Hello,
So if you buy the cheapest 24 volt 1A DC supply from Conrad or if you buy one that will cost 10 times at much both will give a supply that will make the platter turn at the right speed.
So if we agree about that, then there is no need to talk about cables, connectors and fuses. Just get two colours of klingeldraht and be happy.
Greetings, Eduard
Display MoreGood morning Eduard,
it's possible to exchange the plug yourself?
If so, what do you recommend?
Best regards
Mirko
Hello Mirko,
Suppose you have a turntable with a DC input connector and you have a separate power supply with a DC output connector the easiest thing to do is look at which side it will be the easiest to change the plug/chassis part by a direct connection with a strain relief.
Usually the chassis part of the connection will just have a low or maybe basic quality ( BUT they still want you to buy a 100? euro cable with fancy gold plated plugs because that will improve things)
Just find a connector that can withstand the voltage/current and that can only be inserted in one way and one that will fit without adjusting the original hole.
The output plug on the Feickert power supply is of course much better than the gold plated bling bling stuff in the pictures posted here. Using gold does not make it a good connector. IF you want the gold to give you a benefit both parts of the connection should be gold. What you really need is a good connection, a good grip.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
When i see the kind of plug being used the first thing i would try to do is trying to get rid of the plug and chassis part for something similar like the one in the attachment , cost less than one euro surely better than all available brands of the kind of plug pictured above. These ok are for a charger from Aldi. IF you have to use them use both parts from the same brand. Making the plug gold plated and the chassis part plain material wont make things better.
A 500 Euro supply with this kind of connector is a joke.
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
I have read again the French publications about this arm . They have been '' heavy users '' of the 3012 because it works well with both the DL103 and the SPU gold. These cartridge are both heavy AND kind of generate a high level of vibrations that need to be tackled by the arm.
I have been using the aluminium 64FX for my SPU then a Vietnamese friend told me to get the stainless steel 64S. Indeed much better. I improved it myself by asking a coworker to machine some parts that were sold by Fidelity Research to add more weight and rigidity to the arm. Simply apply some law of physics. WHY you want a pulley on a turntable motor not to be mounted on a long shaft at 5 cm distance from the motor? Of course RPM is low and a pulley is not so heavy so theoretically it wont swing much. BUT if you mount is as close as possible it has to swing less. So a heavy weight. Maybe even a conical shaped one that will react different to vibrations for sure.
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
I never took a very detailed look at the SME 3012 because for ME it looks to fragile ( i preferred the Fidelity Research 64S). But if you have a steady hand it will be perfect.
If you look at it with some '' physical laws '' in the back of your mind some ideas will pop up.
You have the DL103 which is a nice cartridge which will work better with the lead housing designed by the French decades ago. Using this housing you will probably need a heavier weight. Of course the best thing to do is get the weight as close as possible to the bearing.
What I would do is check the maximum diameter of the weight that will fit in your set up. Then make its weight have enough to be able to mount it close to the bearing. Copper has 15% mass than steel so that could be a nice option too. I think this kind of thing can be machined by any student from a technical '' fachhogschule ''
There has been a British company that sold a contra weight as a modification to a British tone arm where the center hole wasnt in the middle telling us it would create a better functioning of the arm because the '' center of gravity '' would be below the arm. BUT it could be harder to have equal weight in the horizontal plane.
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
Strange to read this kind of writings written by people living in a country that brought us the Mercedes 280S in the early seventies.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
I must have some of these Isoda cables somewhere in my collection.
But they were hard to solder because it consisted of different metals( like all the Isoda cables) and aluminium needed a kind of '' presoldering '' before a standard solder could be used. Back then not a lot of teflon was used so those Isoda cables allowed you to get a very NON rigid connection between the arm and prepre or transformer. Spu gold and DL103 the all time favourites in France preferred heavy arms BUT you dont wanna spend a few thousand euros on your analogue front and then have the vibration enters your arm by the garden hose that is connecting it to the first element in the rest of your system.
