mmcnult1
Rock luva!!!
Hi, im afraid you get me totally wrong, I absolutely DO love the Cranfield Rock. In fact I.love the Rocks in all their forms, and scarcity doesn't worry me at all - I have rebuilt and have here the Cranfield prototype used to demonstrate the Rocks abilities way back in the late 70's - it doesn't get much scarcer than that - it's a one-off, and most people don't even know (because they haven't seen it, let alone had it all apart like I have) that it was direct drive, not belt drive and actually has that (bought by Garrard) bearing!....ALL Rocks, (apart possibly from the 2, I guess, are scarce). But the Cranfield Rock, unfortunately, was hampered with issues which are well known about and were reported at the time, with wow and flutter issues - down in my opinion possibly more to poor QC in manufacturing, than anything else. The bearings were prone to seizing when they got warm due to issues with the tolerances, and the motors, despite yours not burning out, did, due to getting hot from the seizing bearings. Even if they didn't, temperature effected the speed! You may well have gotten lucky, but pretty much 95% of all Cranfields that come to me have problems of some sort with either the motor or bearing (normally both!). I know of 6 or 7 out there that are still running though. Nonetheless, It's well written and understood that the build quality was 'heavy duty', and I know all about the 'massive', 'dense' materials involved, but the build wasn't consistent and the project, which Max sponsored very nearly went bankrupt! Max made the first batch of Rock 2's with what was left. That's exactly why the deck was paired down to make the Rock 2, because basically they'd lost all the money and needed to recover it!! Max was always thankful to all involved and always credited Jack, his students and John Bugge, (who developed the Excalibur) and they remained friends right until the end, as do i - its been a passion of mine virtually my whole life! ...Hence, Max took over and redesigned/made the Rock 2 because it was simpler to make, always with Jack and his students original design premise in mind and often Jacks help. That's exactly why Max revisited the original style arm much later on towards the end of Rock 7 production. I have here both a late version and the original version on the Cranfield prototype. I actually also have here Jacks original patent application documentation for not only the hydro bearing design but also the trough design, (which includes details never actually used in any production Rocks) and a later one from both Max and Jack in the late 80's. This was for the Excalibur arm that compensates for tracking as it traverses the record which Max had working on the Rock Reference Master and of which the prototype, remains at the factory to this day, Max revisiting it from time to time with more modern tech, right up until his untimely passing. Back to the Cranfield Rock, and I'm really pleased yours still works, I'd love to see pictures and hear it one day. The sole reason I don't recommend them (accept to the very committed) is that they often fetch large sums of money but still require lots of work, which is fine if you are a hobbyist and have access to the equipment needed to refurb them and are able to do it yourself. Otherwise, it's a lot of money for a non-working turntable, a lot of the time and at that point a Rock 2 is much easier to recommend to someone who just wants to listen rather than fettle, not only due to its ease of repair, but because of its abundance, spares are available, as well as it using the more simple, still possible to get hold of, ubiquitous Airpax motor - no, its not the best but it does have longevity and with a decent psu behind it and the Rock bearing sounds fine. It's also been a long long time since I saw a fully standard Cranfield with an Excalibur and all it's correct parts, but I'm sure there's some still out there - at least I hope so. I hope that clarifies the fact that I don't dislike it at all!!!
