bicycle spoke
finally got around to trying the cycle spoke on the rb250, only a 10 minute job. all I can say for sure is it hasn't done any harm🙂 when I bust a spoke they only came in packs of 10, so basically its free. sports equipment is good for making music😀 listening to chess and orchestral dynamic very realistic indeed. ps the price of very good bearings is cheap, but pressing out the old and pressing in new is not for me, I would muck it up.🙁
paul
finally got around to trying the cycle spoke on the rb250, only a 10 minute job. all I can say for sure is it hasn't done any harm🙂 when I bust a spoke they only came in packs of 10, so basically its free. sports equipment is good for making music😀 listening to chess and orchestral dynamic very realistic indeed. ps the price of very good bearings is cheap, but pressing out the old and pressing in new is not for me, I would muck it up.🙁
paul
Anyone in the Greater Toronto Area able to source the gamegetter XX75? I am unable to find them, and online many shops only sell by the dozen.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I found mine in a second hand shop in Alabama. mind you I did bye a bow as well, but ya never know!
Well done pde2000 but's it a bit ot...
Buy or find an arrow and go for the topic - there will be no looking back - prommise you. Me and others will surely be around watching yer steps.
Regards
arrow
thanks turbon. have myself an Easton 2016 jazz for £6 in a pretty purple. can get 2 arms out of it. it sounds nice, a low freq resonance. got the papermate refill, broken fuse, enamelled copper wire, bits of wood etc. will make a start on it. the graphite arrows are too flexible, but fishing poles are so cheap, I couldn't resist the temptation. one was only £4 and weighs nothing.
paul
thanks turbon. have myself an Easton 2016 jazz for £6 in a pretty purple. can get 2 arms out of it. it sounds nice, a low freq resonance. got the papermate refill, broken fuse, enamelled copper wire, bits of wood etc. will make a start on it. the graphite arrows are too flexible, but fishing poles are so cheap, I couldn't resist the temptation. one was only £4 and weighs nothing.
paul
have just noticed the lenco counterbalance weight is a perfect fit for the arrow. this is too easy. could even fit a knife to it and fit it straight into the lenco pillar. sorry must stay on topic. will do a unipivot and get back with the results.
job done, nearly
wired for sound, not bad. need to run a screen to the ground to eliminate the hum, but theP1060551.JPG music itself is sweet.🙂
wired for sound, not bad. need to run a screen to the ground to eliminate the hum, but theP1060551.JPG music itself is sweet.🙂
Attachments
penny's from heaven
had to cobble up a headshell. the left channel earth has got rid of most of hum, plus grounding the lenco to the amplifier. now I cant say it didn't cost a penny😀. it sounds pretty good. the carts only an adc qlm33iii. next is to try the grado on it.
P1060552.JPG
had to cobble up a headshell. the left channel earth has got rid of most of hum, plus grounding the lenco to the amplifier. now I cant say it didn't cost a penny😀. it sounds pretty good. the carts only an adc qlm33iii. next is to try the grado on it.
P1060552.JPG
Attachments
too much coincidence
now it turns out the arrow's diameter is exactly the same as the standard (sme type) headshell shaft. my clamp on headshells are a perfect fit and make azimuth even easier. do you think the original designers of tone arms were using arrow shafts as their original material or is this a sign from above?😀 the location and rigidity of the pivot are important probably, so improvements may come with a solid plinth arrangement and beefing up the pivot's base. the bonus is the arm looks pretty.
P1060556.JPG
now it turns out the arrow's diameter is exactly the same as the standard (sme type) headshell shaft. my clamp on headshells are a perfect fit and make azimuth even easier. do you think the original designers of tone arms were using arrow shafts as their original material or is this a sign from above?😀 the location and rigidity of the pivot are important probably, so improvements may come with a solid plinth arrangement and beefing up the pivot's base. the bonus is the arm looks pretty.
P1060556.JPG
Attachments
Nanook,
When are you going to sell one of your tonearms. Not one, not two, not three, just one and create some buzz after you sell it.
