New Layers of Beauty Plinth

[Ammonite Audio]

My new birch ply plinth for the Kenwood KD-770D arrives tomorrow. It's made to my specifications by Layers of Beauty ( http://www.layers-of-beauty.co.uk/page6.php ) for a very reasonable £230, and should free the Kenwood from it's overly resonant chipboard plinth. I'm confident that the Kenwood innards will sound pretty special in this new plinth. If anyone's coming to the London Bake-Off Show on 31 October, it will be providing vinyl spinning duties in the Cables and Mains bits room. If I can find some space around marauding puppies, it should be up and running by tomorrow evening, fitted with the Ittok and Glider SL.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2ns5008.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/352r9z6.jpg

[Snoopdog]

Slap a dab of creosote on it and it will look luvverly;)

[Alex_UK]

Definitely Russ is the man... Mine is still waiting for the readies to be available, but that looks super and reinforces my plans... Nice one Shuggie.

[theophile]

This should be interesting.

Are you going to document the whole procedure of the transfer from one plinth to the new one?

[Ammonite Audio]

This should be interesting.

Are you going to document the whole procedure of the transfer from one plinth to the new one?

No, I'm not, since it's so Simples, but I shall certainly post pics of the end result! I shall just unbolt the motor unit, unscrew the PCB and control switch and attach them all to the new plinth using the same bolts and screws. If that does not entirely make sense, here is a pic of the underside of the KD-770D:

http://i55.tinypic.com/14m3rbl.jpg

That's pretty much it, apart from the arm, of course - I'm using the same Technics SL-1200 armboards for different arms (Linn Ittok, Jelco SA-750D, TecnoarmA), hence the mounting hole size, which is cut specifically for the Sound HiFi Jelco armboard's sunken centre section. The feet will again be Stillpoints, sitting in Stillpoints Risers.

[theophile]

Thank you for the informative reply.

[Ammonite Audio]

Here it is, almost properly set up, apart from some armplate mounting screws that will allow a bit of shifting to get the spindle-pivot distance spot on.

http://i55.tinypic.com/500go.jpg

Everything works as it should, ie as before. The sound is not what I expected, though - it's lost the verve and musicality of the deck in its cheapo and resonant chipboard plinth. It sounds sluggish, which surprises me, since this is not a massy plinth at all; and I did deliberately avoid a high-mass solution. The design aim of eliminating the drum like resonance of the old plinth has succeeded, but the music appears to have gone. Ho Hum! We live and learn!

[Dave Cawley]

What you may be hearing is the truth, not embellished with extraneous artefacts?

I'll get a SP-10 motor unit (only) in one of his Art Deco ones, they look great.

I'm chuffed to bit about this, well done!

Dave

[Ammonite Audio]

What you may be hearing is the truth, not embellished with extraneous artefacts?

I'll get a SP-10 motor unit (only) in one of his Art Deco ones, they look great.

I'm chuffed to bit about this, well done!

Dave

Quite possibly, but truth can be what you like, as opposed to something that is notionally correct!

It's a bit of a shame that I don't have a cartridge to hand that works well in the Jelco, because I need to hear how that fares in the new plinth. It may be that the Ittok does not care for the more solid structure. My broken AT33PTG goes into Expert Stylus Company at the end of the month for a retip and I can't wait to get it back! Actually, Dave, you may be able to advise me on the AT33PTG - I have snapped off half the diamond, so it's going to need a new tip. I'm tempted to have ESCo's Paratrace stylus fitted, which ought to turn it into something like the AT33EV. They may be able to fit another ML tip, though. Can you offer any advice?

[DSJR]

"Truth" in this case is what was cut on the acetate at the mastering/cutting session and those of us who've either witnessed this or have heard a new clean acetate will identify the added weight and "bloom" of a typical LP spinner. The KD750 didn't have the ultra-heavy plinth of its predecessors as I remember, and no amount of high-gloss paint or lacquer will improve the mid-bass colouration in many of these plinths. Just my tuppence worth of course... ;)

[Ammonite Audio]

"Truth" in this case is what was cut on the acetate at the mastering/cutting session and those of us who've either witnessed this or have heard a new clean acetate will identify the added weight and "bloom" of a typical LP spinner. The KD750 didn't have the ultra-heavy plinth of its predecessors as I remember, and no amount of high-gloss paint or lacquer will improve the mid-bass colouration in many of these plinths. Just my tuppence worth of course... ;)

That's true, but not knowing what Acker Bilk and Bent fabric got up to in the studio when recording "Cocktails for Two" in 1965, I go on what I 'feel' about the music instead. If I may correct you on one thing, it's a KD-770D ;) and as you can see from the picture posted further up this thread, the original plinth is far from heavy. Maybe this weekend I'll get the KD-750 out, for a comparison, since it's a very much heavier, more solid affair than the 770D (completely different drive system too).

[Will]

Shuggie try ball bearings or marbles under the plinth instead of those feet
I found it gave more life to ply plinths..

.

[Ammonite Audio]

The Stillpoints are designed to roll about slightly in their risers, which are like saucers, so I'd be surprised if ball bearings made any difference. One significant factor here is level adjustment, which the Stillpoints allow.

[Will]

Not the same though..if they roll.

.

[Ammonite Audio]

Replacing the woodscrews holding the armboard with some nice M5 stainless steel bolts seems to have improved the sound of the KD-770D in its new plinth. The bass is very much deeper and things musical seem to be hanging together better, but time will of course tell. Here's a better picture of the deck than the one shown above, without the SRM peripheral damping ring. I might even polish up the edge of the platter:

http://i55.tinypic.com/eg3dxf.jpg

For the curious, that is a Bert Kaempfert LP!

[Marco]

Looking good, Hugo! I must get the opportunity to hear it sometime. All the best for the forthcoming London bake-off - I hope your deck gets a good reaction :)

Marco.

[Ammonite Audio]

Looking good, Hugo! I must get the opportunity to hear it sometime. All the best for the forthcoming London bake-off - I hope your deck gets a good reaction :)

Marco.

Thanks. Are you venturing down for the London Bake-Off event?

[Marco]

Sadly no, as I simply have too many other committments this month and next. Nick (Beechwoods) will however be there as the AoS representative from the management team. I'm sure he'll fill me in on how things go :)

Regardless of that, though, we must arrange a separate sesh ourselves sometime, either at mine or yours :cool:

Marco.

[Canetoad]

Shuggie,

Can you tell me what you are using to suspend the plinth? :)

[Ammonite Audio]

If you mean the feet, they are Stillpoints, fixed using M6 threads and pointing down into Stillpoints Inverse Risers, which are like alloy saucers. The threads provide easy levelling adjustment. The rack is a Stillpoints ESS (old type).

http://i54.tinypic.com/5d02zn.jpg

I'm a bit of a Stillpoints fan - they do not provide isolation, but they do seem to be good for preserving musical detail. The bumph is at www.stillpoints.us

http://www.stillpoints.us/Stillpoints/products_files/S%26R.jpg

[Beechwoods]

Sadly no, as I simply have too many other committments this month and next. Nick (Beechwoods) will however be there as the AoS representative from the management team. I'm sure he'll fill me in on how things go :)

And really looking forward to it if there's gear like this to be heard there!