OT: A couple of time correct pieces to go with my 604Ds

[mah]

For idlers and others: Vinyl Engine | The Home of the Turntable

[alancohen]

Do I want to take on this project? I'm going to see it this weekend.

Presto Pirouette T-18 turntable with Rek-O-Kut 120 tonearm

[cradeldorf]

I can remember taping pennies onto the arm of our record player....can't remember why. I was only 10 at the time.

[Altec Best]

I can remember taping pennies onto the arm of our record player....can't remember why. I was only 10 at the time.

For Tracking weight...

[alancohen]

For Tracking weight...

No, it was to stop the tone arm from hitting the dustcover when the needle hit a crusty dollop of jam. 78RPMs can do some damage.

[Altec Best]

No, it was to stop the tone arm from hitting the dustcover when the needle hit a crusty dollop of jam. 78RPMs can do some damage.

Not on my old TT.. It was to add weight to the stylus cause it kept doing wheelies !

[Phil-G]

I can remember taping pennies onto the arm of our record player....can't remember why. I was only 10 at the time.

i remember seeing quarters. it depended on how much rice crispys were involved.

[alancohen]

OK, it's mine. The good news, the Ashland hysteresis synchronous motor works a peach. Smooth and dead quiet. The platter spins till the cows come home. The rubber on all three idlers is...rubbery. The tonearm is 95%. Just needs a good cleaning.

The not so good: The arm is mono. I need to do some mechanical as well as electrical work to use it stereo. No biggie. I saw a thread where a guy cannibalized a computer fan motor for the 33ga magnet wire. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of old computer fans these days. And then I need a period correct cartridge. Shure V15 comes to mind. There is also no anti-skate, but heck, they seemed to work fine in the 50s.

Anyway, I'm psyched. I love the fact that it was made in Paramus, NJ; 40 minutes from my house.

He was asking $250, we settled on $225. I'm pleased.

[wws944]

Neat table, and would be great for 78s and mono 33s/45s. If you want a period appropriate cartridge, a Shure V15 (early '70s) seems a bit recent for the vintage (late '50s). But at this point, I guess there isn't much difference between a 40+ y/o cartridge and a 50+ y/o cartridge as far as being considered 'vintage'.

Are you intending to play Really Old records, like 78s, with it? If so, you would probably want a cartridge with a spherical stylus. (And 78s would ideally require a larger spherical stylus than do the microgroove 33 RPM LPs.) A lot of older cartridges had two needles on the cantilever, on opposite sides of each other. So you could flip back and forth with a little lever depending on 78s or 33/45s. An older Shure or Stanton with replaceable, and easily replaceable via ebay sellers, 'needles' would be ideal.

Anti-skating is fairly important with stereo recordings. The newer ROK Micropoise arm had antiskating, and also a lateral balance adjustment. Here is my (formerly my uncles) ROK:

[alancohen]

Well I'm certainly going to build a proper plinth for it. The recycled drawer is quaint, but it deserves better. I have a pile of baltic birch that I got for my H-frame open baffles that I was planning on building if my A5s didn't cut it. But I'm in love with the A5s so I can use the wood for a 50# plinth. BTW, that's a terrible word...plinth. More than one would be...plinths. Try says that with a mouth full of Ritz.

I think I might do a 2 arm set up and keep the mono arm for 78s and such. If I do that, what would be some recommendations for a stereo arm? Do I get something like this: Tonearms, headshells, headshell wires, headshell clips or just go full-on modern arm?