When are you going to sell one of your tonearms. Not one, not two, not three, just one and create some buzz after you sell it.
hey stew, that arrow is sweet. I mean, the music, man its real. shouldn't have bought the whiskey, but too late now. too many coincidences; the lenco, the sme, the transcriptor. I drilled the arrow for the pivot, and kept going to put a nice cup in the top of the tube. a bit of grease and the pivot is sound. kate bush is playing, and yeah, she's real, with me in spirit. nytech receiver, trio pickup, b&o 5700,s. going to terminate the headphone wires at the pivot base so a proper pair of interconnects can take it up to the amp, cause the capacitance is too high and theres some hum still, just a tiny bit. the rega has been bugging me because, good as it is, its got some real harsh tones. this arrow is real nice, and its going to get better. I still cant believe the headshell and balance weight fit so perfectly. money, who needs it? eh? what we all really want is to be loved, right? love you stew.
Mods, this is verging on "selling",please move this post if more appropriate.
But life happens...
If anyone one (or 2 or 3...) wants to buy a complete arm I'll sell them. Even the sale of one arm would allow me to send out parts to the original 10 that had shown serious interest. Perhaps this is a better approach rather than do a Kickstarter project for now. Any that purchase should know that the proceeds would be used to develop the manufacturing process further to streamline batch production, and help buy a few necessary tools.
As I believe this arm competes favourably with my SME 309, what would a reasonable price be? The arm would be complete and completely built. All that would be required is an alignment gauge/protractor and cartridge (and mounting screws). I'll even scab together some sort of tonearm rest and base. Perhaps those that have built it can comment on sound vs. commercial offerings and an appropriate price (PM me if you like or post here). I've read the comparisons to the RB250, and comments from others as well (all of them actually). I just wish the cost of purchasing an existing tonearm mount and tonearm lift wasn't so expensive...
The only real hassle is locating the arm correctly, setting the tracking force and aligning the cartridge (dirt simple). If your cartridge/arm combo needed some dampening, that would be up to the end use. But something as simple as some Dacron (or similar), latex (actor's) theatre paint, Teflon tape, or even heat shrink would work. Just PM me and I'll work something out. I will write up the procedure for locating your 219 (or any tonearm for that matter) for any that need it.
pde2000: Thanks for the kudos. Really everyone here who has tried one has been very complimentary, which (thankfully) has succeeded in reinforcing my experiences listening to the 219. So no "creator's infatuation", but pure love...the music is what got me looking into this and the success of the first arm (which was quite a bit heavier) inspired me to develop a little further. Perhaps a "heavy version" that may be more compatible with a wider variety of cartridges should be developed (but I hate to mess with success).
You are correct in that there can be a serendipitous match with existing commercially available headshells and counterweights. The counterweight from an old Garrard Lab60 tonearm (trapezoidal prism shaped) fits very nicely and is till the best compromise between convenience and aesthetics. The "hung" counterweight still has the best sound though and allows one to use salvaged weights to good effect.
But life happens...
If anyone one (or 2 or 3...) wants to buy a complete arm I'll sell them. Even the sale of one arm would allow me to send out parts to the original 10 that had shown serious interest. Perhaps this is a better approach rather than do a Kickstarter project for now. Any that purchase should know that the proceeds would be used to develop the manufacturing process further to streamline batch production, and help buy a few necessary tools.
As I believe this arm competes favourably with my SME 309, what would a reasonable price be? The arm would be complete and completely built. All that would be required is an alignment gauge/protractor and cartridge (and mounting screws). I'll even scab together some sort of tonearm rest and base. Perhaps those that have built it can comment on sound vs. commercial offerings and an appropriate price (PM me if you like or post here). I've read the comparisons to the RB250, and comments from others as well (all of them actually). I just wish the cost of purchasing an existing tonearm mount and tonearm lift wasn't so expensive...
The only real hassle is locating the arm correctly, setting the tracking force and aligning the cartridge (dirt simple). If your cartridge/arm combo needed some dampening, that would be up to the end use. But something as simple as some Dacron (or similar), latex (actor's) theatre paint, Teflon tape, or even heat shrink would work. Just PM me and I'll work something out. I will write up the procedure for locating your 219 (or any tonearm for that matter) for any that need it.
pde2000: Thanks for the kudos. Really everyone here who has tried one has been very complimentary, which (thankfully) has succeeded in reinforcing my experiences listening to the 219. So no "creator's infatuation", but pure love...the music is what got me looking into this and the success of the first arm (which was quite a bit heavier) inspired me to develop a little further. Perhaps a "heavy version" that may be more compatible with a wider variety of cartridges should be developed (but I hate to mess with success).
