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I'm a long time lurker and now first time poster here at the Asylum and thought I'd share some of my findings on Empire turntables. I posted a version of this recently on both www.audiokarma.org www.vinylengine.com and the response I received encouraged me to spread it out to this website.As my username implies, I’m a big fan of these turntables. I was exposed to them at a very early age, and have owned at one time or another a 298, two 598III's and a 698. I currently own two 598III’s. One pretty much stock, the other tweaked out and mounted with a SME 3009 II (which I really had to alter both arm and 'table to get it to work) and a custom wood base and dust cover I had built to replace the one that came with the unit. (It was in bad shape.)
There are so many myths, mistakes, and erroneous information about these turntables that I pooled all my collective knowledge of them in this post in the hopes some of the mystery surrounding them clears up.
It’s by no means a perfect or truly definitive post, and I appreciate any corrections and feedback anyone can offer.
All the information herein was gleaned from personal experience, library crawls for back issues of audio magazines from the early to late seventies, contemporary reports in stereo magazines such as Stereophile, www.radioshackcatalogs.com, Ebay, this forum, Vinyl Engine, AudioKarma and the treasure trove that is the rest of the internet.
Empire Scientific manufactured five turntable systems under the “Troubadour” name starting at about 1961 to 1980 as far as I can tell.
The major models produced were the 298, 398, 498, 598 and 698.
Those are the model numbers of the “complete” systems that were offered for sale, meaning base, platter/motor, and tonearm. There are also model numbers for various other permutations involving no arm or no base.
The standard finish was satin chrome (silver anodized aluminum) for the turntable and tonearm. A satin gold finish was denoted by a G suffix to the model number, except for the 598 & 698 where the gold finish was standard and the chrome was special order only. (I have seen in pictures on the web of one example each of a silver/chrome 598 and 698.)
While the gold colored Empire’s are I think the classier looking of the two finishes, they don’t hold up well. The 98 and 980 tonearms in their gold versions seem to suffer the most with an alarming degree of tarnish, flaking and corrosion not present in the silver versions. The gold finished platters and plinths also seem to age worse than their silver counterparts. Why this is so I have no idea.
The first turntable Empire offered for sale that I could confirm was the model 208/298, in Radio Shack’s 1962 catalog. The model 208 was an unsuspended, 3-speed belt driven turntable, using a dynamically balanced hysteresis-synchronous AC motor manufactured by Pabst of West Germany, and came with a walnut base and no tonearm. The 1962 Radio Shack catalog also offers bases in mahogany and fruitwood, the only mention I’ve ever seen of a base in a finish other than walnut.
The 298 is a 208 with the Empire 98 arm.
The 288 is a baseless 208 with 98 arm.
The 398 is a 208 with the Empire 980 arm. (First seen in the 1963 Radio Shack catalog.)
The 388 is a baseless 208 with 980 arm.
The Empire 98 and 980 arm are very similar, the main difference being the 98 has a removable bayonet pin headshell similar to the SME, and the 980 introduced the black plastic cartridge mounting plate that existed in all Empire arms until the introduction of the model 698 turntable.
The model 98 arm appeared first, followed some time later by the 980.
The 98 didn’t have any sort of connector to hook up a patch cord to it. It had flying leads out of the arm to solder to a suitable jack or tie points. The 980 introduced the five-pin tonearm connecting cable.
The 98 and 980 arm originally did not come with an anti-skate adjustment. Empire later offered a retrofit kit to attach a weight and pulley system to the 980 arm. Later production runs of the 980 arm featured a built in weight and pulley anti-skate system. (Seen mostly on 980 arms mated with the 498 turntable.)
The 98 arm was available in two versions. One for 12” maximum records, and a longer model suitable for 16” transcription discs. The longer arm was probably geared towards the broadcast industry and not for regular retail outlets. (Existence confirmed by two separate Ebay auctions I’ve seen over the years for this longer model.) The 980 tonearm may have also been made in a longer length but I have no confirmation of that.
