The Heybrook TT2 info thread.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Shane, should the platter have a specific ride height relative to the TT top plate? Thorens, for example recommends the platter being 10mm from the TD160 super top plate. I had a look under the hood of my TT2, it's looks quite difficult to the height of the springs, the nuts seemed to be housed in some "star" shaped widgets?? Did all TT2's come with their springs preset so that platters sat level?

[shane]

Setting the suspension height is done by turning the bolts from above, not the nuts from below! All you need is a 6mm Allen key. The suspension bolts are a tight fit in the plinth so they will turn with the key but once set, they won’t move. The whole idea of the rubbers on the nuts is that they don’t allow the nuts to rotate when you turn the bolts.

The lower edge of the platter should sit 5mm above the top of the plinth. If this is right, the arm board should then be level with the edge of the plinth, and if the suspension springs and arm cable are set up correctly it should sit centrally in the opening.

The suspension springs should be in the correct orientation as set in the factory so you shouldn’t need to move them. If you do though, each spring has a red line drawn down it which should be aligned with a red triangle on the chassis. Unless the suspension’s been dismantled at some time they’re unlikely to have moved but it’s a simple job to realign them.

If you’re a member of the Vinyl Engine, you can download a copy of the user manual which has all this in it.

https://www.vinylengine.com/library/heybrook/tt2.shtml

[Wakefield Turntables]

Shane,

Very impressed with your TT design, it's a great sounding deck. My example has had a little bit of a hard life. I've done minimal work on it so far. Somebody has definitely messed around with the springs, they are not aligned and probably need twisting a quater turn or so, one of the rubbers for the nut appears to be quite squashed compared to the other two so I wonder if someone has overdone the torsion on this? The platter isn't sitting flush to the top plate yet, yep I know this is essential but I've simply not had time recently to even blink! I've given the spindle housing a new change of oil, I've changed the belt and cleaned belt pulley. The belt pulley had several decades of crap so this couldn't have helped.

I've had a look at the thrust bearing, it's got significant wear, can you tell me the diameter so I can order up a replacement? There do appear to be other things that need doing but that's it for now.

[shane]

Glad you like it!

The alignment of the springs is quite critical to getting an even bounce. All coil springs “lean” a bit when compressed, and the art is to get them to lean in the right direction. I’m hoping that your TT2 still has its original springs fitted. I’ve come across a few reports of TT2s being fitted with Linn springs, although I’ve never worked out how (or indeed why) anyone would do this as they’re different in length, diameter and stiffness and will completely change the behaviour of the suspesion. Presumably they hope some Linn magic pixie dust will transform the listening experience…

If you look at the photo below (which I pinched from a post by Alec124c42 on Vinyl Engine. Hope he doesn’t mind!), you can see that each spring should have a red line down it joining the ends of the coils. You can also see the little stick-on vinyl triangles on the chassis next to the suspension holes that the lines should line up with. If the stickers are missing you can use this photo as a guide to where they should be as they were always in the same position. Once you’ve got that sorted it should be straightforward to level the chassis by adjusting the bolts, and dressing the arm lead correctly.

Is it the ball or the bottom of the spindle that’s worn? Both are 10mm diameter, but neither should need replacing. If the ball is worn where the spindle sits on it, just pull it out with a magnet and drop it back in so the spindle sits on a new point on the ball’s surface. If the bottom of the spindle is worn you won’t easily be able to replace it. Instead I would take it to a local precision engineer to have the flat in the bottom re-ground.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I've still got the original springs and stickers under the hood. I did a little levelling tonight and had everything at 5mm distance from the platter top plate. I then put the belt on and the rear of the platter sunk an extra 1-2mm, it's too late now to do anything, I've had a long day labouring. Tomorrow I'll start with fresh gusto and try and get the platter properly flush. I must say I really liked what I heard when the platter was skewed so a level platter should help things further still . Do you think the TT would benefit from just sitting on a 50mm bamboo board without the baseboard? I only ask because I'm currently feeling a little idle!

[shane]

Have you fitted a new belt? The reason I ask is because I had a similar experience. About fifteen years ago I started fooling around building an idler drive turntable out of a couple of lumps of slate and some spare TT2 bits, and gave my old TT2 (cast chassis version) to my nephew. Once I’d finished scratching that itch I had a hankering to go back to my original idea and bought a very early steel chassis TT2 off eBay, which to my delight turned out to be one of the very first batch. The first thing I did was to buy a new belt but the one I received did exactly what yours is doing so I reverted back to the old one which is almost certainly the original. After cleaning up the motor pulley which, like yours, was covered in black gunge, it worked fine and is still doing so ten years later.
I’m at a bit of a loss to explain this since the belt I bought came from Guy at Puresound who bought up the remaining stock of TT2 bits when Heybrook went belly-up in the mid 90s. Now I know that a lot of changes were made to the plinth in the time between me leaving Heybrook in 1984 and the company’s demise, but I don’t think they ever made any mechanical changes through the life of the turntable other than the cast chassis, which happened when I was still there, so unless they changed the supplier at some point, the belt fitted to the last turntable should be identical to the one fitted to the first. Be that as it may, though, the one I received was definitely shorter than the original.
I would suggest that the best thing to do would be to give the pulley, the sub-platter and the old belt itself a thoroughly good clean with IPA and see how you get on with that.

As I’ve said before, because of the way the plinth is constructed, it’s less sensitive to changes to the baseboard than the likes of the Linn or Thorens, but as with all turntables it does make a difference what you sit it on. Ideally a light but rigid table if you have solid floors or wall shelf if you don’t will give the turntable a stable platform without providing a feedback path from your speakers. Failing that, if you have to stand it on a resonant box like a sideboard or similar, then standing it on something heavy like a granite or slate slab would be best. As always though, the best solution will only be found by trial and error.

I was about to add a photo of the old and new belts together, but the new one seems to have disappeared. Must be up in the loft, so maybe another day…

[walpurgis]

I actually think the TT2 is a beautiful classic design and have always fancied one, I'll probably never get around to it now. Still, I do have its older cousin, the Thorens TD150 II, which sounds just lovely!

[shane]

There’s three on eBay at the moment if you fancy a punt!

[walpurgis]

There’s three on eBay at the moment if you fancy a punt!

That would be nice, but I just don't play records that much these days so I'll stick with what I have.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Shane,

I think your observation about belts could be wholly correct. I bought mine off ebay from a hifi supplier, belt supposed to NOS. The belt did appear to be too short, old belt replaced and everything sits level @ 5mm. Not tried spinning vinyl yet I'm awaiting a new cart, so hopefully in next week or two should have some news.