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Valhalla Electronics Zeus LP12 controller

Zombie said:
After using the outboard Zeus I must conclude that I am satisfied. It has definitely cleaned up the bass from the Troika, which was a bit "boomy" earlier, and it has become tighter.
The general impressions I get is a calmer presentation, but above all it has become more fun to play vinyl.
And the time counter is a neat feature to keep track of how much that cartrigde has actually been used.
Add Steve's prompt feedback to my questions and the 30 day no fuzz return policy, it's worthwhile to give Zeus a try and I think you won't be disappointed.
End of happy bunny rant.
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Equally pleased with my External Zeus. 16 months in and it has been faultless. Very pleased that I chose it instead of a Lingo 4 along with the massive monetary saving of course.
 
Mr Pig said:
I've actually just bought a used Minos PSU. Not because I particularly wanted that PSU but I saw someone selling one only a couple of months old so I went for it. The good thing is that I can swap it with the Majik supply without changing anything else so I'll get a good idea if what the difference is.

From what I can see the Minos is exactly the same as the Zeus without some of the advanced features so I would expect performance to be similar. Be nice to have two speeds and the switch isn't too bad. Still prefer the plastic one, might change that.
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The Minos is fully upgradeable to the Zeus at any point. Steve at Valhalla Electronics can supply the additional components to upgrade it should you ever wish to do so. The Minos is the very same PSU board as the Zeus, it just lacks the speed sensor, a different switch and a few other features. Look forward to your thoughts on the Minos in due course.
 
@Zombie
@Alun Rains

Guys, thank you so much for the great feedback on your ZEUS AC Motor Speed control systems.

Have either of you have had a play with the PHASE / VOLTAGE /FREQUENCY options on the ZEUS at all?

If so, any feedback?

Also, has either of you had any experience with a DC turntable motor?

Hoping you might be able to provide some helpful comparisons.?
 
SONDEKNZ said:
@Zombie
@Alun Rains

Guys, thank you so much for the great feedback on your ZEUS AC Motor Speed control systems.

Have either of you have had a play with the PHASE / VOLTAGE /FREQUENCY options on the ZEUS at all?

If so, any feedback?

Also, has either of you had any experience with a DC turntable motor?

Hoping you might be able to provide some helpful comparisons.?
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With Steve's help at the outset. we did play with the phase angle adjustment after first installing it. Can't recall exactly what we did to be fair. Haven't played with other options though. Steve will help you if you need assistance I am sure.

Haven't used the Zeus with a DC motor only an AC motor
 
Alun Rains said:
With Steve's help at the outset. we did play with the phase angle adjustment after first installing it. Can't recall exactly what we did to be fair. Haven't played with other options though. Steve will help you if you need assistance I am sure.

Haven't used the Zeus with a DC motor only an AC motor
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Thanks Alun.

The ZEUS is specifically designed for AC motor, so I'm NOT suggesting you try it with a DC motor. BEWARE!!!

I thought you may have had previous experience with another type of motor drive system before the ZEUS, to compare to the ZEUS.

I currently run a DC motor and find that DC motors have a certain way with the LP12 - very good sound - but they are not perfect. DC motors take a lot more effort to maintain speed stability.

...Hence my interest in the ZEUS!
 
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Zombie said:
I got a stethoscope but couldn't set anything really. Thinking I'd put the cartridge on the top platter instead and increase the volume :)
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Zombie, I too use a stethoscope when I'm doing important set-up tasks - like how best to mount the motor on the top-plate.

The stethoscope quickly reveals when there is a change in the amount of vibration.

That said, I consider clever mounting of the LP12 motor to be absolutely make-or-break for good sound, even on the highest spec LP12. Get it wrong and the sound is unbearable!
 
Zombie said:
So what is clever mounting of the LP12 motor? Mine just sits there
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If only it was that simple! :D

If your LP12 motor has just been "plonked" there, chances are you are in for some very big improvements in sound quality - if you can be bothered fettling.

