Revisiting the Zeta

[karma67]

my zeta arrived back from audio origami this week,the old tonearm wire was replaced,apparently it was making the vertical free play slightly sticky.J7 as always has done a fabulous job.
in the meantime while it was away i asked speedy steve to make some more counterweight plates in bronze,i will be using a denon 103sa cartridge and if i need to add mass to the zetas headshell these will balance it out.

and in case i do need some mass,ive knocked up a brass headshell weight.

i think i have every angle covered now lol

 

[wylton]

A new member of the Zeta appreciation club!

I bought a Zeta on eBay and unpacked it this morning; it's a beauty!



I was originally looking for a Rega mount arm for the LP12 that resides in my office system upstairs, but then this Zeta came up and I couldn't resist it!

So this will now replace the Audiomods Classic on the Lenco. The Audiomods will be mounted on the Linn & the Zeta will be mounted on the Lenco.

At the moment, the LP12 has a Dynavector DV20XL on an AO250,& the Audiomods has a metal bodied DL103; checking on Vinyl Engine, both will work on the Zeta.

 

[divedeepdog]

A new member of the Zeta appreciation club!

I bought a Zeta on eBay and unpacked it this morning; it's a beauty!



I was originally looking for a Rega mount arm for the LP12 that resides in my office system upstairs, but then this Zeta came up and I couldn't resist it!

So this will now replace the Audiomods Classic on the Lenco. The Audiomods will be mounted on the Linn & the Zeta will be mounted on the Lenco.

At the moment, the LP12 has a Dynavector DV20XL on an AO250,& the Audiomods has a metal bodied DL103; checking on Vinyl Engine, both will work on the Zeta.

Well done, I was watching that but money tied up elsewhere to bid properly ...

 

[wylton]

Well done ...

Thanks, I was really pleased to win it!

The Lenco was originally a side project, after all, I only paid £1 for it, but it's fast turning into a super-deck, because I'm also building an NSC (Nigel's Speed Controller- Lenco Heaven) for it too.

Just picture that beautiful Zeta mounted on this!


I

 

[mjkelshaw]

The Lenco was originally a side project, after all, I only paid £1 for it, but it's fast turning into a super-deck, because I'm also building an NSC (Nigel's Speed Controller- Lenco Heaven) for it too.

The plinth for your '88' looks very interesting, I vaguely remember seeing something similar, however I just can't recall when or where - my memory is certainly not improving with age.
Is it constructed from slate on a metal frame?

Regards

Mike Kelshaw

 

[wylton]

The plinth for your '88' looks very interesting, I vaguely remember seeing something similar, however I just can't recall when or where - my memory is certainly not improving with age.
Is it constructed from slate on a metal frame?

Yes, it's a slate plinth sitting on an aluminium frame. I designed the frame and an engineering friend made it for me; you've probably seen it here on PFM, because I posted it here before and it generated a fair bit of interest

 

[mjkelshaw]

Yes, it's a slate plinth sitting on an aluminium frame. I designed the frame and an engineering friend made it for me; you've probably seen it here on PFM, because I posted it here before and it generated a fair bit of interest

Hi Wylton,
Thank you for your reply. I was asking as I would like to 're-plinth' my '99. Currently it has a slate plinth, but the arm mounting arrangement is less than satisfactory, and I'm trying to decide whether to replace it with a new slate one or change to an alternative design.

Regards

Mike Kelshaw

 

[Salamander]

Wylton, your Lenco looks fantastic. I would really like to hear your views on the Zeta v Audiomods as and when the Zeta is up and running.

 

[wylton]

…I would like to 're-plinth' my '99. Currently it has a slate plinth, but the arm mounting arrangement is less than satisfactory, and I'm trying to decide whether to replace it with a new slate one or change to an alternative design.

Well, slate is more difficult to work with & perhaps more difficult to get the sound right, because it doesn’t absorb energy as well as MDF for instance, so if you’re not careful, you end up with reflections back up the arm.

After some experimentation, I used cork between the slate and the aluminium and I use a glass platter mat topped by one of Lenco Heaven’s spot mats that I made from one of their contributor’s designs.

It’s work in progress, because I’m adding the NSC speed controller (when I can find time to build it), and of course I’ll be changing the Audiomods for the Zeta too.

...your Lenco looks fantastic. I would really like to hear your views on the Zeta v Audiomods as and when the Zeta is up and running.

Thanks for your kind comment.

It’s finding the time! I might cut the arm board later and then we have the long Easter weekend coming up. I want to get both arms done at the same time if I can.

