Show us your turntable

The spinning weights are certainly cool but what I couldn’t cope with is the clamp. I always turn over or change records with the platter still rotating and the idea of stopping at the end of the side, taking off the clamp, turning it over, replacing the clamp etc would be really off-putting. Maybe I could stick gold stars on my platter for a similar effect.

1 Like

Many get used to it but using the clamp is not compulsory and I find that the effect is minimal. Although not consistently so and some LPs it seems to make more difference. Personally, I like the Origin Live “weight” over my Michell clamp. My version of the clamp is an original one that I had with my old Focus One (about 40 years old) so is a bit different to the modern one. Gyrodecs did not originally come with a clamp.

BTW John Michell’s original clamp was the first of its kind but he could not get a patent for it.

1 Like

I tend to find clamps a bit of a pain and really appreciate decks that just allow you to swap LPs without having to stop the deck spinning.

However, some clamps are OK and of course there are decks that are designed with them where they must be used. I particularly liked the old Systemdek clamp on the Systemdek III and IIS that was so clever and easy to use. ADC did something similar and that’s one I use sometimes on my Loricraft Garrard.

Great track and deck!

I am also a Gyrodec fancier, but would struggle to find space for one. They are almost worth getting just to look at/ watch

They are still exceptional vfm as well

4 Likes

I always think when I look at the Rega decks that slight vinyl overhang would undermine the performance, but of course they will have researched and tested it to the nth degree. When did you switch up to the P10?

Having just read this, I can see why you’d see it as an issue. But strangely it’s not. The clamp spins on and off whilst the platter is still spinning, albeit running down. You quickly master it. Even the speed change from 33 to 45 can be done quickly, although done when it is stopped.

Thanks Jonathan! That’s what the Gyrodec is about. Aural as well as visual entertainment!

1 Like

I’ve had it a few weeks now. It started with an Exact and now has an Apheta 3 into a borrowed Fono MC. My Aria has now arrived at Audio T and I’m going to collect it tomorrow. The sound is just unbelievably good and just so involving, in spite of my hearing issues. It’s strange you mention the overhang, it was only just this evening that it struck me that the platter was smaller than the records! It makes plucking them off very easy; it would be more difficult if they were the same size. It’s so long ago that I had my Linn that I can’t remember what it was like, but I don’t recall it being an issue.

1 Like

Talking to a friend who did very, very high level engineering for the British government on top secret materials - he has no difficulty whatsoever on the costs of cables etc.

The most expensive cable he dealt with was a thousand pounds a foot, and it was measurable by the amount of current that went from A-B.

Even though he has no experience of decent audio he understands the principle

1 Like

Yeti,

Fab to see your Rock turntable - what a wonderful piece of engineering! I think I may have heard one at a Hi-fi show (Bristol?) but I can’t recall how it sounded. What I do recall is that at the time it was hailed by many as perhaps the most neutral spinner of them all whch I always found very appealing. The Rock reference was very beautiful I think although was expensive and exceptionally rare.

I seem to recall that the original design came out of a project by Cranfield University students to develop a turntable from the ground up using radical engineering principles. I have no idea how Max Townshend got involved (was he lecturing there at the time?) but I love things that are so obviously radical engineering designs.

I seem to recall that Townshend marketed their own arm called ‘Excalibur’ which I thought was the best name for an arm ever!! I believe there was also an offboard power supply called ‘Merlin’ too - magic!!

Jonathan

My Rock came secondhand from a chap called Erol but he replaced it with a reference and kept the excalibur, I did get the merlin however.

I think Max Townshend was a PHD student at Cranfield under Jack Dinsdale, though he wasn’t mentioned on the patent for the damping trough.

Patent number: 4277070

Abstract: A phonograph has a viscous damping arrangement coupling a pick-up arm to the base of the phonograph to damp vertical and horizontal vibrations of the arm. The damping means is coupled to the arm at a position close to the pick-up cartridge of the arm. A counter-balance mass is also provided on the arm, the mass having an adjustable position and mass.

Type: Grant

Filed: December 28, 1979

Date of Patent: July 7, 1981

Assignee: Cranfield Institute of Technology

Inventors: Jack Dinsdale, David W. Parkins, John P. Hardwick

1 Like

When I was at a speaker demo a few years back the dealer was playing a Vertere deck through an Aria. Brilliant sound, just superb. Enjoy those Blue Note discs!

I’m not surprised at that. I was at (what was) Westland’s helicopters a few years back, the cable loom surrounding the scope alone cost £/$000,000s, the company that made them owned Nordost.

1 Like

Thanks Lindsay. The latest Aria, the Aria 3, has been redesigned to match the P10 power supply, though whether it sounds better than the earlier ones I don’t know. They are nice looking boxes and it will be good to get shot of the Fono MC’s wallwart.

2 Likes

The Aria Mk2 and Mk3 are identical internally, it was purley a cosmetic upgrade to match the rest of the range.

1 Like

Thanks, that’s what I suspected.

Same thing they have just done with the Neo power supply. Same internals.

2 Likes

Hello all,
A quick question to the turntable community - does anyone have any experience at all with the Palmer 2.5i turntable. The company is no longer active as I understand it and a few units of the 2.5i edition were produced by Acoustic Signature in Germany for the American market with a few “improvements” on the older 2.5 model.
I have always been drawn to this turntable but they seem to be as rare as hen’s teeth…
Insights as always are very welcome
Thanks
Sten

I seem to remember the reason for this is that the edge of an LP is thicker than the rest of the album, therefore, if the platter were the same size, it would only be supported by the lip (and the centre as the disc would sag at the middle under it’s own weight). If you have a rubber matt you could have a dip at the edge, but not with felt as on the Rega turntables and I imagine working the glass to put a rebate on the edge would add quite a bit to the effort required to make it (and hence raise the cost).

Rega’s solution of a slightly smaller platter is an elegant way of ensuring maximum disc support without an expensive engineering solution. One of the good things about Rega is the elegance of their design solutions that make you want to use them. I never feel I’m fighting my Rega, unlike other turntables I’ve owned over the years.

And, as you say, it makes turning the record over easy :slight_smile:

2 Likes


Here’s my gizzards of Lenco L75 with diy golf ball arm. It’s not pretty, I know, but the sound makes up for that!

22 Likes