You are correct in that there can be a serendipitous match with existing commercially available headshells and counterweights. The counterweight from an old Garrard Lab60 tonearm (trapezoidal prism shaped) fits very nicely and is till the best compromise between convenience and aesthetics. The "hung" counterweight still has the best sound though and allows one to use salvaged weights to good effect.
Hi Stew
Please PM me as I have a few ideas going round my head. You've seen some examples of my work and I think we may have a useful collaboration going forward
Regards
Chris
Please PM me as I have a few ideas going round my head. You've seen some examples of my work and I think we may have a useful collaboration going forward
Regards
Chris
Interesting comments regarding affordable tonearms.
Vinyl Asylum
The glass would seem to be half empty.
Vinyl Asylum
The glass would seem to be half empty.
in my opinion, we have to expand the Hi Fi universe. as we speak, the universe is expanding. it should be required that in the DIY forums make 2 items. 1 for sale and 1 to keep. Nanook and others, go to the Swap Meet. Sell your stuff here. help out a non diy audiophile. And maybe one day you can make affordable tonearms for everybody. The DIY person, he does not need any help. He build it because he can.
regarding expanding the universe and affordable tonearms (a little long and a rant)
audiostar: I agree that the audio universe should be expanding, but not necessarily for the better. Yes some great things have happened over the past (say) 10 years or so, but there has been some absolute garbage promoted and sold to an uneducated consumer base as well. And there is a collapse of said universe somewhere within it whenever a long-standing, well managed hi-fi maker is forced to leave the market because they cannot compete against pricing afforded by the economies of scale and off-shore labour costs that the large makers have.
Every end user should seek out a little self edification, but few actually do. Once one starts to learn through their own experiences, the opinions of others (as in much of the "audiophile" press) becomes essentially irrelevant. I've always believed that a great system need not cost like a good house. This holds true of any non-comodity consumer product. If you want to find value, first understand what makes a good version of whatever it is one is looking at purchasing (or making), and see if any products can fulfill as many of those attributes at whatever budget one has. If there exists nothing within a given budget, then either the prospective consumer has an unrealistically low budget or (s)he has something of a reasonable budget, but there are no products available because they either never existed or the manufacturers of these items have been forced out of the market by external (to them) pressures with assistance from an unwitting public.
As far as selling tonearms (or any gadget for that matter), I'll gladly do it. This has been a goal of mine for sometime. Again for the sake of making a few extra dollars, but also because I truly believe that much of what we (as consumers) "know" is from folks who really do not have any altruistic motives whatsoever. Ultimately how many of whatever thingy they are trying to sell and at how much net profit seems to be the first motivating factor, not whether or not the product has some worthy attributes. These attributes are what defines a product. Price should be secondary. Why is it that there are the Rega and Project tonearms, and then nothing (much) until one hits the $1000 mark? And why do reasonable quality have to start at an arbitrary number?
Please don't get me wrong. I am sure that Roy Gandy's original motives were to make a better tonearm for reasonable money when the RB250/300 arms were developed. It's too bad that this has not been the case for their manufacturing lifespan as these arms had been left stagnant for many years until the end consumers demanded better internal wiring, better bearings, and improved sonics. Good design does not cost more. I can tell you that if Rega had to develop from scratch the RB250/300 tonearms and their offspring, they'd have a much tougher time of it than they did.
Thankfully, I have never made too many audio equipment purchases that were wrong or valueless. This is demonstrated by how few pieces of equipment I have purchased over the years. I suspect I've been a little lucky, and had learned a lot in a relatively short period of time. In addition I know that if I had to start completely from scratch purchasing an audio system, I would make much different choices than I had.
And for any that may have the opinion that I am an audio snob (which has never been intended if I have ever appeared that way), know that any purchases of audio equipment has cost me dearly in terms of the real dollars to a growing family. This is one of the reasons I am so adamant that quality cannot always be equated to pricing and should not.
audiostar: I agree that the audio universe should be expanding, but not necessarily for the better. Yes some great things have happened over the past (say) 10 years or so, but there has been some absolute garbage promoted and sold to an uneducated consumer base as well. And there is a collapse of said universe somewhere within it whenever a long-standing, well managed hi-fi maker is forced to leave the market because they cannot compete against pricing afforded by the economies of scale and off-shore labour costs that the large makers have.