The 980 also did not originally come with the unique “dyna-lift” magnetic end-of-record arm lift system, though it was introduced soon after the launch of the 980. When it became a built-in feature, a separate retrofit kit was offered for sale to let you enjoy this feature on your older 980 arm. (I believe it also was useable on the 98 tonearm as well.)
The 98 and 980 arms are fairly high-mass tonearms; though they featured high quality ball bearings in the vertical and horizontal plane that would permit extremely light and accurate tracking compared to other tonearms of the day. They were also dynamically balanced featuring a flat-coiled spring. This enabled them to track at any angle, even upside down. (Something I saw with my own eyes more than once.)
The weakest link in the 980 arm is the black plastic cartridge mounting plate. This alone I think is responsible for the less than enthusiastic reception given this tonearm’s performance these days. The plate is soft, bends easily under stress, and just isn’t a rigid enough platform for a good coupling of either cartridge to plate, or plate to tonearm. They are also extremely rare to find replacements for. I have seen recently on EBay someone offering newly manufactured mounting plates out of a stiff resin and featuring silver plated wiring for the leads that looks interesting, but haven’t heard about the performance of them. It is a shame too, because the overall build quality of the tonearm is quite good, and would probably mate well with any number of the modern day low-compliance moving-coil cartridges that are currently in vogue.
The weak point of the 98 bayonet headshell is its fixed cartridge mounting screws. You cannot adjust overhang after initially mounting the arm. Not that this is unusual, as Rek-o-Kut and Ortofon had similar designs for their bayonet style headshells. At least you can mount a Pickering 380 series cartridge in an Empire 98 arm without the need for spacers.
People talk about a 108 turntable, but I've never been able to uncover any evidence of such a model for sale. I've checked old Lafayette, Allied, and Radio Shack catalogs, and old audio magazines from the late fifties to early sixties and can't find mention of one. Even a late 1980’s replacement turntable parts list I have from Empire makes no mention of a 108 or 100 series turntable. I think people refer to a 108 turntable because early 208's didn't come silk-screened with the model number on the plinth and the serial number tag made no mention of the model number. But because the number A-108 or 108A is scribed on the platter and metalwork on all the 200/300 series turntables Empire manufactured, it is mistaken for a model number and not the part number I'm convinced it is.
If there ever was a model 108, it **COULD HAVE BEEN** a baseless, armless version of the 208 turntable. Since Empire did try to get into the professional broadcast market with their turntables (WQXR in NY used Empire turntables in the early 1960’s according to pictures and blurbs I’ve seen from magazines of that period,) that would have been a viable configuration to offer a radio station. Along with the longer length 98 tonearm, it would have been an ideal package for a high-fidelity conscious radio station back in 1961. But that is just my conjecture; there is no evidence to back it up.
The 498 was the first suspended sub-chassis Empire and appeared as far as I can tell about 1966 or 1967. It used the 980 arm, a suspension system of springs and felt that was refined further in the 598, a one-piece platter design very similar in build to the unsprung 208, and came with a walnut base similar to the 208.
The 488 is the baseless version with 980 arm.
The 498 and 398 appear to have been offered for sale simultaneously at one point going by an undated Empire sales flyer I have which shows a 398 and a 488 pictured along with two models of their Grenadier speaker, and a phono cartridge
There seems to be no model 408 (armless, with base.) This may be because the arm mount is integral to the suspension t-bar (like the AR) and therefore almost impossible to easily affix an aftermarket tonearm. (Unlike the AR which is adaptable to more than a few different tonearms if you’re willing to do the work.) That’s not to say it WASN’T offered for sale this way though; I just can’t find any evidence it was.
The 498 is the rarest of Empire turntables, being offered for sale for only a short while compared to the 398 before it and the 598 that followed it. Those who have been lucky enough to spend time with one, claim it is Empire’s best turntable, offering the strengths of the non-suspended 208 without the perceived negatives of the later sprung 598.
The 598, introduced about 1970~1971, was a radical rethink in design. It featured a two-piece platter, a newly designed walnut base, a new arm (the model 990,) an arm rest that featured a light that made it possible to “see” where you were placing the tonearm on the record in a dark room, and a first for Empire: a wood framed Plexiglas dust cover.
