Upgrading my Cartridge/Phono Amp

[NRG]

Barry I have the same nitty gritty as yours, used it for several years and not had any issues with it...even after replacing the cleaning pad a number of times. I suspect if the pad does didn't adhere correctly to the machine it cound peel back over it's self and put adhesive on the record...however, just make sure the surface of the machine is clean and dry with no grease deposits and it should be fine.

[MartinT]

I took delivery of the Clearaudio Smart Matrix record cleaner today. Bl**dy hell - the results are amazing! Ok, that's all you get for now, I'm going back to listening.

[Marco]

Hehe, told ya!

Prepare to rediscover your record collection!

Marco.

[Barry]

Barry I have the same nitty gritty as yours, used it for several years and not had any issues with it...even after replacing the cleaning pad a number of times. I suspect if the pad does didn't adhere correctly to the machine it cound peel back over it's self and put adhesive on the record...however, just make sure the surface of the machine is clean and dry with no grease deposits and it should be fine.

Hello Neal,

Thanks for the reassurance. I have have never had a problem but noting the machine draws 7.5A, implies that the motor is 1.5kW in size and could run hot. I always switch the machine off between discs and clean no more than five LPs in a session (go away make a cup of tea and start again). Probably being over cautious, but as Neil has mentioned if things go wrong they could be disasterous.

Barry

[Barry]

.........

Re. 'pure water' - I did a long term consultancy job for Drax power station (a strange place for a forester to find himself working - I helped them get their aspirations for burning renewable fuels into a working reality) and worked very closely with one of their engineers who once told me about the water they use in the superheater pipes in the boilers.

Now, the pipes are made of very exotic and expensive steel & each boiler (there are 6 of them) has 470 km of them. Because of this expense and the potential for the loss of efficiency, you don't really want the pipes furring up on the inside, so you have to use incredibly pure water.

The water they use is so pure that if you put the probes of an electrical meter in them, it shows a negative reading for conductivity because the water is so much purer than that which the meter was calibrated with.

Even more interestingly, if you drink it, you end up more thirsty and dehydrated than when you started because the purity means it actually draws salts from your body!

That's interesting Chris,

The sort of water they were using probably had a conductivity of 100uS/m. To put that into contex, tap water has around 50x to 500x the amount of inpurities and a conductivity of 5000uS/m.

Ultra pure water has a conductivity of 5.5uS/m (sometimes referred to as '18MOhm water') has a pH of 6.998 and is as pure as it can possibly be. Believe it or not, it has been used as an insulating coolant for the valves of large transmitters with anode voltages in the Killervolt range. The water in these cooling systems has to be used in heat exchangers sealed from the air, as even a small exposure to air would cause the water to absorb enough CO2 to make it conductive.

I had better not continue as I will have Ali (Tait) chasing me for making a dangerous and irresponsable suggestion, however the transmitter valves I am thinking about are not suitable for audio use!

Barry

[MartinT]

I replaced the standard (black) counterweight on my Jelco 250ST for the heavier standard (gunmetal) counterweight of the 750D. This allows the counterweight to be much closer to the bearings when tracking weight is set. Now that the AT is fully run-in, I have settled on a tracking weight of 1.6g, in keeping with several forum members, as being the ideal weight.

It continues to sound marvellous and I can understand why Dave says the 250ST is a perfect match for the AT OC9/33PTG cartridges.

[RobHolt]

Martin, if you are considering the OC9 you might want to try the AT33PTG.
The two cartridges are quite similar but the latter puts a bit more meat on the bones.

Unfortunately it isn't a UK model these days so its import only for about £250.

I think it gives the entry level Lyra models as good run.

[MartinT]

Rob - missed footer alert, I'm already running an AT33PTG