My Third “Techie” – well the last of them!

[DarrenHW]

Nice work Ken, looks amazing

How does the bearing / platter / plinth compare to your last Techie? I appreciate it's near on impossible to evaluate each component individually without being able to swap them, but I'd be interested in your opinion on what difference the plinth has made?

[Qwin]

Thank you all, I appreciate the thumbs up and encouragement throughout.

Chris – Veneering the PSU box is a step too far for me, it sits on the shelf below the turntable with other black boxes, like my DAC so looks at home there.

Darren – Like you say, difficult to say which bits are doing what to the performance but I suspect the plinth is as good as the concrete one and I liked that one a lot, it was miles better than the stock item.






I set up the deck in my system. Pro-Ject say this platter is designed to be used without a mat, I tried it bare and with a felt mat and preferred it bare. The Terminator arms on the fly VTA adjustment came in handy for quick back and forth comparisons. Because I've made quite a few changes in one go, it's impossible to say which of the changes is having the biggest impact and they need to be assessed as a package. So I'm comparing my old deck - Concrete plinth, Sorbothane feet, modified stock bearing and stock platter. With this new deck - Plywood plinth, Isonoe feet, Pro-Ject bearing and platter. Both decks use the same DIY external PSU, internal regulator and the same linear tracking arm and of course the same Technics Direct Drive System. To me there is no contest, the new deck is better by some margin and my guess is that it is mostly down to the new bearing/platter combination but I have no direct evidence to support this. The sound has a rightness about it, a solidity which comes across in the bass and yet a warmth in the mid range that was some how missing before, timing is precise and the treble is clean. Normally I hear highs and lows in the presentation of my decks, some areas emphasised more than others but here it seems very even handed. That's not to say it isn't dynamic or that it's boring quite the reverse and the sound stage is wide and deep. It's only had a few hours listening but I can say without hesitation that it's the best deck I've ever owned. It may be possible to squeeze some more magic out with further VTA optimisation and possibly by adding an Achromat. Either way I am really pleased with the performance, I can finally move on to other areas of my system which now need urgent attention to bring them up to the standard of the turntable.

[Floyddroid]

One of the most enthralling threads i have ever read. What a fantastic turntable. Congratulations.

[Qwin]

Thanks Steve, if you get round to organising NEBO4 then it will be a toss up as to whether I bring this deck or the Celestion 66's

[6L6]

I can finally move on to other areas of my system which now need urgent attention to bring them up to the standard of the turntable.

If you were any other person, I would say that would be impossible...

But somehow I know you can do it.

[Qwin]

Thanks Jim - That's a very nice arm your working on by the way.

Update

Just a little more feedback on how the deck is performing:

As a complete system I would say the Isolation is better than on my old Concrete deck. I tried playing the lead in, or between tracks (no music) on a decent (quite) record and with the volume set reasonably high. If I tap hard on the front right corner top surface of the plinth with a finger nail, there is barely anything picked up by the cartridge and played back through the speakers, even with my ear a foot from the drivers. On the concrete deck with the stock Technics bearing/platter the tapping was picked up quite noticeably by the cartridge and played back at an amplified level that could be heard any where in the room. There is nothing transmitted via the linear arm in either case as the air cushion completely isolates the arm wand from the plinth so it's playing what comes through the plinth/bearing/platter and back through the cartridge. Note that I am playing the new deck with the record placed directly on to the Acrylic platter without a mat, it sounds good this way but I haven't ruled out trying an Achromat in the near future.

I originally set up the new deck with a Goldring 1042 MM cartridge played through a Graham Slee - Gram Amp II SE phono stage. It sounded ok but I was a bit dissapointed it didn't sound better than the concrete deck. I moved back to my Denon (LOMC) DL-301 II played through my DIY battery Phono stage which is what I last had set up in the concrete deck and to say the new deck improved would be a huge understatement. When I dialled the VTA in on the fly it turned to something special and is a tremendous improvement. It is now letting me hear what my newly aquired Celestion 66's are capable of. Note that both cartridges have had the same (small) amount of use.

One thing I have noticed is that fine, line contact stylus, like in the Goldring lift a little more detail from the record but they are incredibly sensitive to surface noise, dust, scratches etc. I much prefere a good elliptical stylus like the Denon which is far more tolerant of surface noise. When comparing the two set ups, at times you would think I was playing different coppies of the same record the Goldring came accross as really rough and noisy but the Denon sounded like a good copy. As most of my records are pre-owned this is an important factor and out weighs the slight loss of detail which I wouldn't hear anyway due to the hash in the background. New records might be a different story but there is no contest in my mind when playing older stuff, stick to an Elliptical tip.

[Qwin]

I took the deck to the NEBO4 bake off and was amazed at the sound it produced.

It played through several combinations, but when going through Alan's (337alant) Paradise phono stage and diy pre/power combination and hooked up to my Celestion 66's, it started to shine.

It showed up the weak links in my system at home though, which needs upgrading badly to allow the deck to perform at it's best.

I will be keeping this TT and have pleanty of scope to upgrade my amp and phono stage, which will then allow me to enjoy what it can really do.

This was a very rewarding project, I have a unique deck both in appearance and engineering and the sound quality has exceeded my expections.

One happy chappy

[belloire]

tis a lovely thing Ken. much nicer in the flesh than i had anticipated and as you say, unique. that and the fact you made it must make it a pleasure to own.

would have liked to put it through my phono as a comparison to the paradise and firebottle (and the fact the system in the other room was a bit screechy, which was the amps not my cartridge.......)

[Qwin]

Darren - Steve is talking about NEBO5 so that might be your chance.

Was yours the modified Audio Innovations phono stage?

[belloire]

Yeah, modded ai s200. Will probably be more modded by then too ;-)