[GessWurker]

Right. And I’m about to throw in the towel trying to get the volume of the leakage and reference tones to match exactly. Using a tiny bubble level so I could see what I was doing, I would go ever-so-slightly too far in one direction or the other adjusting the tonearm, hoping to hear a different result in the separation test. No dice. So far, the high-end rebuilt cart I got from AO hasn’t worked out how I hoped. Maybe it’s not a good match for my 1700; maybe the table has other issues; maybe I’ve done something not quite right; I’m really not sure. I’ve adjusted anti skate more than I care to admit. All that being said, true statement: I got better results across the board with the old MMC20EN that came with the table. But… I have no idea what kind of wear the stylus has or what state the suspension is in. That said, yesterday I sent the MMC20EN that came with the table to SoundSmith for evaluation and potential rebuild. Crossing fingers I’ll make it to the promised land.

 

Ah… found an interesting germane comment from Peter Ledermann, at least with regard to his cartridges:

‘…if one channel is always much better in terms of less crosstalk than the other; tune the azimuth by using the worse of the two channels. Again, the best way to tune the “worst” channel is to find the point where the crosstalk “just” becomes minimized and go no farther. Verify that the other channel is still better in that it has less crosstalk. If you NOW FIND that you have NOT gone more than a tiny bit off the neutral position to do this, you have probably hit the best azimuth.

If you find you are way off neutral, that is wrong, and you must start over.’

[GessWurker]

I’ve also got an Azimuth grid.

[GessWurker]

I have a test record.

[GessWurker]

And next up, I’d like to adjust tonearm parallelism. I’ve got the manual but haven’t figured out where the adjustment screws are. Can somebody tell me?

Ah. A repairman clued me in. All good. Need to loosen the circled bit. Then you can gently (and very carefully) adjust the tonearm as necessary.

[GessWurker]

Yes. Fortunately, speed is easily adjusted.

Below are the w/f results logged after belt replacement. I can live with (more of less) .2 w/f.

3151.8 0.0778 0.1964
3144.6 0.0807 0.1964
3154.6 0.0900 0.1964
3143.2 0.0892 0.1964
3154.0 0.0756 0.1939
3144.8 0.0867 0.1939
3151.3 0.0916 0.1939
3147.4 0.0536 0.1939
3148.6 0.0894 0.1939
3150.6 0.0744 0.1806
3145.5 0.0745 0.1794
3153.0 0.0949 0.2078
3144.4 0.0751 0.2078
3152.4 0.0763 0.2078
3146.1 0.0881 0.2078
3149.5 0.0940 0.2078
3149.2 0.0986 0.2078
3146.6 0.1020 0.2078
3152.1 0.0776 0.2078
3143.7 0.0950 0.2211
3154.8 0.0821 0.2211
3142.3 0.0874 0.2211
3154.3 0.0866 0.2211
3144.1 0.0921 0.2211
3151.5 0.0708 0.2211
3147.1 0.1084 0.2211
3148.4 0.0633 0.2211
3150.3 0.0677 0.2211
3145.6 0.0896 0.2211
3152.6 0.0663 0.1921
3144.3 0.0804 0.1921
3152.0 0.0825 0.1921
3146.1 0.0695 0.1921
3149.0 0.0769 0.1860
3149.1 0.0931 0.1860
3146.3 0.0766 0.1810
3152.5 0.0903 0.1810
3143.2 0.0972 0.1829
3154.6 0.0676 0.1829
3141.9 0.1019 0.1930
3154.3 0.0645 0.1930
3143.8 0.0889 0.1930
3151.5 0.0884 0.1930
3146.7 0.0944 0.1930
3148.5 0.0740 0.1930
3150.4 0.0975 0.1930
3145.6 0.0671 0.1930

[GessWurker]

Logged results from today’s WFGUI test w/Stereo Review test record. Note: Have not yet received new belt from beoparts. Will post new results with new belt in future.

