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Thread: More Heybrook TT2 questions - sweating the small stuff

  1. #1
    Join Date: Oct 2017

    Location: Ontario, Canada

    Posts: 791
    I'm Svend.

    Default More Heybrook TT2 questions - sweating the small stuff

    Further to my Heybrook cartridge thread, I have some questions about getting the little (but important) things right....

    + What cartridge alignment tool should be used for the Rega RB300? Vinyl Engine has posted both a Rega template and a Heybrook protractor. Which is the correct one for the TT2?

    + What platter mat works best? It presently has the felt one. Is a cork or leather one an improvement?

    + Should I use a record weight? I have read that these may cause premature bearing wear on some tables. Is this true on the TT2? If not a weight, is there a clamp which tightens onto the spindle which you would recommend?

    + What bearing oil should I use? LP12 and Thorens owners seem to be using a light grade of full synthetic motor oil or spindle oil for air tools (Mobil brand, if I recall correctly).

    + Should I use different feet from the stock hard rubber ones? Vibrapods perhaps? Metal or wood spikes? Some type of levelling feet would be beneficial, at very least.

    + What support works best? I plan to place the deck inside a large wooden armoire which holds the rest of the system, and it will be sitting on a rigid shelf of 3/8" veneered particle board. Will I need additional isolation, such as a maple butcher block, marble/acrylic sheet, sandbox, or other type?


    That's all I can think of for now. If anyone has other suggestions on getting the most from the TT2, I would be grateful to hear them.

    I should be able to pick up the deck this weekend once I'm back home from my travels. Hopefully the shop will have a suitable cartridge on hand so I can start playing tunes straight away. Can't wait to hear it!

    Thanks, and regards,
    Svend

  2. #2
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Sunny (occasionally) Devon

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    I'm Shane.

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    Ok, but remember this is just my personal take. YM, as ever, MV.

    1) All alignment protractors are a compromise, and depend on whose theories the designer follows. The Heybrook one was drawn up by PJC, and I don’t remember whose particular doctrine he was following but I’d be very surprised if there was a significant difference between the two. There’s reams of info on the net about different tracking curves and so on. You could keep yourself amused for hours, but in the end, it’s whatever sounds best when you’ve done it.

    2) The original felt mat was bought in from Linn and is the same one that was supplied with contemporary LP12s. It’s not a bad compromise and I’m still happily using mine but it’s very much personal taste. People have had good results with hard rubber, acrylic and cork, and I seem to remember someone having one turned up from gunmetal which must have looked amazing.

    3) I’ve never felt the need to use a weight but some people swear by them. I don’t think the bearing would be bothered much, it’s very lightly stressed. If you did end up with a dimple in the end of the spindle any competent machine shop could grind it flat and re-harden it for you. All the machining for the TT2 was done by a little two-man engineering shop near us with nothing unusual in the way of equipment.

    4) Any decent quality light machine oil will do. Car engine and gearbox oils generally have a lot of additives in them to allow them to survive their intended environments. These do not improve their performance as turntable spindle lubricants.

    4) Support is a tricky one, and a lot depends on your floor. The ideal is a rigid lightweight table or stand on a solid floor. If you don’t want it to wobble like a jelly and you have a suspended wooden floor, then a rigid shelf fixed to a good solid wall is best. I wouldn’t recommend standing it on or in a large piece of furniture as it will pick up all the vibrations of the panels that the armoir is made of. If you want to do that, then a substantial bit of something heavy will be needed. What I have seen done is a wall-mounted shelf through a hole in the back of the piece of furniture, but you may not want to take a saw to the back of the Chippendale.
    Time flies like an arrow.
    Fruit flies like a banana.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Oct 2017

    Location: Ontario, Canada

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    I'm Svend.

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    Thank you Shane! Very helpful.

    Re. the protractor -- I will try the Heybrook one first and see how it looks compared to the Rega one. Easily done - just plop the other one on the platter after the first alignment and have a look-see. There's only so much patience I have for fiddling with this kind of thing, so if it sounds good I'll be happy.

    Re. mats -- I have a cork mat sitting on my Technics deck, so I can try it on the TT2 I suppose. But it will be thicker than the felt one, so if the stylus is sensitive to VTA changes then it may sound worse and will be a pain to adjust the non-adjustable Rega arm with spacers. Nothing is simple, eh?

    Re. weights -- good to know! I made up a very Canadian record weight for the Technics, just to try it, which consisted of two 10 oz. ice hockey practice pucks glued together, with a hole for the spindle drilled into the bottom. Works great! Indoor use only... I can try it on the TT2 to see how it works. If you think 20 oz. is too much, I can split them again and just use one 10 oz. puck.

    Re. support/isolation -- oh boy, that's a delicate matter because of the W.A.F. (wife acceptance factor). For the time being it will have to be a heavy platform on the shelf, like a thick maple cutting board. This is in our living room, and my wife works in the interior design trade...so you see my problem, eh?...she will instantly torpedo any suggestion of a wall shelf -- components must be heard but not seen! That said, of late she's been squinting with critical eye at the old armoire and making discontented remarks about it's lack of style and panache. I can see an chink in the armour (not the armoire), so a suggestion for a new cabinet may be well received.

    Best,
    Svend

  4. #4
    Join Date: Sep 2012

    Location: East Anglia UK

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    I'm Marc.

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    Didn't you just get the bounce set right on this? Won't adding a load more weight to the platter affect that setting?

  5. #5
    Join Date: Feb 2008

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    It will, but adjusting the TT2 suspension to compensate is an absolute doddle. Unlike some....
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    Fruit flies like a banana.

  6. #6
    Join Date: Oct 2017

    Location: Ontario, Canada

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rothchild View Post
    Didn't you just get the bounce set right on this? Won't adding a load more weight to the platter affect that setting?
    Marc, Shane -- to be honest, I didn't really think that 6 or 7 grams would make any difference at all, considering the total mass hanging off the springs. The cartridge weight seems insignificant by comparison. But I guess I'm mistaken. These suspended decks are a new thing for me, and there is still a lot to learn. So readjust after installing the cartridge then - got it!

    Thanks for the head's up on that.

    ...adjusting the TT2 suspension to compensate is an absolute doddle. Unlike some....
    It sure seems to be - everything done from the top with a little allen key. Nice! Gee, I wonder who thought of that neat idea?

    Svend

  7. #7
    Join Date: Feb 2008

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    A few grammes of cartridge won’t make any difference, but 20oz of good old Canadian hockey puck most certainly will! Just needs a few turns of the suspension bolts to pull the chassis back up to the correct level.

    One of the things the really annoyed me in my retail days was the way so many suspended turntables went off-song, and all the foo black magic nonsense that grew up around “tuning” them. Tuning? It’s not a Stradivarius, guys, it’s three springs. If you can’t think of a way to stop them going out of adjustment then it’s a pretty poor show. On the other hand, anyone hoping to make a living by keeping TT2s “in tune” is in for a disappointment.
    Time flies like an arrow.
    Fruit flies like a banana.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Oct 2017

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    I'm Svend.

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    Quote Originally Posted by shane View Post
    A few grammes of cartridge won’t make any difference, but 20oz of good old Canadian hockey puck most certainly will! Just needs a few turns of the suspension bolts to pull the chassis back up to the correct level.

    One of the things the really annoyed me in my retail days was the way so many suspended turntables went off-song, and all the foo black magic nonsense that grew up around “tuning” them. Tuning? It’s not a Stradivarius, guys, it’s three springs. If you can’t think of a way to stop them going out of adjustment then it’s a pretty poor show. On the other hand, anyone hoping to make a living by keeping TT2s “in tune” is in for a disappointment.
    Yes, of course! Didn't even occur to me! I'm cracking up here... Too funny. The shop can go ahead with the suspension tuning....er, adjustment that is, sans puck until I decide what weight or clamp I'm going to use. But it would be good for a laugh if I walked through the door carrying a couple of orange hockey pucks, saying "Tune the suspension now boys!".

    In any case, the pucks were just an experiment to see if I liked it, and yes, it worked on the Technics. There must be better options out there. A lighter clamp sounds like a good idea (in theory).

    Great to hear that the TT2 suspension is NOT a Stradivarius. All the hand wringing going on out there about "tuning" these suspended decks really made me think twice about buying one. I'm sure glad I ended up with the Heybrook....anything else that was overly fussy would not have lasted long here.

    Cheers to that!
    Svend

  9. #9
    Join Date: Sep 2012

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    LOL that'll teach you to open up 2 threads! ;-)

    Adjusting this stuff is very straightforward, it was the fact that you said you'd taken it to the shop to get it done that set me thinking that you'd paid to have that done and you were about to then heft a load on it, bottom out the springs and wonder why it didn't work right!

  10. #10
    Join Date: Oct 2017

    Location: Ontario, Canada

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rothchild View Post
    LOL that'll teach you to open up 2 threads! ;-)

    Adjusting this stuff is very straightforward, it was the fact that you said you'd taken it to the shop to get it done that set me thinking that you'd paid to have that done and you were about to then heft a load on it, bottom out the springs and wonder why it didn't work right!
    Tsk, tsk...mustn't clutter up the landscape here with all my threads . Lesson learned!

    Good catch on your part though. As mentioned, I'm new to these suspended decks, but I'm usually not that thick that I couldn't put two and two together here Still chuckling over this one...

    Cheers,
    Svend

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