Of course if you buy a 800 euro arm cable that is 1 meter long ( while you need 35 cm) you wanna show it so you make a loop ( a shape of an aerial) on the support so everyone will notice it and it will have the bigger contact area possible to pick up vibrations.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
Yes!
So how to improve the performance of the Verdier without mutilating it?
I am sure that if you drink a nice German beer or a French wine while listening to music it will sound better.
When you see your OWN diy turntable isolation platform while enjoying music it will probably sound better. But some people need to see something that did cost them one month savings to get convinced it sounds better with this new platform.
Greetings,Eduard
Hello,
Even a Verdier turntable can be modified to sound different. Many times us simple diy folks cannot add something that will make it sound better IF it is in 100 % condition. Even very well designed things can be made to sound different. BUT the real worldclass products are difficult to change in such a way that a blind test panel will all say it is an improvement.
I remember at work we had such a special granite table for doing extreme precise measurements. This one had to be relocated and it ended up in an area with some machinery close by. During the evening when there were just 3 people instead of 20 people working the measurements results where more uniform than during day time.
JUST like most sound systems sounds better during night time because of less pollution on 230 volt line and less surrounding noises.
It is all pretty basic even a Verdier can be made to sound better if you give it a good support. If you dont try it you wont know it if you dont believe me. I am sure the extreme Verdier turntable ( the one made to order) can also work when it will be just 250 kilo.
Hello,
Der Motor benötigt eine Revision.
You mean a Thorens TD160 which had a dozen of owners keeps turning and the better than usual brands are in need for a revision after a few years?
Greetings,Eduard
Hello,
You can ask Origin Live in Great Britain . There they can make ANY length you want.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
Good idea to make it possible for one man to carry. BUT usually the platter is installed after the '' base'' is already in position.
So make an isolation platform and fill it with sand once it is where it should be.
I once see the Paris people from l'Audiophile busy with transporting the sandfilled Onken bass bins 320 kilo but it had wheels.
I bought some speaker material when i was in Cameroon but it never arrived here!!
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
Sure if you wanna eat the bird better not use a big caliber.
BUT if wanna prevent the neigbours cat to scare my expensive singing birds i will make a diy electric fence to teach him. If he keeps common back i will turn the variac all the way up.
SO if i wanna build a sandbox for my turntable and the price difference between 200 and 300 kilo is just some extra sand i will go for 300 kilo.
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
Ähnliche Steinplatten kenne ich übrigens von Wägetischen wo sie als ruhige Basis von damals noch mechanischen und hoch empfindlichen Mettler-Analysenwagen dienten. Damit hatte ich während meiner Lehrzeit im Anorg. Chem. Inst. der Uni Heidelberg zu tun, in den Sechzigerjahren.
Solche schweren Wägetische wären übrigens weitaus besser als Unterlage für Plattenspieler geeignet, als manche windige High-End Rackkonstruktion, die man im AAA ab und zu sieht.
Happy you explain in German what i wrote in post 584. These things have been around for decades and laws of physics dont change often. lol. A few days ago i saw one completely made from a kind of slate. Close to 270 kilo.
Greetings, eduard
Hello Ludwig,
My diy turntable has a sensor that works with a little magnet under the platter. So every turn it checks and indicates the speed. If the speed is not correct it will send a signal to the motor and then the motor will GRADUALLY change the speed.
Because of 12,5 kilo platter with 400mm i believe once it has the right speed after a few turns ( it starts at 5 turns a minute to save the string) it will stay turning.
I think when the speed gradually changes from 33.33 to 33,28 in one or two turns and then goes back to 33,33 you wont hear it but if it keep switching between 33,33 and 33,28 a few times every turn it will be more tricky.
I remember there was a modification of a well know turntable that only did consist of removing the speed control that kept correcting constantly. Of course first the speed must be wrong before the correction will work.
Greetings, Eduard
P.s Some photos as illustration from my latest modification.
I had to terminate my flatline loudspeaker cable ( THIS is the original one at least 27 years old , back then no Euro but 16 Euro a meter) again because moving my speakers i could reduce the cables with 4 meter. Bought some new spades but couldnt find them so i cycled to Hornbach bought some AMP connectors, removed the plating and changed into a spade. They sound better than the audiophile spades i used before.