On an LP12, the ideal motor mounting method meets the following requirements: -
  1. (Obviously) It places the pulley at exactly the right height to reliably feed the belt to and from the sub-platter;
  2. It allows tension of the (possibly worn or stretched) belt to be optimally adjusted to avoid both adhesion and slippage;
  3. It maintains the same plane of operation as the sub-platter, to ensure that the motor pulley and belt are not scraping and wandering;
  4. It minimises motor vibrations passing to the top-plate; and
  5. It ensures absolutely rigid fixing to the top-plate to continue meeting all of the above requirements.
Meeting BOTH items 4 and 5 is the real talent. They are critical.

One useful tip I picked up, was to invert the outer-platter - fit it upside-down - which enables me to run the LP12 under normal load, to still see how the motor pulley and belt are getting along.

If you want to read a bit more about how all this works, the following blog is excellent.

http://korfaudio.com/blog93
 
SONDEKNZ said:
On an LP12, the ideal motor mounting method meets the following requirements: -
  1. (Obviously) It places the pulley at exactly the right height to reliably feed the belt to and from the sub-platter;
  2. It allows tension of the (possibly worn or stretched) belt to be optimally adjusted to avoid both adhesion and slippage;
  3. It maintains the same plane of operation as the sub-platter, to ensure that the motor pulley and belt are not scraping and wandering;
  4. It minimises motor vibrations passing to the top-plate; and
  5. It ensures absolutely rigid fixing to the top-plate to continue meeting all of the above requirements.
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1. How do you adjust the height of the motor when mounted with the standard dome washers?

2. How do you adjust the belt tension?

3. How do you adjust the 'plane of operation' interdependently of speed adjustment?

4. How do you minimize motor vibration passing to the top-plate?

We are talking about the LP12 here?
 
SONDEKNZ said:
Thanks Alun.

The ZEUS is specifically designed for AC motor, so I'm NOT suggesting you try it with a DC motor. BEWARE!!!

I thought you may have had previous experience with another type of motor drive system before the ZEUS, to compare to the ZEUS.

I currently run a DC motor and find that DC motors have a certain way with the LP12 - very good sound - but they are not perfect. DC motors take a lot more effort to maintain speed stability.

...Hence my interest in the ZEUS!
Click to expand...

Thanks…
 
Mr Pig said:
1. How do you adjust the height of the motor when mounted with the standard dome washers?
2. How do you adjust the belt tension?
3. How do you adjust the 'plane of operation' interdependently of speed adjustment?
4. How do you minimize motor vibration passing to the top-plate?

We are talking about the LP12 here?
Click to expand...


Yes, we are talking about an LP12 here.

Worth noting that I run an ORIGIN LIVE ADVANCED DC Motor Kit with my LP12 so some of the items below would not be considered "LINN Standard", but for the purposes of this ZEUS-focused thread, there are many useful parallels.

All of the following can apply to an AC motor and a DC motor equally.

1. How do you adjust the height of the motor when mounted with the standard dome washers?
I don't use standard dome washers.

2. How do you adjust the belt tension?
An ORIGIN LIVE mounting plate between the motor and the top-plate offers some travel on one of the (two) points where the motor flange is bolted. This allows for quite a degree of motor and belt tension adjustment. For best sound, the belt must be only just tight enough to NOT fall of the sub-platter pulley; no tighter. The extra-elastic BLUE SILICONE BELT makes this task easy.
rectangular-plate.jpg


3. How do you adjust the 'plane of operation' interdependently of speed adjustment?
Motor needs to be perfectly aligned with top-plate. No motor tilt at all.
This is a ZEUS-focused thread, so speed is then optimised with the ZEUS speed control - or in my case, ORIGIN LIVE DC speed control.

4. How do you minimize motor vibration passing to the top-plate?
There are various ways available using gaskets and vibration absorbing materials to sit between the top-plate and the motor flange. PTFE and POM are both materials that provide very good rigidity, whilst limiting the transfer of vibration.
 
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SONDEKNZ said:
Yes, we are talking about an LP12 here.
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OK, well none of your advice applies to the LP12 in its standard form.

