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Tiger Paw Tranquility

suzywong

Wot, no electrons?
I've picked up a s/h Tranq from eBay, and fitted it this afternoon on my pre-Cirkus (white liner) bearing, following Flatpopely's comprehensive instructions on Audioflat.

I noticed that the upper disc is not a tight fit around the central "land". The O-ring is in place so the upper disc does not immediately fall off when refitting the inner platter, it just needs a bit of care when lowering the inner platter into the bearing.

Therefore my question is "Should it be a tight fit, and if so do I need a new O-ring?"

Cheers
 
As long as it holds it in place while you lover it on...it has done its job
Just enjoy the improvement...I thought mine was brilliant!!
 
i was hoping that would be the case. Presumably, once in position, the strength of the magnets and the mass of the platter will hold everything together.

sounds pretty good though.
 
Curiosity speaking now - online instructions just say to place one part on the top plate and the other on the sub/inner-platter, but there is a large threaded insert in the central hole in one part - what does that do/where does it go?
 
Curiosity speaking now - online instructions just say to place one part on the top plate and the other on the sub/inner-platter, but there is a large threaded insert in the central hole in one part - what does that do/where does it go?

AIUI, the idea is to get the gap between upper and lower discs to be as small as possible without the two rings touching. This will provide the maximum amount of repulsion between the "fixed" lower disc, and the "floating" upper floating (OK I, know it doesn't actually float). So the screw thread on the lower assembly allows adjustment of the height of the lower disc.
 
AIUI, the idea is to get the gap between upper and lower discs to be as small as possible without the two rings touching. This will provide the maximum amount of repulsion between the "fixed" lower disc, and the "floating" upper floating (OK I, know it doesn't actually float). So the screw thread on the lower assembly allows adjustment of the height of the lower disc.

So, what's the verdict then? I had half a mind to get one myself, especially after reading @hifiaf 's review here.
 
Thanks.
I am curious, I have to admit, especially as the "super-high-fidelity" of my laptop produced no audible difference between with and without on the link provided by @wylton.
I am also curious about the claimed 90% reduction in fiction, which I suspect is pure fantasy, unless that is artistic license and refers purely to the tip of the spindle. Measuring that would be simple enough as it would just mean measuring the up-force from the magnets - actually rather easy, if a faff, to do.

I suspect that it would be rather trivial, but the motor must be doing more work as a whole load of magnetic flux is constantly being cut, which is the same principle as a motor/dynamo, and that costs energy.

Worth the money? Major change? I'd like to know, but after using 3 tiny pieces of sorbothane rather than a platter mat and being astounded at the change in sound, it would have to be totally amazing to beat that.
 
So, what's the verdict then? I had half a mind to get one myself, especially after reading @hifiaf 's review here.

Short answer, as I've only played a couple of tracks, is definitely favourable, and yes, I used "Dreams" like Andrew...also "Brothers in Arms". I need to spend more time with it, but have been instructed to paint the main bedroom.........

I should note that I have a pre-Cirkus bearing which may skew things slightly.

Interestingly, there's a good few coming onto the market (fleaBay) at around the two hundred mark. I assume that "everyone" is "upgrading" to the Karousel; which is probably the reason why Peter in Leicester also has a goodly number of pre-loved Cirkus bearings.....tempting! (is Leicester in Lockdown?)

So in short. "a promising start". There is definitely life in my Ole Fruitbox!
 
Leicester remains in lockdown but Cymbiosis is quite some way outside of Leicester, sort of in Brooksby, a short way off the Melton road.

Yeah, but coming up from the south coast, it would be nice to hit the Golden Mile for a couple of hours.......bl00dy virus!
 
I believe the 90% figure comes from a simple estimation of the reduced vertical spindle load, as opposed to a full consideration or tip friction and viscous shear in the oil layer etc. Its just lazy copywriting.
 
Thanks.
I am curious, I have to admit, especially as the "super-high-fidelity" of my laptop produced no audible difference between with and without on the link provided by @wylton.
I am also curious about the claimed 90% reduction in fiction, which I suspect is pure fantasy, unless that is artistic license and refers purely to the tip of the spindle. Measuring that would be simple enough as it would just mean measuring the up-force from the magnets - actually rather easy, if a faff, to do.

I suspect that it would be rather trivial, but the motor must be doing more work as a whole load of magnetic flux is constantly being cut, which is the same principle as a motor/dynamo, and that costs energy.

Worth the money? Major change? I'd like to know, but after using 3 tiny pieces of sorbothane rather than a platter mat and being astounded at the change in sound, it would have to be totally amazing to beat that.
Hi, I really liked mine with a Cirkus. Moved onto Karousel, which it doesn’t fit, unfortunately. I never really worried about bearing wear, it was more a SQ improvement that I was looking for, my ears, my room, my system, I thought it a definite lift over the standard Cirkus.
 
I need to spend more time with it, but have been instructed to paint the main bedroom.........

Paint the bedroom? Where are your priorities!!

I am curious, I have to admit, especially as the "super-high-fidelity" of my laptop produced no audible difference between with and without on the link provided by @wylton.

I'm reluctant to comment too much on the sound files, because I'm not convinced that they are a true representation of the actual sound from the deck; certainly, in my case, I played the files from my laptop, through the DAC and they weren’t as good as playing the track on my LP12. I mentioned elsewhere, that I tried the Norton AirPower against the Lingo and that was a bigger improvement.

Reducing the load on the bearing though, would seem like a good idea and it has been mentioned that the sudden availability of low mileage Cirkus bearings is another good opportunity too. I might not be able to resist trying one (the Tranquility that is).
 
Reducing the load on the bearing though, would seem like a good idea

Totally sound (pardon pun) logic - can't argue with that at all.

As for the sound files - basically, I got what I expected, to be honest, IOW, nothing of use nor ornament.

If I do buy one (even given that I have VERY recently moved to a Hyperspace, which I much prefer), I'll try to measure the uplift - not tricky to do, but I don't know how easy without it in my hands.
Probably easier actually on an LP12, but align the parts, which may need a bodge/aligment tool of some kind, then place three spacers on the top surface of the lower magnetic part - three pieces of paper would do - 3-4 thou. Then just evenly load the top of the top mag' plate (that would normally be attached to the inner platter), until the paper JUST gets trapped. As friction is simply load multiplied by mu (coefficient of friction), the reduction in friction will be the ratio of load applied to total mass of the platter, PLUS the top magnetic plate, to a VERY good approximation.
 
How do you tell mileage of a bearing that could be up to 27 years old?

Apart from serial numbers, which LP12 bearings do not have, you can't except within limits of the the design changes.
The thrust plate is tricky to inspect and should be blemish-free if it has been lubricated. The point of the spindle is soft and is extremely easily polished free of all marks, unless VERY seriously abused, with Brasso or suchlike.
 


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