Contrary to assumption and popular belief, the 990 arm on the 598 WAS offered for separate sale. (You can see ads for it in stereo magazines of the period.) Like its predecessors, it was a dynamically balanced tonearm featuring captured race ball bearings in both the vertical and horizontal planes. Its anti-skate adjustment dispensed with the weight and pulley system and used an internal spring to set the opposing force. It also featured a levered cuing control as well as the Dyna-Lift magnetic end-of-record lift system. It was also fairly high mass, though it was designed to mate to Empire’s top of the line 1000ZEX cartridge which boasted the ability to track as low as a quarter of a gram in the arm. (I’ve successfully used a Shure V-15 Type V at one gram in mine with no ill effects.)
The implementation of the horizontal bearings also changed in the 990. The 98 and 980's horizontal bearing consists of individual ball bearings capped by a screw locked cap. This makes service difficult as you have to be careful while disassembling the arm, otherwise you'll have ball bearings flying everywhere. It also makes it hard to re tighten the cap, as you have to find a balance between stiffness and ease of movement. The 990's horizontal bearings are of a captured race type that is much more service friendly and has no risk of bouncing bearings getting under the rug.
Interestingly, according to ads and equipment reviews I have of the 598 from 1971 editions of Audio, Stereo Review, and High-Fidelity magazines, going against previous model numbering convention, the 598 a baseless turntable with the walnut base and dust cover an option for $35 more. Therefore, there was no formal "588" baseless version of the turntable.
The 598 went under three revisions during its production life.
598 – 3 speeds, with Empire’s standard pop-up 45-RPM adapter in the platter, matte finish very pale gold 3-speed strobe plate, “old” logo on the upper left hand side near the dust cover hinge on the base.
598 II – 3 speed, withOUT Empire’s pop-up 45-RPM adapter in the platter (though some DID have this), a new 45 adapter that sat flush when reversed on the spindle (built-in storage), matte finish very pale gold 3-speed strobe plate, and “new” Empire logo on the upper left hand side near the dust cover hinge on the base. The instructions were updated to reference the then new 4 channel Shibata styli in the anti-skate settings chart. Oddly, I've seen some *two-speed* 598's that are also called a 598II. (Those that I've seen called this had the pop-up 45 RPM adapter.)
598 III – 2 speed only, without pop-up 45-RPM adapter, reversible center disc for the 45-RPM adapter, matte finished very pale gold 2-speed strobe plate and new Empire logo on the upper left hand side near the dust cover hinge on the base. The instructions referenced 4 channel Shibata styli in the anti-skate settings chart.
Those are just general guidelines though. It seems Empire was a lot like a guitar or drum manufacturer in that they used what was available on a given day to make a given example of their turntables. This leads to many variations among surviving units, which can be confusing as hell.
In 1976 came Empire’s final turntable model: the 698.
It’s sad that the last Empire made has so many issues considering the tank like build of their previous offerings.
The positives:
The base, plinth, platter and bearing are unchanged from the 598. People say the 698’s bearing and motor is inferior to the 598 when the two 698’s and three 598’s I have examined show identical construction of the bearing and a Papst motor. I’m not sure how this got started. In fact it seems Empire made sure they used as much of the proven 598 design and tooling as possible. (I am just talking about platter/bearing quality of the 598 vs. 698, not the debate about the bearing and platter quality of the 208 vs. the 598/698 that exists.)
The motor in the 698 was (as on all previous Empire's) an AC synchronous, high torque Papst, sourced from Germany and built to the same standard as on the 208, 498 and 598. Again, why there seems to be this feeling the 698 motor is inferior to previous Empires is puzzling.
The dust cover switched from clear flimsy Plexiglas plastic to true, tinted tempered glass with a silk-screened gold Empire logo on the lower left corner of the top plate of glass. A nice touch.
The 2 speed strobe plate on the platter was a shiny, mirror finish deep gold that looked gorgeous.