Every end user should seek out a little self edification, but few actually do. Once one starts to learn through their own experiences, the opinions of others (as in much of the "audiophile" press) becomes essentially irrelevant. I've always believed that a great system need not cost like a good house. This holds true of any non-comodity consumer product. If you want to find value, first understand what makes a good version of whatever it is one is looking at purchasing (or making), and see if any products can fulfill as many of those attributes at whatever budget one has. If there exists nothing within a given budget, then either the prospective consumer has an unrealistically low budget or (s)he has something of a reasonable budget, but there are no products available because they either never existed or the manufacturers of these items have been forced out of the market by external (to them) pressures with assistance from an unwitting public.
As far as selling tonearms (or any gadget for that matter), I'll gladly do it. This has been a goal of mine for sometime. Again for the sake of making a few extra dollars, but also because I truly believe that much of what we (as consumers) "know" is from folks who really do not have any altruistic motives whatsoever. Ultimately how many of whatever thingy they are trying to sell and at how much net profit seems to be the first motivating factor, not whether or not the product has some worthy attributes. These attributes are what defines a product. Price should be secondary. Why is it that there are the Rega and Project tonearms, and then nothing (much) until one hits the $1000 mark? And why do reasonable quality have to start at an arbitrary number?
Please don't get me wrong. I am sure that Roy Gandy's original motives were to make a better tonearm for reasonable money when the RB250/300 arms were developed. It's too bad that this has not been the case for their manufacturing lifespan as these arms had been left stagnant for many years until the end consumers demanded better internal wiring, better bearings, and improved sonics. Good design does not cost more. I can tell you that if Rega had to develop from scratch the RB250/300 tonearms and their offspring, they'd have a much tougher time of it than they did.
Thankfully, I have never made too many audio equipment purchases that were wrong or valueless. This is demonstrated by how few pieces of equipment I have purchased over the years. I suspect I've been a little lucky, and had learned a lot in a relatively short period of time. In addition I know that if I had to start completely from scratch purchasing an audio system, I would make much different choices than I had.
And for any that may have the opinion that I am an audio snob (which has never been intended if I have ever appeared that way), know that any purchases of audio equipment has cost me dearly in terms of the real dollars to a growing family. This is one of the reasons I am so adamant that quality cannot always be equated to pricing and should not.
Stew you are an audio Snob!!!
Nah not really 🙂 Your willingness to help others, your sharing of ideas and your knowledge of the subject stands you out as one of the good guys on this here forum.
As for the value of your arm I'd say double your money sell it for five bucks and live the dream.
I'm not helping here am I? 🙂
Nah not really 🙂 Your willingness to help others, your sharing of ideas and your knowledge of the subject stands you out as one of the good guys on this here forum.
As for the value of your arm I'd say double your money sell it for five bucks and live the dream.
I'm not helping here am I? 🙂
Long time
Hi Stew,
Long (long) time. Hope everything is good with you. Although it took a while due to life, I did get a 219 together. It sounds excellent; sits on my McCurdy idler - the complete Canadian table 😛. Didn't quite cost only $2.19, but pretty close. No outriggers etc, just the simple design, although I cheated a little and used an old Thorens 150 counterweight that I had lying around (some day I'll convert it to a hanging weight for comparison -and completeness 😀.) I am continually amazed by how good the 219 sounds - crystal clear, good bass - a steal of a deal. I'm going to pass my spare xx75 on to Mortron so he can join the club too.
All the best
Nigel
Hi Stew,
Long (long) time. Hope everything is good with you. Although it took a while due to life, I did get a 219 together. It sounds excellent; sits on my McCurdy idler - the complete Canadian table 😛. Didn't quite cost only $2.19, but pretty close. No outriggers etc, just the simple design, although I cheated a little and used an old Thorens 150 counterweight that I had lying around (some day I'll convert it to a hanging weight for comparison -and completeness 😀.) I am continually amazed by how good the 219 sounds - crystal clear, good bass - a steal of a deal. I'm going to pass my spare xx75 on to Mortron so he can join the club too.
All the best
Nigel
- Status
- Not open for further replies.