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Alphason HR-100S

The top wasn't that thick and it used to resonate. Made the bass muddy. Tried directly coupling with spikes and/ or isolation. Best combo was to couple the plinth to an acrylic slab, via hard feet, and then isolate that from the sideboard with cork.
 
The lift mechanism appears to be the same as that fitted to the Mission 774 (and others), only with a longer cam extension.

The most common cause of a lift dropping of its own accord is that the lift lever isn't slightly past fully vertical when in the full upward position. With lift levers like these that screw into the cam extension, the solution to a slightly less than vertical lever is to bend it backward slightly. It is best to mark the back of the lever shaft and then remove it from the cam before bending in the direction of the mark slightly with protected jaw pliers.

Another possibility is that the silicone grease has become sufficiently gummed up at the bottom of the piston where it interfaces with the cam that the lever does not sit slightly past vertical. A thorough cleaning and re-grease should correct this, and would be preferable to unnecessarily bending the lever as a stop gap. One way to test for this possibility is to push the lever as far up and back as it will go with a bit more force than usual and note if it tends to stay up with the weight of the tonearm on.

Although not the case here, a lift that drops rapidly is indicative of lost and/or insufficient damping grease; a cleaning and re-grease will usually put these right, however, if the tongue at the bottom of the piston (that engages with the cam) is badly worn then replacement (of the piston or the entire lift/lower mechanism) may be necessary.

Lift/lower service steps:
  1. Remove tonearm from turntable.
  2. Remove lift/lower platform.
  3. Loosen lift/lower mechanism retaining screw (some mechanisms are clamped to the tonearm outrigger platform via the housing cap as fastener)
  4. Drop the cueing mechanism down and out from the bottom of the tonearm outrigger plate.
  5. Twist off lift/lower housing cap (use fine tipped needle nosed pliers into the slots either side from above if tight; I prefer circlip pliers myself).
  6. Remove the piston (upwards), followed by the cam and lever assembly (sideways).
  7. Clean all parts thoroughly with meths and let dry before coating the piston and cam with fresh 300,000 cSt (kinematic viscosity in centistokes) silicone grease. Make sure to grease the cam holes in the cylinder and the bore of the cylinder. If there exists a circumferential groove in the piston, completely fill this with grease as this acts as a reservoir.
  8. Reassemble, refit, adjust for height (NOTE: cam in first, then piston).
P.S. As these particular lifts tend to have the lever sitting very close to vertical when up, it occurs to me that a slightly less than level Sondek may have it teetering to rather than fro, IYSWIM.
 
Thanks Craig, informative as ever.

The deck is level, and you're right in that it seems as though the top position is too close to vertical to allow it to stay raised. A little upward pressure doesn't reveal any extra travel and still doesn't stay up with the arm on it. So it looks like a strip, clean and re grease is in order at least.
 
Has anyone rewired one of these? I've not had it apart yet so excuse the laziness but how is it as standard, is it all one piece tags to RCAs or is there a din plug at the arm base? What is the best way to tackle it? I've done a few arms now and I'm not too worried about taking it on I just need to know the best way before hand so I can get the bits ordered.

It needs doing as it isn't in the best nick, the cart tag end has been resoldered more than once and gone a bit stiff/brittle, the phono connection on the left channel is a bit dodgy as well.
 
Thanks Craig, informative as ever.

The deck is level, and you're right in that it seems as though the top position is too close to vertical to allow it to stay raised. A little upward pressure doesn't reveal any extra travel and still doesn't stay up with the arm on it. So it looks like a strip, clean and re grease is in order at least.
You are welcome Matt. I do try to be thorough (it's my OCD, you see! :)).

Yes, a full lift service will likely have it working properly again.
Has anyone rewired one of these? I've not had it apart yet so excuse the laziness but how is it as standard, is it all one piece tags to RCAs or is there a din plug at the arm base? What is the best way to tackle it? I've done a few arms now and I'm not too worried about taking it on I just need to know the best way before hand so I can get the bits ordered.

It needs doing as it isn't in the best nick, the cart tag end has been resoldered more than once and gone a bit stiff/brittle, the phono connection on the left channel is a bit dodgy as well.
I've not re-wired an Alphason, however, IIRC, the internal wires are directly soldered to the external cable, rather than via the terminals within a moulded plug à la Rega. I've seen pictures which indicate that the arm cable is intended to be an interference fit with the inside of the arm pillar via the use of a rubber ring/washer. Certainly there existed no set screw hole so the cable should simply pull straight out. You will likely find that the length of cable that fits into the pillar has been shrink wrapped into a plug like shape with the rubber ring round that.