The arm on the 698 was a totally new, true low mass design, and was able to handle the highest compliance cartridge you could throw at it. It continued Empire’s preference for a dynamically balanced tonearm, and featured sapphire bearings in the vertical and horizontal planes in a true gimbaled design. The anti-skate again used the decreasing bias principle first used in the 990 arm; it's opposite field "push" diminished as the arm neared the center of the record. It also came with two connecting cables, one a low-capacitance cable for CD-4 cartridges.
Why people think THIS arm is a continuation of the higher mass arms of Empire’s past puzzles me. It was the first tonearm made by Empire not to be offered for separate sale.
It also featured a unique electronic cue and end-of-record lift system that didn’t rely on mechanical linkages that would have compromised the performance of the tonearm.
The negatives:
There are two major weaknesses in the 698: the tonearm headshell and the electronic cuing. The headshell design is a unique one, only ever used on this arm so replacements are now impossible to find. It is also prone to failure because of the way contact is made electrically.
The electronic end-of-record lift and cuing is prone to failure as well, and no one seems to know how to fix them, despite the full schematic being printed in the instruction book. This is unfortunate as the design is quite clever and when it is working, is probably the most accurate, gentlest, and elegant cue and end-of-record lift system ever developed.
There are also a number of “little things” that are problems with the 698.
The clear plastic "Lexan" arm holder and fingerlift on the headshell seem prone to age related brittleness and breakage. It’s a pity about the armrest too, because the red LED shining underneath it gives it a nice, classy glow.
The capacitor in line with the power switch (to keep “pops” from being heard when power is turned on or off) seems to be the wrong value or defective in the examples I have seen, doing nothing to keep loud transients out of your speakers when you turn the turntable on or off.
The increase in weight of the dust cover because of the real glass causes the hinges to fail even earlier than in the 598. (The hinges were always a weak spot, despite their ingenuity in design.) Side note: Do NOT tighten the screw on the hinge bracket to try and get more tension to fix a dust cover that won’t stay open!! You will do serious damage if you do. There is a collet pin that is going through the screw and nut in the wood that in theory should keep the hinge from loosening, but in practice, doesn’t really succeed. Random tightening of the original screw will only cause the screw to break and make the hinge totally useless. If you want to try and fix it, you need to carefully remove the pin and rebuild the hinge using a new screw, which must match the threads of the nut inside the wood. Screw the assembly back into the dust cover as tightly as possible with your new screw, then drill with a small bit into the screw where the original pin was and set a nail inside them to fix the problem. It’s best to make sure the nail going through the screw and nut is long enough to go through the wood to assure the nail won’t work itself out in time. Be prepared to have to do this “fix” several times in the course of life with the 598/698.
And finally the silk-screening and gold plating on the 698 seems to be so thin that it rubs off quite easily. Corrosion is also present on the metalwork on many 698’s, which seems to have happened much faster than the corrosion on older models. All the gold finish Empires seem to show various levels of flake, corrosion and discoloration that the chrome-plated versions don’t seem to suffer, but the 698’s are particularly bad in this regard.
I’ve never been able to find out exactly when Empire ceased manufacture of the 698, but it must have been shortly after Ernst Benz bought Empire Scientific in 1981~1982. (The date of this sale according to Stereophile, December 1990, page 65.)
After that, Empire concentrated on phono cartridges until Benz cut his losses and sold the company in the mid-1980’s, wherein, Empire became a shell of it’s former self.
Various spare parts for the turntables were available up until around 1990 via direct mail order only from Empire’s then new Deer Park, NY location. Stocks of headshells for the 698 and the cartridge mounting plate for the older tonearms were already depleted by this point. (I know, I tried ordering them back then.)
Then, shortly after my last contact with Empire regarding replacement parts for their turntables, the name was sold to Russell Industries and their run as a manufacturer of High-Fidelity Stereo products was truly at an end. The remaining inventory of replacement turntable parts apparently was junked and no one at Russell Industries seems to know or care about the brand’s past as a maker of some of the most gorgeous, reliable, and overachieving turntables of their day. The name exists now only as a badge for aftermarket phone batteries, cheap replacement needles and new phono cartridges of questionable quality.
Sad.
Edits: 02/22/10Follow Ups:
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