|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
71.193.203.125
On Tuesday I picked up a Sansui SR525 for $30 from Craigslist.Seller advertised it as being in "nice" shape, all set up and ready to go with a nice cartridge. As you can see in the photos the Audio-Technica CN5625AL was mounted very skewed. The bias weight was missing and had been replaced with a plastic bead from his wife's craft drawer because the other was too heavy and "caused the arm to skate across the surface". The bias compensation weight was mounted on the wrong side of the arm. And the counter balance was all the way forward for maximum tracking weight. Also I didn't notice until I got it home, but there was a thick gray Swedish anti-static mat underneath the stock rubber mat with no adjustment to the tracking angle.
Despite all that things wrong with the setup, it actually played pretty dang well on the record he demoed. After getting it home and realizing just how poorly it was set up I'm glad I passed on the box of free records he wanted me to take with it. If he had been playing them for years like this they surely were shot.
Well, after getting it home I couldn't resist tearing into it. I spent pretty much most of the next day (July 4th) completely going through it. 1st thing I did was give it a complete cleaning. Turns out it was actually pretty clean underneath the thin layer of grime.
It was holding speed at 33 pretty good. But at 45 rpm it was all over the place. Thorough De-Oxit job on all the pots, main switch, and fuse holders (one of them had some weird corrosion) and the speed was dead steady at both speeds after proper adjustment.
Next I went after the arm. Pulled head shell and treated all connections with deoxit again. Properly set up all the weights after downloading the manual from VinylEngine. Found a standoff in my parts bin that weighed almost exactly 2.2 grams and hung it from some waxed dental floss. Filled the cueing lever with some damping fluid (still mis-behaving, but now it doesn't drop like a hammer). Mounted up a vintage Adcom XC-LTII that still has some life left in it, set it Loefgren nulls, tracking force to 1.75 grams. And finally set the arm height appropriately.
In my living room vintage system I use a restored Hitachi IA-1000 integrated that has two phono inputs and a phono stage that I always thought was good but a little noisy. Well when I plugged the Sansui in I was blown away by how quiet the phono stage actually is. I had no idea that the vintage AR-XA was the source of so much residual hum.
After trying felt, cork, a Herbie's way excellent, and the stock rubber mat with correcting VTA each time I settled on the stock mat as being the best match (surprised? so was I).
The last thing I did was polish up the cover. No major scratches, gouges, or cracks.
The end result is I am completely blown away with how good this table sounds! Up till now I only had belt drives (Rega, 2 Pioneer's, 2 AR's, and a Pro-Ject) and could immediately hear the speed stability. And the lack of hum with the DC motor is something else. I had just come to accept some minor hum as a fact of life!
This table has now taken the place of the modded AR-XA in the living room and I spent the whole night listening to vinyl via headphones, something I previously resorted to only out of necessity. And I now have confirmed just how good the phono stage is in that old Hitachi amp.
I think this table is a real sleeper and the arm is way better than I expected. I had my doubts about a mass produced knife edge bearing, but it tracks very well. There is a kind of cheap rattly feel to it, but I think that's due to the looseness knife bearings. When the arm is down and playing it just works. My Infinity Black Widow has the same trait. The owner's manual states that Sansui did some proprietary internal dampening of the arm and you can't tell by looking at it. Is it true? I don't know. But properly set up the table just boogies in a smooth laid back way that took me back to the 70's, and in a good way!
Edits: 07/05/12 07/05/12 07/05/12 07/05/12 07/05/12 07/05/12 07/05/12Follow Ups:
Speed accuracy is a hallmark of the better direct drive tables. You have a fine looking table. I am glad the hard work paid dividends.
This is a great way to start summer!
"Help support our school's Music programs"
I have tried a few direct drives the last year or so and found that the Sansui's are very nice. Paid $130 for a SR-717 and was amazed at the build quality and sound.
TR
That's a beauty!
How do you like the Herbie's mat on that big aluminum platter?
I actually liked the stock mat better which really surprised me. Usually those big rubber mats kill the dynamics, but not on mine.
-Dogwan
A slight difference over the stock rubber mat, very quiet background.
TR
And, for an anti-skate string/weight:
http://www.needledoctor.com/Project-Anti-Skate-Weight?sc=2&category=433
Opus 104
...their kit with all 3 products and cloths is a 3 lifetimes supply, even if you a Honda CRV.
LIBERTY ONCE LOST,
IS LOST FOREVER
-JOHN ADAMS
u
If you want to do your headlights get the Sylvania headlight restoration kit. A few months ago in Consumer Reports they tested 5 or 6 different
headlight kits and the Sylvania was by far the best. I tried it myself and the results were incredible. It really works as advertised. There is a you-tube video showing the process. It takes about 30 or 40 minutes of your time.
"I weally weally wove music." Elmer Fudd 1961
LIBERTY ONCE LOST,
IS LOST FOREVER
-JOHN ADAMS
.
Also very cheap compared to the Novus plastic polish. $6 buys a big bottle. I use Meguiar's PlastX on dust covers, scratched DVDs, all kinds of stuff.
Cheers,
Bobbo :-)
k
John, you posted while I was loading 1st pic. Thanks and Check again to see more.
All you have to do to post multiple pics is to use the "Preview Message" button instead of the "Post Message" button with multiple edits.
Good luck,
John Elison
Thanks, will do next time.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: