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scoobs
10-02-2008, 17:24
This came about as a result of being systematically ground down by the girlfriend about ugly black steel and cables in our modest sized living room :rolleyes:.

The 'rack' is two Ikea norrebo storage benches, the top one has been sliced, these are solid beech, and are pretty substantial, they have threaded feet, and are spiked to the floor. The vinyl storage cubes are not the overpriced icubes, but clones made in Cardiff and sold on ebay, the lad very kindly delivered them to me for a fiver.

The first iteration was taller, with the tt & amp along the top shelf, ergonomically this was great, but I couldn't help but think it looked like a teenagers wanna-be DJ booth stuck in the corner of our living room, so the plan was to get a nicer look together with some decent isolation for the 1210. Phase 2 was to slice the top bench and re-use the front panel of the redundant box that should sit under the bench, with the help of my neighbour I created a box for the 1210 to sit inside, the result now see's the 1210 spiked to a 1" deep granite slab, which sits on 2" of silver sand. So the 1210 is now encased in a WAF friendly solid beech 'plinth' and I'm happy as it's 'kin heavy, very solid and as isolated as it can be within reason.

The 1210's arm hasn't escaped either as I've had a custom brass counterweight made by Thrunobulax that now allows greater mass closer to the pivot resulting in better transient response and bass grip, now together with the Cardas re-wire direct to cardas din plug, silicone damping and upgraded headshell and wires - it's transformed :eek: . Finally the 103pro has been pimped with a 'brazilian' so too speak! giving me greater mass and a better interface with the headshell...nearly soiled myself when fitting it though, as my thumb nearly trashed one of the hair like wires, not one for the faint hearted ... or fixed headshell really.

Let's just say the girlfriend is happier now! I know it looks like a chav 'lifestyle' bodge, but since I have braced both the benches and spiked them - it's as solid as any rack I've had before.

A big thankyou to John (Thrunobulax) for his handy work and patience, I've sprayed it silver John...sorry mate :o

The rest of my system ...'tis in a state of flux at the moment, by the end of the month I'll be running a bespoke integrated MM / valve line stage and active quad standmounts.

The stupid thing is that within 24 hours of getting the 103 back, I was depatching my phonostage, speakers and cables to pay for the new stuff :rolleyes:. I did get a couple of hours of vinyl in though and revelled in the wide open sound, although unfortunately not long enough to form an opinion on the nude 103....but I'll be back.


http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/12.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/11.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/10.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/SNC11226.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/13.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/4.jpg

Vinyl Grinder
10-02-2008, 18:10
All you needs a beech lid on it ;)

Steve Toy
10-02-2008, 18:26
All you needs a beech lid on it


:D

scoobs
10-02-2008, 19:16
You mean like this...
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/indypepa/productPageImage.jpg

:D

Marco
10-02-2008, 20:43
LOL. You took that well!

:gig:

Nice one, Nick. I'm not sure I'm into the beech bread bin either, but congrats on doing something novel! Nice pictures, too, and good to have another KAB-modified 1210 aficionado on board :)

I'll contribute more later, but what 'grammage' did you settle on for the brass counterweight balance? And spraying it sliver - what sacrilege! :flasher:

I believe the final arm-tube diameter for the counterweight balance was 14.5mm?

I'd also like to hear more about your baldy 103Pro! How does it compare with a standard one?

All in your good time of course, old chap :cool:

Marco.

scoobs
11-02-2008, 18:07
...'kin bread bin - yer cheeky monkey! I've not felt so insulted since the guy from Mercury Rev (a band I like) was alikened to sounding like Keith Harris on acid...me fookin' world collapsed!

Yeah I know it's a bit chav, I really wanted to do it in walnut, but it would have looked silly atop of all that pale stuff...at least it's solid stuff tho, and I like the retro kinds feel to it.

My counterweight is 160 all in, and I need every gram, as the 103 has a hefty slab of aluminium stuck to it, hope I'm not over-doing the mass.

Vinyl Grinder
11-02-2008, 22:17
'kin bread bin - yer cheeky monkey! I've not felt so insulted since the guy from Mercury Rev (a band I like) was alikened to sounding like Keith Harris on acid...me fookin' world collapsed!

............................

:lol:

Here let me make things worse...er umm changed mi mind ;)

Andy831
12-02-2008, 08:00
Hi Scoobs

must say it all looks pretty good to my eyes.

Any chance of posting a link to the "replica" icubes guy in Cardiff?

Andy

scoobs
12-02-2008, 17:29
Cheers Andy. Yeah the vinyl cubes can be found here http://www.bunglebox.com/

Marco
12-02-2008, 18:32
...'kin bread bin - yer cheeky monkey! I've not felt so insulted since the guy from Mercury Rev (a band I like) was alikened to sounding like Keith Harris on acid...me fookin' world collapsed!

Yeah I know it's a bit chav, I really wanted to do it in walnut, but it would have looked silly atop of all that pale stuff...at least it's solid stuff tho, and I like the retro kinds feel to it.

My counterweight is 160 all in, and I need every gram, as the 103 has a hefty slab of aluminium stuck to it, hope I'm not over-doing the mass.

Hehehe, sowee... If you made a wee flap that opened at the front you could pop a Hovis inside and keep it nice and fresh :eyebrows:

I like the look of the counterweight, even though you've sprayed the f*cker! :flasher:

If the cartridge doesn't sound dull then you know you haven't overdone the mass.

So how does the baldy version sound to the fully-clothed one? :)

Marco.

Andy831
12-02-2008, 19:18
Cheers Scoobs

Andy

scoobs
12-02-2008, 20:21
So how does the baldy version sound to the fully-clothed one? :)

Er...well, I only had an hour tops with it before I had to pack up the p10 and nva cables, at the same time, she was putting the hoover 'round, and the 'kin dog was barking!...so dont ask mate :mad:

The chap that modded the 103 is currently knocking me up an integrated SS MM phono and valve line stage, should have it by the end of the month (very excited), so I have a fully KAB modified bread bin and turbo charged 103pro sitting there doing nowt at the moment :rolleyes:...hurrah for the Ipod :)

Forgot to mentio too, that I had a pair of headshell wires off said chap, 6n copper and cardas sockets, a worthwhile purchase over the the stock Zupreme's...bass is nicely rendered, rather than leaden.

My Quad active speakers should arrive by the end of the week, so that should keep me off the streets.