Turntable No. 3

[drummerman]

Finally got the Sony PS FL-1 home. A lengthy story but I don't use couriers for these things anymore.

Fascinating object. It is surprisingly heavy and fun to watch when the smoked screen disappears and the drawer slides open.

It is a DD servo regulated turntable and is fully automatic, how very un-audiophile. Came with a new stylus fitted. All works relatively smooth and silent, somewhat of a surprise considering the age. The arm looks well made and moves freely in all directions with no friction.

I just spinned some Sade and it sounds good. Smooth with good drive and rhythm. It is not as precise as either the Garrard or Thorens but it adds a little bit of warmth which is pleasant. - I'd say this comes close to the archetypal turntable sound people expect without straying into soggyness. - It lacks a little bit of soundstage precision and texture at the frequency extremes but will never offend. - My Thorens in comparison is truthful and revealing ... for good or bad.

I will get around to service the Sony next week on my days off but taking top/bottom and front off for a quick look reveals 'sound' Sony typical engineering. The weight comes from the bearing and plate and well as the sliders and other assorted metal parts. Electronics are fairly elaborate with a good, large power supply on its separate panel. There is substantial cross bracing and although the platter sub chassis is plastic, it is not the normal thin stuff often found but really quite thick and inert.

I expect that sound will improve after a service and precise set-up so all happy here. She is silver at the moment but will get a nice new, black matt coat.

Should look and sound like new shortly.

Happy weekend everyone x

regards

 

[floyd droid]

Tenner ?.

 

[drummerman]

Tenner (plus some petrol money)

regards

 

[floyd droid]

Cant be bad. Have fun with your new toy mate.

 

[drummerman]

Thanking you kindly.

She will probably go on the bay in her shiney new dress and after a complete physical (and a bit of playtime with each other ... ).

regards

 

[drummerman]

Allrighty, the panels are in the 'paint shop', hung up and waiting to dry. That includes the front one which I thought would look better. All in lovely new matt black of course. This should make this TT quite unique as it was only made in silver afaik.

As a bonus I found the missing front panel metal strip inside the front assembly. The motor mechanism was taken apart, cleaned and re-lubed and the rails/wheels de-greased completely, none needed there. - Contacts have all been de-oxided (I always use Comma, its about 2000 times cheaper). The tonearm and head assembly got the treatment too.

Its all ready for re-assembly later today and I got a nice replacement Sony batch for the front. Also ordered a triplet of sorbothane feet to complete the job.

She will look like new.

Again, I was surprised by the material used for the tray/subchassis. Its a good 5mm thick and almost completely inert and dead to knocking. Certainly more so than the solid metal ones of both the Garrard and Thorens before treatment. - How important is that ... ? I dont know to be honest. Its a combination of different factors that make or break a table. Try and error, suck and see but its always nice to see that manufacturers put some thought and effort into the design.

Yesterday, whilst disassembled, I adjusted VTF to 1gramm exactly and I have to say, this unusual TT sounds just beautiful. Being a DD it 'drives' music along beautifully and has real rythm and snap. - Musical must have been the key word when they designed this product. - I think the biggest surprise was the clarity of high frequencies, crystal clear with no distortion.

After assembly I pay some attention to tonearm damping to just tighten bass a smidgen. Should be easy. Using the Thorens record clamp its already half way there and I have a new, nice interconnect with separate grounding wire ready for soldering.

Kind of makes me wonder just how much money do you have to spend to get really enjoyable TT sound.

Choose wisely, put in a little elbow grease and the answer is probably ... not a lot at all.

regards

 

[floyd droid]

Good stuff D. Let you off until the paint is dry , however..................

 

[drummerman]

Will do, and others. Just something I never usually do, not sure why (not).

You are not by any chance the gentleman I bought the elderly lady off?

regards

 

[The_Lhc]

Slight body-swerve, what's the Garrard you refurbed? I've got an old 210 mechanical drive autochanger that seems to work (it's got no cartridge at the moment!) but everything goes round and stops when it should) but the mechanism is a bit noisy, I should probably take it to bits and re-grease everything but I know damn well I'll never get it all back together again. Apparently it's possible to replace the spindle bearing with something less noisy but I can't remember what or where you get them from (I read it on a TT forum a while back).

 

[floyd droid]

Will do, and others. Just something I never usually do, not sure why (not).

You are not by any chance the gentleman I bought the elderly lady off?

regards

Thats a negative D .

 

[floyd droid]

Slight body-swerve, what's the Garrard you refurbed? I've got an old 210 mechanical drive autochanger that seems to work (it's got no cartridge at the moment!) but everything goes round and stops when it should) but the mechanism is a bit noisy, I should probably take it to bits and re-grease everything but I know damn well I'll never get it all back together again. Apparently it's possible to replace the spindle bearing with something less noisy but I can't remember what or where you get them from (I read it on a TT forum a while back).

You can download a service manual from the vinylengine . Dunno if you are registered but if not then you need to first. Get in there !!.

