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Tonearm up-grade to fit Linn arm board?

Roog

Roog

pfm Member
My 35 year old Heybrook TT2 truntable is fitted with a Linn LV V tonearm as was a popular entry level choice in the early 80's. Having brought the TT out of storage and given it a service and a new AT cart I wondered whether it is worth upgrading the arm and cart.

Because the arm board is drilled for the Linn Basik and replacement arm boards are hard to come by I would like to stick with Linn compatible geometry.

Can anyone suggest, please, a suitable upgrade that would more or less 'drop-in' or at worse require modest changes to the existing Linn pattern arm board?
 
Extremely impressed with the Ortofon AS-212 I've fitted to my Lenco GL-75, finding one for a reasonable price might be a challenge though.
TS
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I have heard of Mayware but not the Ortofon arm, the Ortofon certainly has the right looks for my old TT.

I will keep an eye open for either.
 
Paul McDonough said:
I will keep an eye open for either.
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At least two Mayware on the Bay at the moment, same price and to me, look to be in pretty good condition. (One is listed twice, once as a BIN, once as an auction.)

Like all tonearms, and especially older ones, they have noticeably trickled up in price over the past 12-18 months
 
I've had a few Maywares and was not impressed.

It's easy to make a new armboard. Usually just a piece of MDF or similar and I've known people make them from perspex and other materials even. Just take the old one off and draw round it basically... Spray paint it black. Sorted.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
It's easy to make a new armboard. Usually just a piece of MDF or similar and I've known people make them from perspex and other materials even. Just take the old one off and draw round it basically... Spray paint it black. Sorted.
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I am being swayed by this approach A.E. My preferred arm would be a Rega RB330 and that would require a new arm board. It’s just that I’ve not had much luck with timber recently, it never seems to be flat or stay flat.
 
Making a new armboard need not be a major hassle, BUT, if you are making a new one, new pivot-spindle centre-centre distance or new hole diameter, you do need some way of measuring/marking that distance. Doing that is not as simple as it sounds.
You make and fit a blank armboard, and then mark the centre for the new pivot centre on the blank.

I don't know what the armboard on a Heybrook was originally, but slightly doubt that it was timber, or at least a timber that was not inherently flat.
 
Craig B said:
The original Heybrook boards were plywood.
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In part because ply is reasonably dimensionally stable - probably birch ply, given that that is VERY stable and flat (for timber). Just need an offcut for the board, and then a way to mark a centre.
 
Should you decide to go for a none Linn mount tonearm, I recommend getting a ply board cut to the exact dimensions as original, then use the original board to mark the positions for the mounting screws. An L or T-square is useful here for locating the holes after arranging the two boards upside down and squarely beside one another (clamping the boards together at the seam either end helps). Then drill small pilot mounting holes, before mounting the new blank board on the deck and using the specific tonearm mounting template to mark the centre point of the tonearm mounting hole at the correct distance from the centre of the platter spindle. Then remove the board from the deck before drilling the tonearm mounting hole(s) using a proper drill press (it is worth finding a wood shop that will let you use theirs). Paint the board last, before installing the tonearm on the board, and then install the board with tonearm mounted into the deck.

With Rega RB tonearms, there is a sweet spot where the 222mm spindle to pivot location is equal distance from either side of the armboard, without the arm fouling the lid. Looks a lot nicer than a Linn arm positioned off toward the LH side of the board, IMO.

If going for a Rega, best to follow the relevant portion of the old instructions that came with SME tonearms, as Rega don't provide details as to how to handle the elevation difference between platter and plinth/armboard when using their supplied arm mounting template.

ADDENDUM: The later Mk2 version of TT2 had a shorter length arm board of MDF.
 
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Thanks, everyone, there is a bit to think about here, be lazy and opt for 'drop in' or make a new arm board for the Rega.

I have an early TT2 with a welded steel chassis, the current arm board is short to accommodate the switch plate at the front.

A quick glimpse at the arm board edge suggests that it is plywood.

Craig, I have never noticed that the arm is mounted off centre on the arm board until now.

iz01jAT.jpg
 
flatpopely said:
'I Robot' - that's a great album!
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He he...yes I remember seeing it the first time around and thought it probably wasn't for me, (too prog), then decades on, I saw this nice copy in my local 2nd hand record shop. The store owner popped it on the store record player and it seemed rude not to buy it! I am slowly collecting the records I should have bought as a teenager but couldn't afford then. Most of my record collection is really just me wallowing in nostalgia.
 
Paul McDonough said:
Thanks, everyone, there is a bit to think about here, be lazy and opt for 'drop in' or make a new arm board for the Rega.

I have an early TT2 with a welded steel chassis, the current arm board is short to accommodate the switch plate at the front.

A quick glimpse at the arm board edge suggests that it is plywood.

Craig, I have never noticed that the arm is mounted off centre on the arm board until now.

iz01jAT.jpg
Click to expand...
I bet that 440MLb sounds pretty decent on the LV-V, as is. The arm looks good on there too, picking up the finish of the platters edge. Lots of folks pick on this, the earliest Basik tonearm, but I've always found it to do quite well with anything from the included 'black' Basik cartridge (aka AT750; no relation to VM750, in fact, a none V-magnet design that used a single round magnetic rod up the arse of the cantilever) and 'yellow' Basik (AT93) through to the 440ML (which is how I got my old ML, off the end of a Basik LV-V).

As to a decent used 'drop in', a minty Ittok LVII with your A-T on would be worth considering. An LVII isn't exactly a 100% drop in replacement, as you'd need take the board off to drill for the separate armrest; as well, the Ittok arm mounting collar bolts on the other way round (i.e. one bolt in front, two either side at the back). You wouldn't need drill for the arm fasteners though, as the Heybrook supplied Linn mount boards were supplied with six holes, à la Linn's own boards, already.

IMG_0352_zpspxi63sw6.jpg
 
Craig B said:
I bet that 440MLb sounds pretty decent on the LV-V, as is. The arm looks good on there too, picking up the finish of the platters edge. Lots of folks pick on this, the earliest Basik tonearm, but I've always found it to do quite well with anything from the included 'black' Basik cartridge (aka AT750; no relation to VM750, in fact, a none V-magnet design that used a single round magnetic rod up the arse of the cantilever) and 'yellow' Basik (AT93) through to the 440ML (which is how I got my old ML, off the end of a Basik LV-V).

As to a decent used 'drop in', a minty Ittok LVII with your A-T on would be worth considering. An LVII isn't exactly a 100% drop in replacement, as you'd need take the board off to drill for the separate armrest; as well, the Ittok arm mounting collar bolts on the other way round (i.e. one bolt in front, two either side at the back). You wouldn't need drill for the arm fasteners though, as the Heybrook supplied Linn mount boards were supplied with six holes, à la Linn's own boards, already.

IMG_0352_zpspxi63sw6.jpg
Click to expand...

Interesting point Craig, I do quite like the 70's look of the old 'S' arms, it suits the vintage nature of the deck. I thought the originally supplied 'Linn/AT' cart was absolutely fine, but I swapped it out on a whim with an Ortofon mm. When I brought the TT2 out of storage I bought a new belt and tried it with the Ortofon cart that I had installed some 30 years ago and found that the suspension was shot, hence the AT 440mlb. The AT 440 is ok if a bit bright, but with my hearing tailing off in old age that might be no bad thing!

Thank you for your insights into the Heybrook arm boards, I must have a look.
 
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