What do you mean it could be your phone? You're supposed to print out the strobe disc on paper and cut a hole for the spindle in the centre of the pattern.
If the speed is just a little bit off you'll see one line in the pattern spinning slowly whereas the others are more of a blur.
Don't use your phone to illuminate the strobe disc. Eliminate daylight from the room and use a regular lamp. On 50 Hz mains the lamp blinks 100 times a second.
Tom
If the speed is just a little bit off you'll see one line in the pattern spinning slowly whereas the others are more of a blur.
Don't use your phone to illuminate the strobe disc. Eliminate daylight from the room and use a regular lamp. On 50 Hz mains the lamp blinks 100 times a second.
Tom
Seems to be a perception problem, phones are famous for convincing people...this seems easy, download the app and use it!
Incandescent filament lamp, not LED or fluorescent. This assumes the frequency is within limits.
A strobe lamp with adjustable frequency is even better, or a good digital tachometer.
Incandescent filament lamp, not LED or fluorescent. This assumes the frequency is within limits.
A strobe lamp with adjustable frequency is even better, or a good digital tachometer.
I also had a older cheaper Japanese "fixed speed" TT that simply would not run at the correct speed.
I checked the motor and could see solid sync to neon strobe to the little set screw on the belt pulley. But even though the motor ran perfectly synchronously to the AC line, I could not get the platter to run at speed.
Buying a new supposedly correct belt for it, sacrificing a belt from another TT - all failed. It behaved as thought it was haunted, handily exhausting my patience. I gave up, selling what parts I could to partially recoup my investment.
I checked the motor and could see solid sync to neon strobe to the little set screw on the belt pulley. But even though the motor ran perfectly synchronously to the AC line, I could not get the platter to run at speed.
Buying a new supposedly correct belt for it, sacrificing a belt from another TT - all failed. It behaved as thought it was haunted, handily exhausting my patience. I gave up, selling what parts I could to partially recoup my investment.
I thought i already said this but i had already printed out the strobe disc... I'm not that dumb lol.
However i used a strobe light app as i wanted a pure 50Hz strobe, not 49.8 or something from the mains...
However my phone is old and extreamly laggy. So much so that apps constantly freeze (including the strobe app) so i can't confirm that its 100% consistent. Unfortunately its 100% caused by bad outdated android software that i cant update...
I'll have to see what lighting i can find. I might have a small 240v incandescent globe i could try...
Though even if i do confirm the speed is off, i'm still no closer to fixing it...
Maybe due to bearing wear, the rotor spins faster (less friction).
Have you tried placing a strong permanent magnet close to the laminates.... see if that helps at all... the idea is to disturb the 50Hz magnetic field... somehow. The cartridge (MM?) may not like it, though...
Have you tried placing a strong permanent magnet close to the laminates.... see if that helps at all... the idea is to disturb the 50Hz magnetic field... somehow. The cartridge (MM?) may not like it, though...
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Sorry. It didn't occur to me when I suggested to use the strobe disc that you'd use your phone as a strobe light. So your comment about crappy phone left me rather puzzled.
It looks like there are multiple releases of Gunship Dark All Day. There's a regular LP (33-1/3 RPM) and a 2-disc, "half-speed" version that's supposed to play at 45 RPM. You clearly have 45 RPM selected in the video. Are you sure you have the 45 RPM version of the record?
Tom
Sorry if I caused confusion with that 45rpm gunship record. it's indeed a 45... but at the moment I'm wanting to record another one of their albums, but its a 33rpm record. But either way, both speeds play too fast anyway...
So some good news and some bad news... I took it to a hifi shop and bought a new belt. After trying 3 sizes, i went with the larger at 195mm... Though in my opinion it might still be too tight? It fixed the over speed problem... Except now its underspeed at 29.8~30rpm😅 Even at -1.5% i can still tell by ear that its slow :/ with each increase in belt size, speed increased by about 0.1rpm. Perhaps the belt will stretch and loosen up over time to make up the last 0.3rpm? I even properly cleaned and lubricated the motor and spindle... It made it 0.03% worse 😅 attached is before & after lube.
Now i'm worried that maybe lightly sanding the drive pully was enough to make it run under speed? If so, are new after market replacement drive pullies easily available, or specific to my exact platter? Maybe replaceable as a set? Or is it more likely the cheapest solution is just getting the belt tension exact? Should i go back to the shop again and pester them to exchange for an even larger belt?
Now i'm worried that maybe lightly sanding the drive pully was enough to make it run under speed? If so, are new after market replacement drive pullies easily available, or specific to my exact platter? Maybe replaceable as a set? Or is it more likely the cheapest solution is just getting the belt tension exact? Should i go back to the shop again and pester them to exchange for an even larger belt?
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All this effort on a TT whose performance even when brand new would not have been much better than lowish fi? Why? 🤔
No disrespect intended...
...but a cheap old Dual 505, 506 or 510 would likely give you better performance & allow fine adjustment for dead-on speed. Even better would be a Lenco L70, 75 or 78 which can be modded for very high performance at modest cost.
No disrespect intended...
...but a cheap old Dual 505, 506 or 510 would likely give you better performance & allow fine adjustment for dead-on speed. Even better would be a Lenco L70, 75 or 78 which can be modded for very high performance at modest cost.
