Fraim cups and lets me use a lid.
Some claim it doesnāt match the LP12 for musicality, and though the trough can raise the performance of an RB300 quite a bit it doesnāt cure a certain greyness. Thatās what the Aro was fitted to address and mostly itās better without the trough, itās only being used here because of the Decca cartridge where it keeps the stylus in the groove that would otherwise jump out.
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The 774 does have some following. I recently sold my vintage 774 for nearly Ā£400. It did come with a few extras and original box etc. but the final price at auction was surprising. An arm tube/wand goes for about Ā£50-70 I think.
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Radlett Audio used to have one in the window when they had a shop in Radlett. It was a strange beast indeed. I was always intrigued to find out if the feet/legs were bouncy, they looked it.
An excellent tonearm and still has quite a strong following. Was designed by John Bicht who went on to design the amazing Versa Dynamics decks.
I have a late 774 along with a couple of spare armwands that I sometimes use on a Luxman PD300 or Technics SL-150 MkII.
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Yep, it was very good although I thought it suited my first HiFi turntable better, a Michell Focus One. The Rega RB600 I bought later for my Gyrodec seemed better suited to it.
KJC - just for you as you wanted to see a spinning Gyrodec - fill yer boots!!! I shot a video of my system for a mate who hadnāt seen it in a while during lockdown and posted it on youtube - however itās just a crappy phone video and Iām a lousy videographer. Worse than that youtube decided to rotate it 90 degrees and I canāt figure out how to change that (grateful if anyone can help!)
On the upside itās over 9 minutes long and features the Two Tribes āTotal annihilation remixā 12" single which is about the best thing they ever did IMHO!! Those of you who are curious may enjoy it though (if you donāt mind watching it side on!! lol)
Jonathan
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