View Full Version : Proper hifi. Who needs more?
awkwardbydesign
24-02-2016, 15:13
I bought this for my wife to play her old singles from the '60s. Just been listening to a young Marianne Faithful; she couldn't sing then, either!
It's valve and the cabinet has been completely remade, by the look of it, even the plywood looks new! Fantastic little player, and he even gives it a 3 month guarantee! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Portable-Record-Player-/281931954210?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=KrVzR34er7kbbQ3OWkJB7mQ7wY4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc I've no idea what it was originally, but who really cares?
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_143021_zpsmpvwjymv.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_142927_zpsyb4fkwjk.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_142829_zpscvsorron.jpg
My very first childhood-owned record player was a Dansette Popular (loads of green shield stamp books), with basically the same turntable and arm - with groove-eating TC8H cartridge. I can't remember the two valve amp inside having a transformer though, but it was fifty years ago and I didn't take much notice of such things. My deck ran slightly slow I remember.
Firebottle
24-02-2016, 17:04
Don't have it powered up with the internals on show!
The chassis is connected to mains Neutral (supposedly) by the look of it, and because the mains lead is a twin white lead it could well be wired so the chassis is at mains LIVE :eek:
Tapped motor winding for the high voltage heaters by the look of it, output valve is a UL84?
Ceramic cartridge (pick-up in old money) wired direct to the high value volume control.
:)
My very first childhood-owned record player was a Dansette Popular (loads of green shield stamp books), with basically the same turntable and arm - with groove-eating TC8H cartridge. I can't remember the two valve amp inside having a transformer though, but it was fifty years ago and I didn't take much notice of such things. My deck ran slightly slow I remember.
The transformer would be to couple the EL84 to the speaker. Being 'double insulated' (ahem!) the raw mains was simply rectified and smoothed (though I can't see a rectifier in the photo, unless it's the smaller of the two valves (?)), with the 150Ohm high power dropper resistor used to provide current to the valve heaters (the two being connected in series). It's possible that a tap on the motor coil acted as an autotransformer for the HT.
With only eight or so components in the circuit, one wonders how it could sound any good; even allowing for the fact that crystal cartridges had a roughly flat output with frequency. :scratch:
Oops - we've done it again! :lol:
awkwardbydesign
24-02-2016, 17:53
Don't have it powered up with the internals on show!
The chassis is connected to mains Neutral (supposedly) by the look of it, and because the mains lead is a twin white lead it could well be wired so the chassis is at mains LIVE :eek:
Tapped motor winding for the high voltage heaters by the look of it, output valve is a UL84?
Ceramic cartridge (pick-up in old money) wired direct to the high value volume control.
:)
Well no, I did unplug it first! I'll check the polarity of the lead before she uses it again.
There is no bass to speak of, which at least gets round any hum problems, and I did wonder about the shortage of transformers. Yes, it does use a UL84, I can't remember what the other one is, but a UL type too.
The sound is definitely midrange lead, but that's fine, and it tracks 10mm warps happily! I could put a strobe disc on it, although that might just upset me. What I don't know won't hurt me.
Now I just need a matching 7" carry case.
The UL84 has a 100mA heater operating with no more than 45V across it. Thus the two valve heaters in series need a dropper resistor having a value of (240 - 90)/0.1 = 150 Ohm, and this will disipate 150*(0.1)2 = 1.5W, thus the large resistor shown in the photograph.
Used single-ended the UL84 had up to 10% distortion.
Richard, can you see any sign of a rectifier?
Firebottle
24-02-2016, 19:03
The other valve is the rectifier Barry, the ceramic cart has such a high output that it drives the pentode directly.
:)
The other valve is the rectifier Barry, the ceramic cart has such a high output that it drives the pentode directly.
:)
Ah - everything is falling into place now.
Cheers
Barry
Thats pretty awesome, love it. :)
The magic part is the Mrs enjoying her singles again, surely what its all about?
awkwardbydesign
24-02-2016, 19:36
Thats pretty awesome, love it. :)
The magic part is the Mrs enjoying her singles again, surely what its all about?
More about her not playing them on the Oracle!
awkwardbydesign
24-02-2016, 21:06
I've had another look (while Man City were scoring 2 in Kiev! Yay!) And guess what? The chassis and speaker were live! So I've swapped the leads into the mains plug and checked it's right. Thanks for that Alan, you're making a habit of straightening me out. The other valve is actually a UY85, so that will be the rectifier. There is one 150 ohm resistor, one 160 ohm and one 150k resistor.
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_202853_zpsvgfx3w42.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_202650_zps3exv6cas.jpg
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_202634_zpshvb7pigb.jpg
The thin black and red wires from the volume control go to the cartridge. (But Kiev got one back. Boo!)
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m604/awkwardbydesign/Mobile%20Uploads/20160224_202600_zpsb6k58kqa.jpg
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