Benz Micro Lukaschek PP-1

[planarboy]

You're just collecting parts left and right aren't you?

Now, with the amount of parts I have collected, I have almost all the gear for full tube headphone setup and also a full solid state one, two decks too.
An oooold rega planar 3 with the 200 arm, and a better one with rb300, but with homemade plinth, just chipboard and black veneer. That's still to come. I also found a plastic guy around the corner that does lids for turntables very cheap, I got him to replace the planar lid, he did it a tiny bit too big so I'll make that work with the homemade plinth and tell him to do a better job on the original one, which has a real old ugly lid.
But if I sell my tube stuff and old rega that will afford me my lukaschek and one of them little dot headphone amps, and maybe something else like some 600s or my supex retip.

 

[planarboy]

T9? Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $470.00AU? Very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You may also ask Mr.Lukaschek about repairing the Supex.He might have some more nice things for you......... I am expecting a repaired Koetsu Onyx soon from him.

I'm gonna be running mine thru a little dot mkV headphone amp with senn 650s, what do you use yours with?

 

[planarboy]

BTW I do realise eventually I will have to do something about only owning a rega 3.
Who said something about "get the source right first"?
I'm going the other way round?
Bet the rega would be good enough for me maybe with a dc motor(i can definitely hear wow in long notes) and groovetracer sub

 

[Panicos K]

The issue with the rega turntables is something I noticed too with a friend.It might sound strange,but one of its problems is the bearing oil!!!!!! Rega use a high viscosity castrol oil.We used a very low viscosity synthetic oil (less than 30% of the castrol viscosity!!!!!!!!!!!!! )and worked wonders.Remove the glass platter and belt from your rega,and try to spin the sub platter.Because of its low weight it will be easy to see that after 2-3 turns it stops.With the fluid we used it could turn for 20-30 turns before it stopped very very smoothly.The motor works more freely and does no longer struggle against the thick oil,platter starts much quicker,and sound is both smoother and more refined.Bass has much better attack and slam.

 

[sq225917]

if you use lighter weight oil your Rega now runs fast...

if it wows then it does it for one of the following reasons.

you need a clean/new belt.
your subplatter is not round, none of them are.
there is something wrong with your motor/electronics

thick oil doesn't magically increase and decrease the resistance it persents to the motor as the record spins, wow is caused by a 'fluctuation' in geometry or electronics and this points to something being out of specification.

 

[simeon_noir]

I do have to say, the first thing I do when a Planar comes into my possession is change the oil. It is thick foul smelling stuff and stains brown. I use Audio Origami thin oil which is green, smells more pleasant and is much more slippery. For me it has quite a profound effect on the sound, out of any proportion to what I might expect.

 

[Pjotr]

Hi,

I use compressor oil. Has the right viscosity and lasts long At least for my Thorens TT

Cheers

 

[planarboy]

I'm using decidely thick stuff from SRM/tech, might have to try audio origami. I just got a friend to sandblast the armwand on a broken rb300, I'll put a photo up..he charged me $20, pretty good.

 

[planarboy]

here it is set up

 

[planarboy]

?? can't do two shots at once?

 

[Panicos K]

I don't think it runs faster or slower because of the oil.I've checked and haven't noticed anything.If it runs faster however,this is a proof that with the thick oil the motor suffers.In such an event,then I would prefer a slightly "faster" speed,not to mention that we have heard that Rega's run faster than they should anyway.And believe me the sound is better,and this surely because of the oil,not speed.Let us not start a discussion why a "famous"turntable does not have a round sub-platter,or uses thick oils to achieve correct speed!!!!! Just for the record,the P3 belongs to my friend,not me.

 

[planarboy]

So a groovetracer sub and dc motor would be a worthwhile purchase?

 

[planarboy]

I am now waiting for my lukaschek to arrive, total cost to me $900AU for the purchase and repair. They swapped my damaged board for a T9 board, great deal.
However as this ended up not being a DIY project, strictly speaking this thread is out of place on this forum.
I just bang on about analog, DIY or not. I hope that doesn't bother people.
Now I am making a unit for my brother, still based on the rega bearing.
When I think different turntables, I really think different bearings, being the heart of it all, but I haven't left rega yet for finance reasons.
Blah blah.
dave

 

[planarboy]

Haha, my old thread! I found this in a Google search while I was scoping out the price of the PP-1. I might have to sell it.
I did get the Supex repaired by Benz, with a boron cantilever and FG-II stylus, and it is bloody magic! The mounting holes were worn so I sliced them off and stuck an aluminium plate on top, which I got on Ebay.
And the Supex is now on Ebay because I need money. The starting price is 249AU. I wish I could keep it. But the DL103 with alloy shell will do, and it is a louder cartridge. I'll have to do the whole Soundsmith thing with that denon one day.
SUPEX 900 MKIV MC MOVING COIL CARTRIDGE BENZ REPAIR - eBay, Turntables, Audio, Electronics. (end time 13-Mar-10 02:25:13 AEDST)