[78-L] TURNING THE TABLES, (was New Cheap Turntable

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JD" <jackson1932 at cfl.rr.com>
> As there has been much discussion here of late about cheaper and/or "DJ" 
> type turntables  I offer my less than ideal and rather disappointing 
> experience with one, not too long ago.
> A few years ago  I decided to try one of the so-called "DJ" three speed 
> turntables in order  to be able to utilize a single turntable with 
> variable speed for my LPs & 78s. The one I chose was an obvious copy of 
> the costly and industry standard Panasonic (model  1200 I believe). It 
> was, at the time one of the few and possibly one of the first of the 
> Panasonic clones. Curious as to whether it might actually be manufactured 
> by Panasonic as a stencil brand  I asked the US office of the manufacturer 
> and was told that it wasn't. I had some reservations but considering that 
> this might be the ideal turntable for my requirements if it performed well 
> I purchsed one from a local  authorized dealer with the understanding that 
> I could return it if dissatisfied.   As it turned out this was a fortunate 
> decision. Lest I upset the manufacturer and possibly leave myself open to 
> who knows what and maybe upset any owners of this brand I won't identify 
> the name other than to say that its models h
> ave been mentioned here often among the various other similar turntable 
> brands and have apparently  become quite popular.  Also, I'm not trying to 
> make any owners of this brand unhappy; chances are that if they own one 
> they're satisfied or oblivious of any problems I mention which hopefully 
> have since been corrected.
> As I unpacked and set it up I was much impressed with the apparent quality 
> and heft of the thing. Playing LPs on it, unfortunately was quite another 
> story and revealed an array of GROSS problems.  One of the first LPs I 
> tried was  a classical Mercury Living Presence Stereo that began with 
> solo clarinet. I don't remember the disc or the piece, It just happened to 
> be the first LP I pulled from  the rack to play on the new turntable. As 
> probably everyone knows, those Mercury recordings are near legendary for 
> their audio fidelity. As the clarinet passage began  I was greeted with 
> what seemed a nvery obvious flutter effect. WHAT!!!??? This can't be! I 
> couldn't believe that any decent turntable of any vintage would exhibit 
> this level of flutter. It had to be something else.  I then played the 
> disc on both my turntables (a Technics SLQX 300 and an old Empire 108) 
> and the playback was flawless, as I expected. I concluded that the flutter 
> effect was of course, not flutter but more t
> han likely caused by some sort of arm resonance due to less than ideal 
> design. Let me add that I was using an excellent cartridge, properly 
> mounted and that I'm experienced enough in audio and music (a professional 
> in both) to know what I'm doing and certainly what I'm hearing. Further 
> listening revealed two more gems of problems; a very obvious and 
> disturbingly high rumble leve, even at moderate listening levelsl (most 
> unusual and truly inexcusable for a direct drive turntable) and a platter 
> that did not (repeat: DID NOT) rotate in a flat plane indicating that the 
> spindle might be canted or the platter  grossly defective (even more 
> inexcusable!).  Seeing the edge of the turntable (and the disc and arm) 
> rise and fall as it rotates is not something one expects to find in a 
> record player, not even the cheapest of the cheap..  Once again I called 
> the manufacturer and mentioned the platter problem. I was told that they 
> were aware of it but they didn't offer a fix or solution. I
> did not mention the arm-resonance effect as that would probably have been 
> a dead end unless I was able to speak with a design engineer and Ididn't 
> want to get inviolved any further in what appeared to be a lost cause. 
> with a turntable that I now realized should have been a Cracker Jacks 
> prize Of course  I returned it and vowed to cforever avoid this brand in 
> the future and to be very leery of so-called  "DJ" turntables or anything 
> that seems too well priced to  be true. In  later years I checked the 
> platter rotation of similar turntables (rotating them by hand)  at a Sam 
> Ash store display area and IIRC  also of this particular brand and found 
> them to rotate in a flat plane as they should. Without taking one home I 
> had and have no way of evaluating potential arm-resonance problems or 
> rumble levels so I decided to stay with my trusty and perfectly performing 
> older units which do not have "DJ" credentials and which were designed by 
> engineers who obviously knew what they were do
> ing and marketed by companies that still cared about their products. I 
> believe that in the early days, at least, these so-called 'DJ' turntables 
> were intended to attract DJ wannabes and space cadets, most of whom 
> wouldn't know a musical sound or quality audio reproduction if it bit them 
> in their proverbials.
> Bottom line; turntable and in particular, tone arm design is serious 
> science and there is plenty of room for fudging or screw-ups. For those 
> who are serious about aidio reproduction and can hear the difference, the 
> usual caution applies, caveat emptor!!!
>
Meanwhile, I am SERIOUSLY looking for fifties/sixties/(et al?) "record 
players" which
offer the "78" speed! You see, these usually use ceramic cartridges...whose 
output
signal is around 1 volt...meaning that I can redirect the cartridge output, 
using a
newly-installed "mini phono plug," into the "Line In jack of my sound card!

I did this for MANY years...I used a late-fifties RCA Victor "record player" 
(which
I found in the neighbourhood "trash!"), with the cartridge o/p fed into the 
"Lone
In" jack of a sixties Sony r2r deck (it functioned as the "heart" of my 
sound
system then...!).

I just bought the n8-3d diamond 3-mil 78 needle which I need, to play my
c. 56500 78's...!

All the lightweight players (tracking pressue c. 1 gram?!) have always
seemed to me to be MUCH better at picking up surface noise than
actual content...!!

Steven C. Barr