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Michell Synchro Turntable ..

beammeup

beammeup

pfm Member
.. anyone know much about this TT? From what I've gleaned on the Internet it was a turntable designed to be more affordable. I am asking because I have a chance to buy this one for £500 and wonder if it's worth it or not? Looks like it has a Rega arm - and I do like the look of it - but if it performs badly then I should give it a miss. See pics ...











 
In around 1990 I demoed the Synchro fully intending to buy it as it looked gorgeous however didn't as it sounded a bit boring and safe compared to the Rega Planar 3 I eventually bought, music had a bit more life to it with the Rega. The Linn Axis was slightly better, but I didn't think by much plus it was more expensive.
The Synchro is certainly a looker and would like to hear one again but can remember feeling disappointed about how it sounded.
 
Back in the 80s I had a demo of one of these against a Rega Planar 3. I wanted the Michell to sound better, even though it was more expensive. It looked the business and I also didn't care for the hype that surrounded the Rega at the time.

I left the shop with the Rega, it thoroughly trounced the Michell!
 
The Syncro is competitive amongst its peers but not outstanding. It is a visual treat though and the engineering is far superior.
If you can find one at a fair price the Mycro is the deck to have.
Another rare one is the Townshend Avalon which is also a stunner both aurally and visually.
 
Used to stock these where I worked back in the day. It looked very nice, was well made, but was decidedly average sonically. The Heybrook TT2 we also stocked and which was similar in price (just slightly more IIRC) would see it off and easily outsold it.
 
Lovely looking thing, but I always got the impression it was a Gyro without any of the clever bits or performance. If one can put looks on the back burner there are a lot of genuinely excellent decks that can be found for <£500, e.g. Logic DM101, Heybrook TT2 and for a lot less a nice Planar 3. Actually tons once one throws some nice Japanese direct drives and things like the various ARs into the mix. I suspect the Synchro would be beaten by the older Michell Focus One, which could be found for similar money I guess (it was pretty much a Transcriptors Ref with a conventional flat platter and often had a rather nice Michell unipivot arm).
 
OK thanks all once again - I guess £500 for a mediocre sounding deck is not a wise move despite the looks. i think when I was looking earlier around the net there are mods that lift the performance, then you can have both the looks and the sound I guess - and of course classic appeal.
 
If you like the looks, go for a Mycro. Its platter is made from the same material as the Gyros' of that time. With an RB300 and a G1042 you'll have a classic TT setup. Use a good opamp phono pre with active RIAA eq and proper termination for the cart and there'll be no boredom, I promise. :D
 
coredump said:
If you like the looks, go for a Mycro. Its platter is made from the same material as the Gyros'
Click to expand...

And its bearing is a scaled-down version of the Gyro/Orbe's.

If Michell still have parts they can transform a Syncro into a Mycro, but if you have to start with a 500 UKP Syncro (that is more than its last list price IIRC) this will be too expensive to be reasonable.
 
Just for kicks, here‘s mine. Bought new from a Michell dealer in the UK in the beginning of the 90ies, recently serviced (new belt, springs, bearing ball). It is in my 2nd system, but gets regular workouts.

Photo-2019-04-26-08-14.jpeg
 
I always found the Mycro gorgeous.

Back in the days Transrotor put a Gyro motor on a Syncro plinth and sold it under the name Murano at a stiff price.
 
We used to sell them back in the day, to people who wouldn't wait 6 months for a Rega Planar-3. We always had a couple of mods done to the Syncro to improve it.
 
hifi_dave said:
We used to sell them back in the day, to people who wouldn't wait 6 months for a Rega Planar-3. We always had a couple of mods done to the Syncro to improve it.
Click to expand...

Well I'm still serious about getting the Michell Syncro - now a possible £400 sale for me. hifi_dave, I like the look of it - if you can recommend some simple upgrades to get the performance levels up, to say, Rega Planar 3 levels at least (if possible) that would be great. There's a link here giving some hope: https://www.originlive.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/MichellSyncro-OL-MotorKitA.pdf <-- but that's probaby expensive.
 
In my experience you shouldn't touch the motor kit with a barge pole terrible things. It does prove one thing though - you can fool a lot of people all of the time.
 
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