I had this turntable back in 1976, much better than my brothers AR back then.
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the toshiba 355 appears to be a micro-seiki turntable. Sansui sold the same unit as well, IIRC. Don’t remember what model number sansui gave it.
this is probably one of the good ones. the lack of auto return speaks well for it as it has less plastic junk on the tonearm, internally, for a better sound quality. it is a 12kg turntable, or it’s about 26lbs. that is pretty massive. The biggest potential problem is not re-capping the direct drive power supply but that there are small 1uf electrolytic capacitors (and maybe one other value of electrolytic capacitor) INSIDE the motor casing proper. A full restoration requires taking the motor apart, and getting to those caps. It’s not a huge job. In my experience, it does not require that the motor be re-calibrated.
I left it right there. a SR-355 (a middle to to ’low upper range’ direct drive Micro Seiki), on the other hand, I would have bought one in a heartbeat. (if at the same junk store) FYI, it has a 3.5-3.6lb platter and the direct dirve motor is close to 4 lbs. the SR-5080S is like a more complex version of the 355. Which makes the 355 sound better as it has less mechanical crap tied to the tonearm. If it is similar to the 5080, it might have some minimal ability to alter the tonearm height, like a ’real turntable’. I suspect it will. Like so: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/403188809399 If the price is right, grab it. |