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The EMPIRE strikes back

I have a lot of admiration for turntable designers. Over two years ago, I bought a (very) used Audio Empire 208 turntable with an SME 3009-II arm mounted on it. I was not all that impressed with it compared to my lowly VPI Scout. It was off-speed, the motor was noisy, I could hear rumble during quiet passages, etc.

So, following advice I got here and elsewhere, I decided to "improve" it. Sorta like the bionic man... Many have trodden these paths, so I was not an innovator. But it was all new to me, so it was both a learning experience, and mostly fun. Along the way, I listened to it, made changes, iterated and evolved my revisions. I did discover a small community of Empire enthusiasts, among whom I got good ideas and support from Harry Weisfield of VPI, Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere, and Paul Speltz of Anti-Cables, to name a few you might recognize.

Along the way, I fumbled through machining, electronics, physics, woodworking and materials science. I now have a deeper appreciation of the choices that turntable designers go through in producing competitive products. I've taken a lot of photos and will someday assemble them into a photo-story.

At the end of the day, the only things remaining from the original Empire table are the 3-phase Papst motor and the main bearing & platter. And those have all had work done on them. Here are just a few highlights:

* Platter damped with flexible 3M Epoxy mixed with brass shavings.
* Main bearing micro-polished ball end of shaft and replaced thrust washer with lignostone (ironwood is great stuff, naturally oily & holds oil well + wears like "iron" and is quiet!)
* Motor bearing ball replaced along with UHMD thrust bearing)
* aluminum top plate replaced with a 1" thick cast aluminum plate, bonded to a roughly 3/8" tool steel midplate bonded to a 2.25" MDF base. High mass indeed (I think with the frame it's now over 80lbs, my back hurts...)
* Walnut frame cut from log, dimensioned, cut and finished with hand tools (a big learning experience for me learning to use hand planes)
* SME 3009 replaced with a carbon fiber variant made by a boutique firm, Sonik Sircle. Amazingly good performance, and a great match for my Shelter 501 cartridge.

I'll need to take some photos of the finished table, but it is in play now -- Pinchas Zukerman playing and conducting the Violin Concerto #4 of Mozart, along with the Saint Paul chamber orchestra, on CBS Masterworks. Sounding sublime!

I'm loving the music, but the journey itself was its own reward.



"Knowing what you don't know is, in a sense, omniscience"


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Topic - The EMPIRE strikes back - CometCKO 14:39:38 02/25/15 (9)

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