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Modding cheap Technics table

4

4rings4life

Active Member
I have a cheapo Technics TT, I plan to do a tone arm and new base for the motor and platter. Does anyone have BTDT on making a new base of, say mdf or perhaps a layered composite? I have found some sites that say don't do it, the table is too low end to be worth the effort but I am not smart enough to listen. The direct drive motor is very stable and a new tone arm will fix the short comings of the stock arm. I will try to update when something happens with the table.
Ben
 
Hate to say it, but its not worth the effort. Spend the money on a good entry level TT from Music Hall or something similar from Acoustic Sounds.

The problem is that the base that already exists is going to be of similar quality to the rest of the turntable. Building a better base will not make any difference. Besides that, it has been pretty well acknowledged that the direct drive craze yielded inferior turntables to belt drive, which is why almost all turntables made these days are belt driven.
 
soundhound said:
it has been pretty well acknowledged that the direct drive craze yielded inferior turntables to belt drive, which is why almost all turntables made these days are belt driven.
Click to expand...

True dat mighty hound ... direct drive is what powers most power tools.
 
Vinyl said:
soundhound said:
it has been pretty well acknowledged that the direct drive craze yielded inferior turntables to belt drive, which is why almost all turntables made these days are belt driven.
Click to expand...

True dat mighty hound ... direct drive is what powers most power tools.
Click to expand...

And you know they sound like crap. :scared-eek:
 
Hmmm, direct drive theory, interesting. Perhaps I'll try that on my automobile and motorcycle. Nah, probably won't sound good.

Rope
 
An electric motorcycle won't sound like a Harley......

An electric motorcycle has direct drive........

There you have it in a nutshell......
 
An electric bicycle is nearly silent, runs very smooth, and accelerates evenly. A Harley is loud, rough, and jumpy when accelerating. Seems like direct drive is a better idea for turntables.

:text-imsorry:
 
Flint said:
An electric bicycle is nearly silent, runs very smooth, and accelerates evenly. A Harley is loud, rough, and jumpy when accelerating. Seems like direct drive is a better idea for turntables.

:text-imsorry:
Click to expand...

OK - give us the arguments FOR direct drive in turntables.......
 
I most likely will end up with a new table. I am very mush a DIYer so I will give the Technics a shot, I have a source for cheap wood and have a router so doing a base will be cheap.
I am not convinced the direct drive is a bad thing, I have found that there is a lot of disagreement about which is better. A/C motors can be verry quiet and DD platters have more torque to maintain speed unlike some of the high end belt drives I've seen.
Most of the noise on a power tool is the attachment and cooling fan, not the motor. They are not stereo quiet but they are not loud just because of direct drive.
I can't think of one good reason to ride a scooter my self.
 
Having not looked at an audio magazine for 30 years until recently, I CAN give one good reason for a DD turntable: why the heck are they putting the belt ABOVE the body now?!? That only invites dust collection and rubberband fights during parties! :angry-banghead:
And direct-drive cars and motorcycles have one advantage over dead-dinosaur-derivative: maximum torque throughout the rpm range! :text-bravo:
 
4rings4life said:
DD platters have more torque to maintain speed unlike some of the high end belt drives I've seen.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't think torque would have anything to do with maintaining a steady speed, that would be more a function of either the mass of the platter, or the speed of a feedback circuit (well, okay, more torque could respond to that feedback circuit faster...).
 
Botch said:
4rings4life said:
DD platters have more torque to maintain speed unlike some of the high end belt drives I've seen.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't think torque would have anything to do with maintaining a steady speed, that would be more a function of either the mass of the platter, or the speed of a feedback circuit (well, okay, more torque could respond to that feedback circuit faster...).
Click to expand...

Torque has nothing to do with maintaining speed. Steady speed of the motor and flywheel mass of the platter are the determinants of speed stability. If anybody here remembers the original AR turntable, that thing had a pathetically low torque motor, yet it had some of the best wow and flutter / rumble numbers in the business.

The whole point of belt drive is to limit the potential sources of speed instability. A direct drive motor cogs, and with the servo feedback circuitry, it is always going to be hunting for the correct speed, however little that variation is; that's the inescapable result of having a servo system in the first place. Those mechanical disturbances will be picked up by the stylus, amplified and mixed with the music (ironically, its the high torque of the direct drive motor which generates more of this mechanical noise as it tries to correct itself).

With a belt drive turntable, there is really only one potential source of speed instability; the bearing on the platter. The motor is effectively isolated mechanically by virtue of the belt.

With a direct drive turntable, there are more potential sources of mechanical instability; there is not only the bearing on the platter (really the motor shaft), but there are the other issues of cogging and servo hunting mentioned above. There can also be magnetic interference transferred to the coils in the cartridge.

Its not just about speed stability; its the resulting electrical and mechanical disturbances being transmitted to the stylus.

Direct drive in turntables was really a gimmick introduced in Japanese turntables in the 1970s. Just like a lot of other such gimmicks meant to sell more gear with questionable utility, it was eventually found that turntable speed could be more stable with the benefits of belt isolation and a good motor. That is why its essentially impossible to find a high quality turntable which uses direct drive today.....even in Japan.
 
soundhound said:
If anybody here remembers the original AR turntable, that thing had a pathetically low torque motor, yet it had some of the best wow and flutter / rumble numbers in the business.
Click to expand...

I remember it well - I had one! :handgestures-thumbup:
 
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