Hz RMS W/F
3157.6 0.1527 0.2552
3146.0 0.1040 0.2552
3156.9 0.1176 0.2552
3147.6 0.1221 0.2552
3154.1 0.1278 0.2935
3150.5 0.1248 0.2935
3150.0 0.1445 0.3161
3154.0 0.1216 0.3161
3148.0 0.1251 0.3161
3154.2 0.1273 0.3161
3148.1 0.1078 0.3161
3153.4 0.1385 0.3161
3149.6 0.1110 0.3161
3151.9 0.1129 0.3161
3152.9 0.1315 0.3161
3148.6 0.1187 0.3161
3155.4 0.1211 0.2604
3146.5 0.1267 0.2726
3155.6 0.1162 0.2726
3147.1 0.1307 0.2964
3154.5 0.1362 0.3145
3149.4 0.1180 0.3145
3152.1 0.1069 0.3145
3152.3 0.1134 0.3145
3148.4 0.1208 0.3145
3155.2 0.1457 0.3145
3145.9 0.1110 0.3145
3155.8 0.1348 0.3145
3146.4 0.1095 0.3145
3155.1 0.1119 0.3145
3148.3 0.1111 0.2886
3153.0 0.1314 0.2886
3151.5 0.0945 0.2886
3149.3 0.1126 0.2886
3153.9 0.1216 0.2886
3147.4 0.0891 0.2820
3154.6 0.1334 0.2502
3148.2 0.1164 0.2502
3153.1 0.1099 0.2502
3150.1 0.1390 0.2963
3150.5 0.1268 0.2963
3153.0 0.1353 0.2963
3146.7 0.1170 0.2963
3155.9 0.1252 0.2963
3145.3 0.1047 0.2963
3156.9 0.1448 0.2963
3145.7 0.0982 0.2963
3155.6 0.1474 0.2963
3147.8 0.1049 0.2963
3153.2 0.1137 0.2912
3150.7 0.1241 0.2912
3149.9 0.1205 0.2675
3153.2 0.1136 0.2675
3148.4 0.1201 0.2675
3153.4 0.1088 0.2675
3148.7 0.1153 0.2675

[GessWurker]

I added a drop of oil to the motor, but found w/f slightly increased (as measured with my heavy phone running the RPM app). Stay tuned.

[GessWurker]

Interesting! Can you post your w/f measurement after lubrication? I just popped off the pully and applied some oil. Let’s see what happens! (Will measure later.)

[GessWurker]

So… three things I’ve done:

1. Ordered a replacement belt from Beoparts.
2. Downloaded WFGUI and experimented with it a bit. (Lots of 3150hz test tones out there, by the way.)
3. Ordered the Stereo Review Test Record (vintage 1979) from Discogs.

Let’s see what we learn!

 

[GessWurker]

Yes, I’ve found that the TX2 is especially sensitive to weight, but anecdotally, not so much the 1700. In fact, the 1700 seemed to hum along quite nicely even when I put a substantial 370g record weight on it, just as a test, mind you. The TX2 screams bloody murder with such a weight. Anyway, just now I cleaned the motor pully and platter edges on the 1700 and gave it another go with the app. Dang. Now the app measures w/f at .44. Doh! 🙂

Guess I can try a different belt. If you’ve got a recommended vendor, please let me know.

Oh… true story… I used the app to test a direct drive vintage sony (ps-lx2) I bought for $25 for non-playback purposes. Just needed something that would spin. Anyway, the sony tank won the w/f competition easily with a score of .12!!

[GessWurker]

Total cost: $450

[GessWurker]

Update: I went with Audio Origin, received my rebuilt MMC20EN a few days ago, and couldn’t be more pleased. It sounds fantastic and I feel like I made an excellent choice. See below the specs/description of my purchase, provided by the builder (and Audio Origin owner), Alistair:

Line Contact Diamond, Aluminium cantilever

Useful life: 2000 hours under ideal conditions
This extended contact design allows the diamond to more accurately reproduce high frequencies, in comparison to the elliptical design, it has more contact area which reduces record wear significantly and is able to track with slightly less force. This represents a further upgrade in sound quality over the Elliptical, in addition it lasts longer.

Recommended tracking force: 1.1 grams

Closest to original B&O cartridge spec: MMC5000

Significant Upgrade from: SP12 MMC3 MMC20EN MMC4000

[GessWurker]

Yes. I had an SMMC1 that, even after some years of use, remained too bright/harsh for my ears. When I mentioned this to Peter Ledermann, he suggested a custom rebuild with a Boron cantilever and low mass CL stylus. Went ahead with that. And now, I love my (custom) SMMC1. (Note: Before moving forward with the custom rebuild, Peter confirmed the stylus was still in very good shape. The sound my ears didn’t like wasn’t due to any stylus defects.)

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