In the 12 DB filter for the Altec you see the German Mundorf and the French Sic Safco paper in oil capacitor made in 1963 work as a good team. Sure i tried lots of audiophile caps but nothing comes close to this one. Bought in a surplus store for 4 DM decades ago
Hello Christian,
Of course after reading a lot of opinions here everyone would be at least a bit biased when they are going to compare two or even 3 possible motors.
I think using a rim drive for a Verdier will make it sound like another turntable. Some people will say wow and some people will say what the heck. Maybe one could say that if you decide to go for a rim drive on a Verdier you bought the wrong turntable to begin with.
My friend who uses a Scheu with the original delivered string got agitated because he found that HIS pulley was not 100% perfect for the string with the knot in it. He could detect it by measurement. So he ended up with buying an Origin Live rubber belt and he loves it. BUT there is clearly an optimum tension on the belt that makes it sound as it best. On my partly diy turntable there is a visible speedindicator. Would be nice to switch it of and just listen to what you hear. I THINK that just enough tension on the belt to make the turntable turn constantly at the right speed will give the best sound. Probably there will be a moment when a bigger tension will not give more speed stability but turn the sound being '' wrong ''
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
When i used my last turntable the Hiraga prepre the circuit would hang right under the 5 pole arm connector and use a 10 cm very flexible cable. The prepre itself did hang on two thin wires on a metal bar attached to the wall.
When i switched to transformers i used the same idea.
NOW my riaa phonoamp with built in pre pre stands right under the 5 pole connector so probably will need a 20 cm cable. With the Ikeda i can do the same but then i will need an extra set of cvable . BUT all will be short and not rigid. I dont need to show my friends i have the Ikeda. I think in normal use it will be hard to notice it. IF you use rigid cable to run from the 5 pole connector to something that will/can pick up vibrations it will be transmitted directly into the arm . Right at the spot where you dont need it.
AND of course you should try to reduce the number of connectors when signal is at this very low level.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
Back in the time where people ( could?)read books and magazines. These French magazines were not easy to read. Vocabulary was far more complicated then most audio magazines . A bit more poetic than the hifi porn from stereoplay and audio which were just like marketing tools. Maybe Das Ohr comes close. I must have them up in the attic.
Greetings, Eduard
Hello,
My audiophile friend using the Hiraga wanted to improve the Scheu motor. He ordered a Maxon and asked a famous technician in my country to make a power supply for this motor. In the end it turned out that this motor has quality issues and he got his money back from Maxon. I dont remember the type but it wasnt a cheap one.
I dont know if an engineer just can go through a huge cataloque and tell you this one will be one of the best for a turntable like a Verdier.
Remember there have been changing ideas about the motor used by Verdier too. Of course each motor should be used with a dedicated supply.
Greetings, eduard
Hello,
This brings back good memories. I used to visit this shop a few times every year to buy parts. Back then they had one day bus trips to Paris for 35/40 Deutschmark. I had some audiophile friends and none of them speak French so they would invite me to be their translator. Most money of these friends went into Hiraga power amps.
When i built it had a big power supply. CRC type. Not a big transformer but big caps. I build it right away with a CLC supply. A choke that was used in a new diy amp. They said sure you can use it for the Hiraga too. Lately this choke was replaced by a bigger one. Nice improvement to an amp that has been in use for 28 years. OF COURSE messing around with other transistors will be difficult to get a better one but improving a supply is not to difficult.
Same like the Verdier. It is at a high level but there are things that can be done different. Yes different but doesnt mean it will always be better.
I made different material metal circles on a laser cutting machine for my friend Marcel Roggero to add on top of his Verdier platter.
For those who can speak a little France or dont mind just looking without understanding you can look for platine Riffaud. He mentions it several times a good starting point for a turntable is mass.
So if you wanna improve your Verdier but dont wanna mutulate it . Just get a better support.
Greetings, eduard