 

[drummerman]

An 86SB. Luvely thing despite some rather sarcastic comments on here when I enquired about it knowing nothing about it (or any other TT for that matter). Nicely machined, heavy platter and a fantastic motor unit.

I took pictures as I progressed taking the whole assembly apart, a wise decision in hinsight. Its not so much an issue of re-greasing these old ladies but to get rid of the old grease properly. They will always be noiser being totally mechanical auto return.

Not sure what you mean by spindle bearing though.

regards

 

[plastic penguin]

DM... you once asked about starting your own hi-fi business. With all these turntables you aren't.... no, can't be. :twisted:

 

[The_Lhc]

Slight body-swerve, what's the Garrard you refurbed? I've got an old 210 mechanical drive autochanger that seems to work (it's got no cartridge at the moment!) but everything goes round and stops when it should) but the mechanism is a bit noisy, I should probably take it to bits and re-grease everything but I know damn well I'll never get it all back together again. Apparently it's possible to replace the spindle bearing with something less noisy but I can't remember what or where you get them from (I read it on a TT forum a while back).

You can download a service manual from the vinylengine . Dunno if you are registered but if not then you need to first. Get in there !!.

Yeah, that's the place I was talking about, I think I dl'd all that but I've no confidence in myself to put it back together properly, I'd rather find someone else that (vaguely) knows what they're doing. The replacement cartridge is a bigger issue to be be honest, I'd like something reasonable and modern on there so I can use a normal phono stage (ceramic cartridges require different equalization) but the tracking force of upto 10g makes it awkward!

 

[relocated]

Drummer,

You MUST post pics, with that amount of work you deserve a bit more bragging exposure.

It sounds like you are going to do all that work and sell on, is that right? If I had the skill to do all that, with the time invested in it, I'm not sure I would part with it. Particularly given its rarity and it sounding well.

 

[drummerman]

No, just a hobby. Just feel more involved getting my mitts stuck in plus I then know how it works.

Turntables and speakers are easy. Results are immediate and easily reversible. Amplifiers more difficult. I haven't done anything with cdp's as I find the changes elsewhere are usually sufficient.

Only problem with all this is I'm becoming a bit of a horder ...

regards

 

[floyd droid]

the tracking force of upto 10g makes it awkward!

Shure sc35 maybe or a Stanton 500 . Think you can ram 5gms into the grooves out of them.

You may have headshell problems here mind unless its a standard plug in , dunno if I'm totaly honest.

 

[drummerman]

Two things I've learned amongst other things are ... Suspension Turntables are 'better'. - Its easy to lock the suspension out if needed but far more difficult to add suspension if it isn't there in the first place.

Get a light/medium mass arm. Easier to add weight for different cartridges than it is to take weight off.

regards

 

[The_Lhc]

the tracking force of upto 10g makes it awkward!

Shure sc35 maybe or a Stanton 500 . Think you can ram 5gms into the grooves out of them.

Yeah, this is the problem, from memory (I really should go back and check) the MINIMUM tracking force from a 210 arm is 7g!

You may have headshell problems here mind unless its a standard plug in , dunno if I'm totaly honest.

It is a bit awkward, you have to peel the thin metal Garrard logo off the top of the headshell without knackering it to get to the screws. Other than that I think it's relatively standard. I haven't looked at the thing for months tbh.

 

[floyd droid]

Jeezus H C ! a mere paltry 7gms. Dust it down and stick it on the sideboard as a point of interest for visitors. I thought I had found an old Pickering which tracks at 7gm but twas in a discussion on a forum , there was too many conflicting opinions on what the ruddy thing actualy had as a vtf so I gave up on that.

Interesting stuff to pass an hr mind just a pity its all leading up a dead end.

 

[floyd droid]

Anyhoo , sorry for throwing your thread off kilter D.

 

[The_Lhc]

Jeezus H C ! a mere paltry 7gms. Dust it down and stick it on the sideboard as a point of interest for visitors. I thought I had found an old Pickering which tracks at 7gm but twas in a discussion on a forum , there was too many conflicting opinions on what the ruddy thing actualy had as a vtf so I gave up on that.

It lives in a 1960 Ferguson Radiogram cabinet, I've already mounted my Sonos ZP120 inside which is driving some Roth Oli2s temporarily until I've got the funds to fit some Scanspeak drivers or some such in the cabinet. The TT would be a nice to have to play the odd 45 but I won't be broken hearted if I can't get it going (although the missus might be...).

I can't remember if I've ever posted any pictures of it thinking about it, probably not.

 

[floyd droid]

Ah !. Is that the Radiogram that some time back I gave you the nod towards Haden Boardman who is well into this old ish stuff. I seem to remember something about you fancied getting it all up and running.

 

[The_Lhc]

Ah !. Is that the Radiogram that some time back I gave you the nod towards Haden Boardman who is well into this old ish stuff. I seem to remember something about you fancied getting it all up and running.

Yes, that's the one, priorities intervened but hopefully soon I should be in a position to move things on a bit.

 

[floyd droid]

8) . And why not I say. Looking forward to future developments.