Even better, go buy her a player that can play off a SD or USB storage device.
No worn or dropped records, among other benefits.
And no need to repair something which is difficult to fix.
A typical MP3 track is 5 MB, so a GB is 200 tracks, and a 32 GB drive's capacity is 6400 tracks.
That should keep her occupied for a long time.
Most players have FM also, so that means even more choice for the user.
Even has a remote most of the time.
Old tablets and smartphones can be converted as well for use as wireless streamers.
No worn or dropped records, among other benefits.
And no need to repair something which is difficult to fix.
A typical MP3 track is 5 MB, so a GB is 200 tracks, and a 32 GB drive's capacity is 6400 tracks.
That should keep her occupied for a long time.
Most players have FM also, so that means even more choice for the user.
Even has a remote most of the time.
Old tablets and smartphones can be converted as well for use as wireless streamers.
I thought this was diy audio? Not byo audio! I'm not buying a new TT, especially when this one has been in the family for years and years. And i'm especially not going to replace it with a cheap chinese TT with usb mp3 functionality... My turntable maybe 'low fi' compared to the connoisseur, but i would have to classify the modern mp3 TT as 'turd fi'...
Unfortunately any modern equivalent is significantly more expensive than i can afford...
Dual 505-3 = $300
Dual 506 = $220
Dual 510 = $420
Lenco L70 = $912
Lenco L75 = $687
Lenco L78 = $506
And they are just as old as what I already have... But those prices, i would not call "cheap" at all.
I'm sorry, but thats kind of bad advice...
So since I knew I could still improve what I have. I tried adding a single layer of tape on the drive pully, but this increased the speed way too much. So instead i painted it with a clear laquer based varnish. Each coat gave me about 0.05~0.1 more rpms. So i just needed to give it about 5 or 6 coats. And for the last step, i sanded it back down smooth to dial it in... Time will tell how long it will last, but this will work in the short term. A long term solution i think i'll need to keep a look out for a new old stock drive pully.
Lastly, i just wanted to see how accurate my phone measurements were, so i compared it directly to the lossless flac files. I lined up the wave profile in audacity. Over 4 minutes, my recording was only fast by about 0.364s... Or about 0.15%
So i think that result is not too bad considering. Sure, the wow and flutter is still not very good, but i think its good enough. Especially considering i only paid like $70 for this TT for mum about 15 years ago... Cant see how i can do much better than that...
Unfortunately any modern equivalent is significantly more expensive than i can afford...
Dual 505-3 = $300
Dual 506 = $220
Dual 510 = $420
Lenco L70 = $912
Lenco L75 = $687
Lenco L78 = $506
And they are just as old as what I already have... But those prices, i would not call "cheap" at all.
I'm sorry, but thats kind of bad advice...
So since I knew I could still improve what I have. I tried adding a single layer of tape on the drive pully, but this increased the speed way too much. So instead i painted it with a clear laquer based varnish. Each coat gave me about 0.05~0.1 more rpms. So i just needed to give it about 5 or 6 coats. And for the last step, i sanded it back down smooth to dial it in... Time will tell how long it will last, but this will work in the short term. A long term solution i think i'll need to keep a look out for a new old stock drive pully.
Lastly, i just wanted to see how accurate my phone measurements were, so i compared it directly to the lossless flac files. I lined up the wave profile in audacity. Over 4 minutes, my recording was only fast by about 0.364s... Or about 0.15%
So i think that result is not too bad considering. Sure, the wow and flutter is still not very good, but i think its good enough. Especially considering i only paid like $70 for this TT for mum about 15 years ago... Cant see how i can do much better than that...
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This is a typical Indian amp with two 4440 chips, $20, cheaper ones start about $12.
No ties to seller.
The main thing is the FM module, which costs like $2, and allows a USB stick / SD Card / Bluetooth and FM signal to be selected, comes with a remote.
There is even a pre-amp type box sold here, $5, mains operated, RCA out to your amp, using the FM module.
Your mum may be quite old, and with age people tend to become a little clumsy, drop things, lose their balance when they try to pick things up.
Dropped records can break.
I can go on, but you can build or buy - your choice - something like this, and let her enjoy the music without the danger of handling records, particularly if she lives alone.
It is a modest price to pay for peace of mind.
It is good your problem is fixed, use an abrasion resistant paint if needed the next time, for example under body car paint.
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No need to get upset. It's just another line of thinking.
I didn't know your price & performance requirements, but since you were obsessing over speed accuracy & pitch I figured your bar isn't that low. I guess a pertinent question is that if it is for your mother, can she hear the pitch/speed issue? And as NareshBrd queried in the last post, does or can she want to handle vinykl records?
The TT I mentioned are mostly way older if yours is only 15yo -- but they were also way better to begin with. I've bought a lot of those various used TT to rebuild & restore over the last 10 years for friends who wanted to get back to LPs. Best deal may have been a Dual 510 in good shape for CA$75. And a Lenco L76 for CA$250. That one was turned into an amazingly good TT -- admittedly not w/o lots of time & $.
One of my favorite TT recommendations especially for older folks are the wee Technics SL series tangental trackers. They usually sound really good, much better than most cheap TTs. The SL-5 gets you a lot of the goodness of the 7 and 10 at much lower cost. And they are so utterly convenient. https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=technics+sl-5+turntable