1. You can't adjust the height of the motor and no height adjustment is necessary or beneficial. As long as the belt clears the belt-guide, you're good. Having it slightly higher or lower will make zero difference.

2. There isn't and meaningful provision for altering the belt tension and, considering that the sub-platter is free to float around on springs, the very idea is a bit silly. The Origin Live DC kit is not a common Linn modification and not at all universally liked. I've probably seen as many people not like it as like it so I don't see how general advice can use it as an accepted norm.

3. You cannot run the standard LP12 AC pulley set parallel to the top-plate. It will not work and if you somehow managed to get it to work it would be wrong. The pulley is not designed to work that way. A pulley on an DC system might be but the Zeus isn't.

4. You can't use a damping pad between the standard AC motor and the top-plate, you need to be able to accurately tilt the motor. Again, this might be something you can do with an AC motor but it's not generally applicable advice and I don't see how you can separate out the effects of this and the effects of a complacently different drive system.

Sorry being a bit pedantic but I'm conscious of the fact that people who don't know much about the LP12 might read this and think they should maybe be trying to do this stuff when non of it is applicable to the LP12 in its standard form.
 
Mr Pig said:
OK, well none of your advice applies to the LP12 in its standard form.

1. You can't adjust the height of the motor and no height adjustment is necessary or beneficial. As long as the belt clears the belt-guide, you're good. Having it slightly higher or lower will make zero difference.

2. There isn't and meaningful provision for altering the belt tension and, considering that the sub-platter is free to float around on springs, the very idea is a bit silly. The Origin Live DC kit is not a common Linn modification and not at all universally liked. I've probably seen as many people not like it as like it so I don't see how general advice can use it as an accepted norm.

3. You cannot run the standard LP12 AC pulley set parallel to the top-plate. It will not work and if you somehow managed to get it to work it would be wrong. The pulley is not designed to work that way. A pulley on an DC system might be but the Zeus isn't.

4. You can't use a damping pad between the standard AC motor and the top-plate, you need to be able to accurately tilt the motor. Again, this might be something you can do with an AC motor but it's not generally applicable advice and I don't see how you can separate out the effects of this and the effects of a complacently different drive system.

Sorry being a bit pedantic but I'm conscious of the fact that people who don't know much about the LP12 might read this and think they should maybe be trying to do this stuff when non of it is applicable to the LP12 in its standard form.
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MR PIG, it is obvious you and I totally disagree on this stuff and I don’t really mind.

Frankly, I just can’t be bothered slugging it out with you.

Those that want to poke their heads out of the hole and take some value from what I have shared above, will freely do so.

Meanwhile I think that you need to ask yourself why you are preaching adherence to “LINN Standard Procedures” on a thread that is so clearly devoted to discussing and evaluating a non-LINN, third-party drive train solution for the LP12.
 
SONDEKNZ said:
Meanwhile I think that you need to ask yourself why you are preaching adherence to “LINN Standard Procedures”...
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The thread is about the Zeus power supply and pretty much none of your advice will work with it, or any AC motor supply, and most of it only applies to specific aftermarket situations. The fact that you advised mounting the pulley with no tilt and adjusting the speed with the Zeus frankly shows that you don't know what you're talking about. You gave the impression that is was general advice when most of it is simply how you would correctly mount a specific aftermarket DC motor.

And as such, you can't separate the effects of mounting a motor this way and the effects of the completely different drive system you've just fitted. So you can't say these motor mounting procedure are key to getting a good sound.

If you want to recommend people try a DC motor kit that's fine but none of what you said is good advice for general LP12 motor mounting.
 
I think some one up thread mentioned the stability of piano notes that comes with the Zeus (could have been the thread about John R's InSoles, but I'm not counting). I still can't get over how good my LP12 sounds with this PSU. Mine is only the DIYAudio version, but it really is fabulous, no wavering notes, solid musical transients, brilliant musical timing.

About six months in and I'm enjoying vinyl more and more...
 
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