Pro-Ject Debut 3SE 78rpm

[DavidDS]

I swapped the 33/45 pulley on my Pro-Ject Debut III/SE for the 33/78 version and also added an Ortofon Stylus 78 so that I could play my wife's collection of 78rpm records. Has anyone else had experience of using this kit?

The pulley is easy to swap but the belt is much wider and flatter compared to the original belt. Anyone know why this might be? You can hear it slipping a bit on start-up at 33rpm, or slipping a LOT at 78rpm - so much so that I resorted to giving the platter a spin by hand to get it going before switching on the motor. I also think wow has increased slightly. It's so subtle that I could be imagining it but it doesn't seem as pitch stable as before I did the swap.

Also, are those OM stylii supposed to be that hard to get off? The videos I've seen show a simple pull but mine is so tight it was a real struggle and I was afraid I was going to break the tonearm or pull the cartridge out of alignment, and because you can't do it with the stylus guard on, there's a real danger of damaging the cantilever as your fingertips squeeze the stylus housing. I've swapped back to the OM10 for now, but it was such a tricky business I'm not sure I want to do it again.

Has anyone else tried this conversion and got any thoughts they'd like to share?

 

[entrails]

I used to have a debut and did consider the system you chose as a way to play my Dads 78's. In the end I was put off by comments that such a light weight turntable set up was not ideal for 78's. I went for a Lenco GL75 using the Shure cartridge supplied which has easily removed styluses including 78 versions. If you do consider an alternative option I can't recommend it enough as an affordable option that sounds great.

I dont recall having to fight with my OM cartridge when I switched up to an OM20 so I suspect you have been unlucky with the one you have.

One piece of general advice with playing 78's is ensure you have a much greater tracking force as the discs go at such a frighteningly faster speed the tonearm can fly off easily with major scratches. I would advise 3.0 at least.

 

[DavidDS]

Thanks for the great feedback. You're quite right about increasing the tracking force - the OM Stylus 78 recommends 2g and that seemed to work well for my 78's which are in pretty good condition - but I also found I needed to reduce the anti-skate bias to stop the stylus flying off if I missed the lead-in.

I just played Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison and there is some distortion on the vocals which I didn't notice before. I'm hoping it's on the recording and it's not me pulling something out of alignment. I'll play a few more records before jumping to conclusions but so far Dire Straits is sounding pretty clean...

 

[brownz]

There are two belts available for the Debut - round and flat. Some people prefer one, some people the other.

It shouldn't slip though - might be a sign it's getting on a bit, and has been stretched a little, but 78 being a bigger pulley should counteract that stretch.

OM Stylus, yup, it's a gamble, some are easy some are stiff. Trick is to get the fingernails into the join between the cart and stylus. You'll get the knack.

 

[DavidDS]

Trick is to get the fingernails into the join between the cart and stylus. You'll get the knack.

That really does help. Thanks for the tip.