Should the above be the case with yours then recycling the external lead should at least allow for the preservation of the interference fit (i.e. vis-a-vies the rubber ring diameter vs. cable bundle diameter).
 
Thanks Craig. I'm torn between wanting to keep it standard or altering it for a better arrangement as I'm not much keen on interference fit solutions unless it's a really good one.

I'll get the 774 swapped onto the LP12 and that will give me time to figure out what I want to do, who knows, it may not even go back on depending how that switch over goes!
 
BTW, I've an old friend who traded in his barely broken in Thorens TD-160 Super/Mission 774 against a new LP12 Valhalla/Basik LV-X with the same Grace F9E being transferred over. Shortly thereafter, he went back in to the dealers complaining that his F9E must be worn out because it had somehow developed a noticeable zing/edge in the upper mids and treble (insert roll eyes emoji here).

If he had bothered to consult with his 'audiophile' friend (i.e. moi, who had installed dozens of 774 on many different decks) for advise first, I would have told him to demand that they to put 'his' 774 on the Linn ASAP.

Regardless, he subsequently brought his Linn back home with an Ortofon MC200U on the Basik(!) and was happy to sell the Grace to me for 50 bucks. I ran that F9E (first on Thorens TD-166 MkII/TP11 Mk III, and then on Mission 775S/774) for many years before treated it to a new stylus just shortly before the brand sadly disappeared for good.

In the dealer's defence, apparently they did try to persuade him to go for a slightly different form of zing/edge via LVII but he wouldn't budge.
 
Well I was going to post some pics of me enjoying the LP12 with the 774 fitted, but some complete bodging, brainless twunt has made a mess of the arm pillar bolt.

Looks like they somehow managed to lose the original allen bolt and replaced it with a philips screw and then mangled the head because they can't get sufficient purchase on it with a driver to pinch the arm. You can see the witness marks on the arm mounting plate where they've took the paint off with whatever driver they tried to use to tighten it up, or more likely a butter knife or whatever they had in the cutlery drawer. I wish incompetent people wouldn't try and fix things beyond their capabilities.



Does anyone know off the top of their head what thread size this bolt is? I would say from experience and looking at it that it's M3, I'll get some cap head allen bolts ordered.

It was all going so well- Alphason removed, armboard swapped, suspension set, fresh bearing oil etc. I even dressed up the holes through the head shell end that were a mess, so as to accept some countersunk cartridge bolts to make it look a bit nicer. Best laid plans and all that...



 
Standard counterweight with a lump of brass attached for use with heavier carts apparently, which is also causing me grief because the Benz isn't heavy enough to balance it :rolleyes:

All the other bolts are metric so I'm just assuming the arm pillar one is too.

Should have just kept my bloody mint one in the first place.
 
That's a shame Matt, was looking forward to hearing how it sounded on the LP12 compared to the Thorens. Hopefully someone here will know the size, if not I'll take the bolt out of mine and measure it.
 
For what they cost I just ordered a few M3 allen bolts so hopefully not too long to wait. Thanks for the offer.
 
My experience of the 774 is that they used BA bolts.
PS
The heads of the cap bolts for mounting the socket should be underneath.
Just taken mine apart and thread dia is 2.86mm,thread length is 8mm,hex key is 2.4mm.
M3!
 
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My experience of the 774 is that they used BA bolts.
PS
The heads of the cap bolts for mounting the socket should be underneath.
Just taken mine apart and thread dia is 2.86mm,thread length is 8mm,hex key is 2.4mm.
M3!

Thanks.

Those two bolts for the socket were like that when it came, I bet they're the wrong bolts as they have nuts underneath.
 
Take the armtube out and the counterweight off while you are wrestling with it.
Will make it much easier to handle and less liable for damage.
I have had one for 10+ years ,fortunately it was mechanically decent but electrically wanting when I bought it.
 
One little victory.

Cotton bud, Acetone and the grip of Garth managed to get them apart.

If that weight is useful to anyone before I bin it then give me a shout.

 
Good riddance.
Although I do use accessory counterweight rings myself (official ones) a 15g and 30g.
What state is the sorbothane in?
Has it detached at all?
 


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