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Ittok bearing and cable service, Audio Origami?

Pine Marten

Pine Marten

pfm Member
Have been contemplating this for my 30year old Ittok. After reading up and doing some tests, I'm certain the lateral bearings at least are past their best, The nudge test and lateral push with thin paper strip test show some friction with a couple of slightly worse stiction points on the arm in free balance. The arm shows no physical symptoms when playing, Denon DL110 at 1.8g, no groove sticking, jumping or obvious mistracking distortion. The arm has never been subject to undue physical shock, knocks or gorilla arm bolt tightening. I'm going to contact Audio Origami with these symptoms for his take on it. Any fellow Fishies had similar work done, not just on Ittok arms btw. Apart from the obvious physical improvement in arm motion, will new more close tolerance bearings give a noticable improvement in sonic performance? What about the internal rewire? Foam fill or not?
Many thanks.
 
Can't comment directly on the bearing reconditioning,but if anyone can do it,J7 is your man.
I have had several pieces of work carried out by John, including an Ikeda rewire on my Ittok. Check out my comments on his website.
His work is superb and his PU7 was voted best arm of the year 2007.
Need I say more.
Speak to him and judge for yourself.
 
Defiantly send to Johnnie at Audio Origami, j7 on here.

I would consider a rewire, he did a wonderful job on mine with silver IKEDA but also does a Cardas option, both a big improvement.

Top man to deal with, not much he doesn't know about tonearms.
 
I'll give a big thumbs up for Linn. They replaced the bearings in my ekos and brought it up to mk 2 spec all for £300. Been perfect ever since.
 
I don't think Linn support the Ittok for spare parts anymore, but its got to be worth a call. J7 would be my first choice. He gives a Great service.
 
I don't think the Ittok was ever intended to be serviced. I think it was made in Japan and some parts glued together unlike the Ekos. Audio Origami however do service them and have a very good reputation. From what I've heard they can select bearings that will be better than the originals.
 
forester said:
I don't think the Ittok was ever intended to be serviced. I think it was made in Japan and some parts glued together unlike the Ekos. Audio Origami however do service them and have a very good reputation. From what I've heard they can select bearings that will be better than the originals.
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Yes, which is why I would expect AO to do a better/more thorough job than Linn if it needs any more than wiping over with a rag and given a blessing.
 
Was there something (An internal spring iirc?) about the counterweight on the ittok which could be damaged by over-winding it?
 
paulski said:
Do they still do this for the MkI Ekos?
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No. They stopped doing it some years ago. Mine was one of the very last to get the upgrade done and that must have been five years ago at least.
They do still repair the Ekos though, I believe.

Mick
 
Another happy customer, J7 re-wired my 1210 arm some time ago. Great service, I needed it done quickly and despite being extremely busy his turnaround time was IIRC about a week. I was impressed that he didn't try to sell me anything I didn't need. He gave a clear rundown of the prices for the options, and even when I suggested work that 'might' need doing (the arm lift for example) he checked it and was honest enough to say that it was in fact fine. Top job too. As for the re-wire, it did make a difference, though AT cartridges require low capacitance cable and the new cable measures lower than the old, so I'd imagine that played a major part. The cable in the Technics arm is known to go bad, and Technics themselves replaced it in the M5G which was part of my reasoning for having it done - that and a couple of dodgy connection issues. The bearings and anti-skate were checked (included in the price), and though I did ask J7 didn't think the foam was required. I believe good bearings will make a sonic improvement, the stylus is measuring vibration after all and it's important that it track as accurately as possible.
 
Johnnie has done extensive work on an Ittok and an SME V for me. Exceptional standards. He is also hugely knowledgable and helpful if you want advice on your arm.
 
When I asked John re. Fitting the super bearings he offers for Rega 250 arms to my Ittok LVIII, he said no point: Linn don't skimp on the quality of their bearings. Elsewhere maybe but not the bearings. Maybe yours had been mistreated.
 
My Ittok had never been out of my sight in its 30 years, but J7 felt the bearings needed replacing...which was fine by me. Never been mistreated, but I think the replacements are of equivalent quality.
 
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