I bought a Linn set up jig a while back, but I haven’t tried setting an LP12 up yet. The existing arm is an RB250, so the Audiomods should drop straight in with any luck, with a bit of tweaking on the springs.

I’m looking forward to listening to the Zeta; I think that the solid nature of the Lenco will suit it well, but I’m looking forward to hearing the Audiomods on the Linn too. Initially, I think I’ll keep the Denon on the Audiomods, and fit the Dynavector to the Zeta.

 

[wylton]

Just a dry fit at the moment, but I got the arm board cut over the weekend. A bit of a tight squeeze in the existing cut-out, but it looks like it's going to be fine; I might have to set the arm height at its lowest though.

I'm looking forward to getting the cartridge (Dynavector DV20XL) fitted and having a listen next weekend!

 

[karma67]

nice!
how are the lateral bearings on the zeta? they can suffer from a bit of rattle,not sure if i mentioned it before but this was addressed on later arms,early zetas like mine have 3 bearings,the later ones had 5.
to check take hold of the head stock manual cue and swing slowly to the spindle whilst shaking you hand,if you know what i mean lol.
this video will make it easy to understand.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145822004@N02/25728557577/in/dateposted-public/

 

[wylton]

... take hold of the head...whilst shaking you hand...

Sounds rude to me lol!

I'll not have time to do that until next week end, as I'm off to work now, but I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[Tony L]

Looks superb aside from the ugly mat! What is going on there?! Remarkably long headshell leads too, you may have some issue keeping them up out of the way!

 

[karma67]

i hadn't noticed the leads,yes they do look a bit long,the op does say that his zeta is sitting on the mounting collar though.

 

[suzywong]

hmm that's interesting


here's some photo's after setting it up properly yesterday.

all in all im very happy with my purchase

Call me biased but it is truly a thing of beauty!

 

[wylton]

Looks superb aside from the ugly mat! What is going on there?! Remarkably long headshell leads too, you may have some issue keeping them up out of the way!

Ugly? The cheek of it!

It's A Lenco Heaven Spotmat... I tried loads of combinations & eventually settled on a GA Audio glass mat, topped by the Spotmat & this works well for me; we'll have to wait and see if it works for the Zeta too.

As for the long wires; it'll be no problem, I'll sort that as I'm setting it up.

 

[wylton]

As for the long wires; it'll be no problem...

I was just thinking, I didn't check the wiring, I was so overcome by the beauty of the thing that I didn't even think of the continuity of the loom; it'll be my luck that the wires are broken and just poked into the arm-tube!

The Aro has a small sponge arm-tube plug that allows you to poke the excess back through, hopefully this will be the case for the Zeta.

 

[suzywong]

nice!
how are the lateral bearings on the zeta? they can suffer from a bit of rattle,not sure if i mentioned it before but this was addressed on later arms,early zetas like mine have 3 bearings,the later ones had 5.
to check take hold of the head stock manual cue and swing slowly to the spindle whilst shaking you hand,if you know what i mean lol.
this video will make it easy to understand.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145822004@N02/25728557577/in/dateposted-public/

Useful to know that test. Just tried it on our late ‘80s jobbie. Solid as a rock!

 

[karma67]

Cool! if you really want to get anal like me you can use a mechanics stethoscope to hear for any play

 

[TPA]

I reset the bearings on mine, but I would strongly advise caution. Each bearing has a cover which needs to be removed. This then exposes the adjusting/seating plate, however each one is secured by a set screw, so look carefully to find each of them. These need to be released before you make any adjustment to the bearings. It is worth making up a lever with two studs to fit in to the bearing cups. The longer the lever, the finer you can adjust it. One thing to bear in mind if you are going to completely disassemble them is the need to replace them precisely centrally in each plane, or you will introduce an offset and change the geometry of the arm.

Certainly, it is easy to get to the stage of no play, however you are also looking for the balance between zero lost motion and free movement. I use small strips of paper on the headshell etc, or blowing gently. You need to do this across the whole arc of movement in the lateral plane, but only a fairly small arc around horizontal as that is where it will be when playing a record. Very fractionally loose sounds a lot better than very fractionally tight if that makes sense. When I say loose, there will still be no detectable lost motion but the arm will be freer to move. Also, when tightening the set screw for each bearing, do not use a lot of force as this will distort the alignment. The bearing surfaces are steel but they are sitting in a relatively soft aluminium housing.

Although the arm has a relatively substantial housing for the vertical bearings the actual bearing housing in the arm wand is quite low mass. I think one of the reasons it has a particular sound is due to the very low lateral inertia that this creates, many other arms have considerably more moving mass, though they still achieve medium overall effective mass for the cartridge.