Help setting up my gyrodec please

[Dav1d]

Hi there everyone I've finally got my gyro Dec and I've been setting it up. My gosh there is so much to be done. Anyway I've done most things except the over hang on the tonearm/cartridge, it says I should have 17mm from the needle to the centre of the spindle with the tonearm going through the centre of the record Dec. But I can only manage just over 20mm it won't go in any more. Will this course problems? I'm getting loads of pops and cracks playing records, (is this because I've not got a record brush yet?) I'm using a normal micro fiber cloth at mo.

Best wishes

David.

 

[Al ears]

Hi there everyone I've finally got my gyro Dec and I've been setting it up. My gosh there is so much to be done. Anyway I've done most things except the over hang on the tonearm/cartridge, it says I should have 17mm from the needle to the centre of the spindle with the tonearm going through the centre of the record Dec. But I can only manage just over 20mm it won't go in any more. Will this course problems? I'm getting loads of pops and cracks playing records, (is this because I've not got a record brush yet?) I'm using a normal micro fiber cloth at mo.

Best wishes

David.

Which tonearm, which cartridge and do you have some sort of alignment protractor?

 

[Dav1d]

I have the tonearm you said about to me. Onyx and the a audio technica at440mlb cartridge. No I've not aligned my Dec yet. Do you think this will make the pops and cracks?

David.

 

[Al ears]

I have the tonearm you said about to me. Onyx and the a audio technica at440mlb cartridge. No I've not aligned my Dec yet. Do you think this will make the pops and cracks?

David.

Quite possibly, the cartridge needs to be properly aligned in the headshell.

Did you not get some sort of protractor with the tonearm? If not have a look for something like the Ortofon Cartridge Alignment Protractor, they are only about £9

 

[MajorFubar]

Reading between the lines that your knowledge in this field is sketchy at best I would strongly suggest asking the dealer where you auditioned it and bought it if he is willing to come round and set it up for you.

 

[Al ears]

Reading between the lines that your knowledge in this field is sketchy at best I would strongly suggest asking the dealer where you auditioned it and bought it if he is willing to come round and set it up for you.

I was heading that way myself Major.

Origin Live arms always used to come with templates but not knowing exactly what the OP has in the way of guidelines doesn't help. Some knowledge of the basics is always handy and doing it for yourself is the only way to learn. There are plenty of guides on the internet.

 

[Dav1d]

Hi there guys, I never got any type of protractor with my origin live onyx tonearm so I guess the next thing is to order a protractor ? Like you say al ares. I'm really wanting to learn myself and if I'm honest the guy in the shop where I purchased the Dec from didn't even advise to level the Dec so I'm pretty sure he won't have a clue on Cartrigde alignment. If one of you guys could please give me some kind of link on how to with these Cartrigde alignment/adjusters I would be very greatful.

 

[Al ears]

If it didn't come with one do a quick search on Amazon. The mirrored version can help.

To set up this may be useful:-

http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm

 

[stevebrock]

when you say you havent aligned to dec yet do you mean the Tonearm ?

I presume to have got the deck level - are you using a buuble spirit level - sonething like the Roksan one? You really need to do this as its important, also make sure the tonearm cable does not impede the Gyrodecs suspension?

Take a look on Vinyl Engine, you may be able to download a alignment protractor for OL arms or look on the OL website.

Dont rush - all in all it took me about 3 hours to set up then a further few to get the best bounce I could get.

Any questions I can try and guide you!

 

[Al ears]

Dav1d, You did mention levelling the deck and this is a crucial starting point.

Listen to stevebrock as he owns the SE version, and it's been a while since I tinkered with a Michell.

You do need to buy a cartridge alignment gauge, or you could download one and print it out but I find a purpose made one better. They last for years and don't cost a lot. The mirrored ones let you see cartridge alignment from underneath so are handy. They are generally universal so fit any turntable. You really need this before you can progress any further and also some scales to accurately measure downforce as this too is crucial.

 

[Dav1d]

Hi there

I already levelled the Dec with a leveller. The wire in the tonearm is ok and not coursing any problems I don't think? what I do have is a small amount of draw back with the arm, what I mean is that the arm very slowly swings back out from the centre of the record Dec outwards, when I Have the arm floating above the Dec, Even after adjusting the little ball that controls the swing back. Al ears I'm waiting for a downforce device to come any day in the post so hopefully this will come soon. In the mean time I'll go onto the ol website and see what I can find. Would all these adjustments really make pops and cracks noise?

Thanks guys

david.

 

[stevebrock]

ok your talking about the bias then

However the bias is a used to avoid inner groove distortion on Rega arms, but I have owned several Rega decks and never experienced it.

Did you get any instructions with the OL arm - tbf OL products are aimed at people who have good knowledge of TTs - I am not belittling you - but trying to help.

With regards to pops & crackles - have your records been cleaned ?

What was your last TT or is this your first?

With regards to down force - this is referred to as tracking weight and your really need to get this set up to within your cartridges parameters - what cart is it ? AT ?

 

[Al ears]

It's the AT440mlb, tracking weight is 1.0 - 1.8g.

I'd keep towards the upper limit.

 

[Dav1d]

Hey Steve

Yes you're correct, it's the bias that I'm talking about. I think I've got it pretty much sorted, all but a little drifting outwards from the centre of the Dec while the arm is floating. (Should this still be happening?) Yes I purchased the tonearm new so have all the insulation manuals.

