Recent content by ruckerfoad

I couldn't get the alloy platter centered to save my life... I'm assuming the labor to center the Zamac platter, with its smaller machined adapter, was an overall cost advantage compared to the one-piece machined cast iron platter. Certainly not optimal from a serviceability perspective.

Moving to the cast iron platter made a world of difference on my 124... I couldn't get the Zamac platter centered to save my life, and the reduction in rumble was pretty startling as well.

The bronze thrust bearing from Woodsong is great... the ball is a bit of a pain to swap but it's worth every penny for such a simple upgrade. Chris recommends DTE24 in the main bearing and DTE25 in the motor IIRC... the 24 tends to run out of the motor a little more readily than the 25, but...

Lovely work as usual! Can you share a bit about the PTFE idler washers?

He pulled off a miracle repair of a crumpled cantilever for one of my Stanton CS-100 cartridges last year, and he even has the correct diamond that's a dead ringer for the original Stereohedron. Rare to find a guy that's wired to do this kind of work. Highly, highly recommended!

The Audiosilente idler really is good... the original was left engaged for years on my 124 so it was the most economical option to get the deck running. The thrust surface can be a source of noise so that is another variable you can play with.

It's a best practice I picked up in doing test & measurement work... switch contacts are cheap whereas time spent looking for ground loops can add up quickly. Incidentally you can get away with a single deck switch to do this with the PN I listed, IIRC that was all that Mouser had in stock when...

Grayhill make excellent switches, you won't be disappointed. I used their PN 71B30-02-4-03S for a three-position switcher box with switched grounds.

A big thanks to the members who suggested the Panasonic FR and FM series capacitors, this past week I re-capped an older Stanton phono preamp which uses a number of 100 uF electrolytics in the signal path and they are very good sounding replacements (along with some shunt film caps in a few...

Series III with high compliance carts is what I run on my Thorens, and it is a magical combination!

I almost purchased a fairly cruddy $25 turntable yesterday at my local electronics junk shop because it had a V15iii, with a snapped cantilever... based on your assessment I'll be heading back to snag it if it hasn't walked out the door already. I really dig older, high compliance, moving magnet...

I run a ST-70 that I restored about two years ago... I run the VTA70 board from Tubes4HiFi which uses three 12AU7s, among other modifications. If you do pick this up, I am sure you'll be pleased with it. Very good sounding output transformers and they are very easy to work on and modify.

Glad to see word is spreading on that Igus washer! I was really happy to find that they had something that was a drop-in replacement... if you run into issues with the thicker washer they do make a thinner one in a different material that would also be appropriate.

Excellent, thanks for the info! One other question, and this is a bit of an oddball: do you happen to know the thread for the studs that hold the spider in place? Long story but the nuts on mine are missing.

Are HPD woofer recone kits still available anywhere? I have a pair of 315s that I had fitted with new voice coils by an outfit here in the US last year, and while they sound wonderful, I often wonder about trying to source some spares just in case.