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Systemdek III with unknown Hadcock GH tonearm - how to identify?

Dowser

Dowser

Learning to bodge again..
Hi All

Picked this Systemdek III up recently for an OK price;

https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/dunlop-systemdek-iii-1073391870/

Anyone know how to identify which arm it is in the Hadcock range? It was purchased new in 1982, so an earlier model. It came with 2 armwands - one all black with a smaller counterweight (fitted in the pictures above), the other wand has a heavier chrome counterweight, plus there is no allen screw in the top cover of unipivot (and that is also chrome).

I get some photos up later, but want to listen to it first :)

Thanks, Richard
 
Hadcock arms seem to have got loads of different IDs but so far as I am aware, they are all very similar and use the same bearing principle of a pin into ball bearings.

I have to say that I have not run a comparison of mine against an ARO, but, put it this way, I suspect that the differences in value/price do not reflect how they sound. I must run one against the other...………………. and perhaps/probably sell the ARO...………………………..

They have a reputation for being awkward to set up but if you have a logical, engineering background and a little time, they are far from as bad as publicity suggests. The reputation is a consequence of the arms being adjustable beyond the requirements of any and all turntables.
 
It's a Hadcock GH 228. The arm itself would go for more than £200 - so you've got a bargain. Nice TT too.

The GH 228 is not very early - my 228 is 1970s vintage with a single cable run to the RCA plugs. From the early 80s onwards, they came with the small red block, so that you could change armtubes.
 
Thanks All

On the English deck thing - yes, especially as the packing he took it out of for the photos had “made in Scotland” plastered all over it. In his defence foreigners get pretty confused about England and Britain, & Great Britain...& UK :)

Deck sounds good after cleaning stylus and checking tracking force. I think I’ll give it a full setup and mount one of my Asakas to try. Photos then.
 
Some of our English cousins have the same problem, I recently heard one talking on the telly about the "English" Prime Minister.

As proud British Scot it bugs me that English sporting teams use the British National Anthem
 
cctaylor said:
Some of our English cousins have the same problem, I recently heard one talking on the telly about the "English" Prime Minister.

As proud British Scot it bugs me that English sporting teams use the British National Anthem
Click to expand...

I sometimes wonder if the UK/Britain/England (and or Scotland/Wales) thing is just a ploy to keep 'Johnny foreigner' off kilter so they don't know who they are dealing with.
 
cctaylor said:
Some of our English cousins have the same problem, I recently heard one talking on the telly about the "English" Prime Minister.

As proud British Scot it bugs me that English sporting teams use the British National Anthem
Click to expand...

There is, of course, the slight problem for the Scots of verse 6 - but this is getting way off topic.
 
Snufkin said:
I sometimes wonder if the UK/Britain/England (and or Scotland/Wales) thing is just a ploy to keep 'Johnny foreigner' off kilter so they don't know who they are dealing with.
Click to expand...

Hehe - given the Brexit debacle, Johnny Foreigner knows exactly who they are dealing with...a bunch of bloody idiots :D
 
narabdela said:
False advertising there! Your link describes it as an 'English' deck.

It's Scottish! :mad:
Click to expand...
Yes, Troon, Ayrshire to be precise. Although, for a while is was Duncol Ltd. Irvine.

One thing I always though cool was that the biscuit tin Systemdek II had the same chassis and motor/drive bits within. It is as though the late Peter Dunlop had planned to do an entry level round plinth version right from the off.

It is worth noting is that, as recently as 2014, there were signs that sons Derek and Ramsay were keeping the Systemdek brand going with some rather high end looking decks.

http://www.systemdek.co.uk/
 
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I bought a GH228 in the summer of 1978 for a pricely sum of 49.95 UKP. Later on I had some problems with the internal wiring, and Hadcock upgraded it to the GH228E (using internal Litz wire) for about 5 UKP including return postage. I tried swapping it out for a SME 3009 II one day, but the SME was obviously more colored than the Hadcock. It took a Syrinx PU2 at over 4x the price to significantly improve in the GH228.

topoxforddoc said:
It's a Hadcock GH 228. The arm itself would go for more than £200 - so you've got a bargain. Nice TT too.

The GH 228 is not very early - my 228 is 1970s vintage with a single cable run to the RCA plugs. From the early 80s onwards, they came with the small red block, so that you could change armtubes.
Click to expand...
 
Bought a Thorens TD 160 with a Hadcock arm and Entre 1 cartridge from KJ Leisuresound in Fleet St around 1978. After breaking 2 Emtre 1's I decided the Hadcock was too much of a liability mounted on the Thorens (I don't think my intake of booze & weed helped!) It was a bugger to set up so I replaced it with a more robust Rega 200 arm.
 
Long delay, but I just listened again (before putting another new Sony PS-X60 acquisition into the system), and noticed azimuth was off - not sure how I am supposed to do it, but I just twisted the low slung counterweight a bit to correct it :) Image much better now, but still a bit bright to my ears, maybe the Sumiko Bluepoint 2?
 
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