And again you're right I'm totally starting to realise ol arms aren't for newbies. All the same with some help from you guys I'm pretty much getting there. This is my very first Dec, I've been into music for some time but only just started to get into vinyl play. All my records come from places whereby they are cleaned before being posted to me. I made sure of this.

I have a audio technica AT440MLB cartridge. One thing I will say is that I can't get the overhang right, I have the cartridge right the way back on the two screw holes in the headshell it just won't go back anymore than 20mm and the tonearm manual states 17mm Why do you think this is happening? (Not a good combo of tonearm/cartridge?)

David.

 

[Al ears]

The tonearm cartridge combo should be fine. I think you'll need to wait and set it properly with the alignment protector. Here you check at two different points and not just a quoted figure of 17mm. That's a strange way of doing it.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

David I admire your pluck sir, but as a newbie, setting-up/assembling a Gyrodec from scratch would not have been something I would have personally attempted as my first venture into turntables! You are asking some very basic questions about turntable setup, which leads me to wonder if this will end in disappointment and money wasted.

My advice to you would be to find an experienced guy who knows how to set-up a deck properly and pay him handsomely for the privilege of his experience. Failing this sell the Gyro and purchase a plug and play Project Debut Carbon and make all your mistakes on this cheaper turntable; not the Gyro.

Turntable ownership and maintenance is a very steep learning curve fraught with potenially costly mistakes along the way. In Steve and Al you have two superb guys regarding experience and advice but they can only assist you so far with written replies. Youtube is also a good source for assistance.

I wish you good luck sir.

 

[stevebrock]

David - If you are anwhere within a reasonable distance of either Leicester - Nottingham - Lincoln then I am happy to help if you feed & water me !

 

[Al ears]

If you are anywhere in South Wales I can offer my services either phone or face to face.

It was indeed was a bold move going for a project like this rather than a plug and play turntable, you will learn much though and, ultimately, get much better sound from this one.

 

[Freddy58]

If you're anywhere near Bristol, don't ask me! *biggrin*

Good luck with it though, I'm sure you'll get there in the end

 

[Dav1d]

I did have a little giggle at your advice on what I should do (sell the gyro and buy a plug and play). Surely this is the advice of someone that clearly has no care of how much I've spent and how much I'd loose by selling my Dec after only having it for a week. Or was this just cheap sarcasm, I would wager the latter sir!

I see your point in getting someone around to set my Dec up but I'm going to pass on that and continue to try myself thank you sir. In fact I've got the Dec running nicely and only require the protractor to set the overhang of the Cartrigde, (thanks to the friendly advice and help from al and Steve) after that I will set the tracking force with my new stylus force gauge and I'm pretty much set up.

Regards

David

 

[Al ears]

Good point some was to set tracking weight before you align cartridge finally but I personally don't see how you can do that.

This brings me back to your crackle question and I am suggesting you shouldn't be playing any vinyl until the cartridge is correctly aligned and tracking force set otherwise you could be tempting damage.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

I did have a little giggle at your advice on what I should do (sell the gyro and buy a plug and play). Surely this is the advice of someone that clearly has no care of how much I've spent and how much I'd loose by selling my Dec after only having it for a week. Or was this just cheap sarcasm, I would wager the latter sir!

I see your point in getting someone around to set my Dec up but I'm going to pass on that and continue to try myself thank you sir. In fact I've got the Dec running nicely and only require the protractor to set the overhang of the Cartrigde, (thanks to the friendly advice and help from al and Steve) after that I will set the tracking force with my new stylus force gauge and I'm pretty much set up.

Regards

David

No, no sarcasm itended David. As I said in my previous post I admire your pluck sir. I am fully aware of how much you have invested in this purchase and my views were only that of an observer who returned to vinyl playback about three years ago, and those three years have been a voyage of discovery for me; both good and bad. Good when you get it right but can be expensive when you get it wrong, especially where cartridges come into the equation.

OCD is a necessary evil where turntables are concerned, guesswork should never come into it, and never place a stylus on your treasured vinyl collection until the cartridge has been set-up correctly. The correct protractor and digital scales are the minmum requirement here. Track down a HiFi News test record too, ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hifi+news+test+record ), I have found the four tracks for bias setting invaluable.

Steve and Al are the pro's here and I will now leave you in their capable hands and wish you good luck *good*

 

[stevebrock]

Thanks DougK - I am far from a Pro !

However I have learnt a lot over the last couple of years from a few people on here & various other forums!

I owned a few Rega decks in the past which gave me a little grounding and when I had my heart set on a Gyrodec I studied everything I could in relation to set-up, arms etc etc. The damn thing tooks 8-9 weeks to arrive so I had plenty of time to glean what I could on assembly.

Even though I have had my deck for a while I make a habit of regulalry checking that its set up to its optimum as it does get used more or less daily - stuff like VTF, bounce, level etc -

I enjoyed building it too, a sense of satisfaction from how great it sounds too.

I added the Orbe Clamp Upgrade too - really made a noticable difference !

 

[Al ears]

Good to hear about the Orbe clamp stevebrock, always wondered if it made a difference.

I too would not consider myself a pro. Years of tinkering and many turntables of all types and much reading helps, as does keeping up with current thinking, design, and cartridges. Educated maybe, but not a pro.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Agh, come on you two *smile* take the credit where it is due. I could write what I know about turntables on the back of 1st class stamp!! I've been reading this forum for a few years and have always found both of you to be cracking guys with far more knowledge than I could ever hope to attain. When I'm in the market for an exotic turntable I know who I'll be asking for advice *biggrin*