emt 950, technics sp10 - direct drive sound

Well - this is my Taj Mahal - and it's a bit like the black one that was not built.

Simply put - I got an emt 929 arm, and then I got the iron plinth stripped.

GEtting the plinth stripped is a BAD BAD BAD move. what happened was becasue it is cast iron - as soon as it is was stripped the surface - by reason of being in a slightly moist atmosphere at the strippers - oxidised on the surface.

I have located an iron worker specialist - and they reckon they'll be able to strip and put on an undercoat - the problem with this is that they are on leave until August!

I am currently in the process of a house move - so it's all a bit tedious.

My wife, in her infinite wisdom chucked away some of my dismantling notes - I must say they were like hyrogliphics - but I am a bit annoyed, because i may well have to make a call to hans fabritius while i carry out the works.

So all is not well.

But I am very hopeful, becasue hans fabritius did sort out the electrics - so onwards and upwards.

In addition to this I am gonna have sufficient house space soon!

Well - I said I will do an update!
After getting the paint stripped off, it formed a fine layer of rust. I have just applied some liberon rust remover, and with some elbow grease - dremel and a wire brush - it is now showing the steely bare metal.

At long-last i have sent my EMT to Deutsche Studiotechnik fora full refurb

 

I spoke to Benjamin who now holds the reins at Dutsch Studiotechnik and he said he'd do a mini interview with me.He is very insistent on keeping the original EMT chain ie - TSD 15 - 929 arm - the in-built phono stage.

@dkarmeli whose opinion I highly value very much concurs with the EMT chain save the phono stage - I am led to believe that quite a few people aren't huge fans on the inbuilt phono stage. I'm going to ask for two options:

1. the option to plug in my own phono cable in order to bypass the stage

2. changing the Leno plugs to standard balanced plugs.

I must say i am dreading how much this is gonna cost me. In fact I think I am going to sell my spare QL10

@pindac 

I've been exceptionally naughty:

Townshend Elite Rock (now heavily modified

JVC QL10 (2 in fact because one got trashed by USELESS PARCEL SERVICES)

Sony TTS 8000

Beeogram 4002

Thing is the EMT restoration creates a tweak free toy. You can fiddle with all the others - let's face it us nerds are inveterate tinkerers who love to play with our toys

@pindac 

I need to check out how this is all done. How do you press the bearing - is it a high pressure fit?

Have you done before and after Sn measurements? I recall having a very good conversation with the late great Max Townshend last year about bearings and he said that people wrongly get fixated with the hardness of bearings - that's why, when signals excite them (as per a record player) they can/do cause high frequency sibilance. As such tungsten carbide and steel balls can/do sound better than ceramic balls.

@alexberger thanks - you are yet another person to say the original phono stage is a bit meh. I have two very good phono stages - as such i think i will get the plug option. No doubt the engineer will say it's heresy but there again EMT themselves make a very high end phono stage.

Hi @pindac 

I certainly need to look at thee mod given that he deck is now over 40 years old and regardless will need to be carefully looked at. 

When Wilkinsons worked on my QL10 i got a new teflon thrust pad and a ceramic ball bearing. I am minded to use the watch bearing oil that I bought from Reson (they made a deck called the rota and i read the watch oil used is very clever stuff as it is designed to not displace and go into very small gaps and maintain a film) 

The TTS 8000 i may have to wait a bit for as i have seen the bill for my EMT restoration and it ain't cheap - that said its a full overhaul of the electrics and the tonearm which in fairness is not an unreasonable price.

I need to ask if pitch control can be added to the deck.

@dover I have the narrowline version. It was from an Austrian radio station so it had Lemo connectors - i am getting those changed to standard XLR unless i can be persuaded that Lemo connectors are brilliant. As it happens it did not have the MC boards - the transformer prices are a bit juicy too but I do want to hear the whole thing optimised. 

As it happened it didn't come with an arm so i had to source one at a time when the 929's weren't being made. Annoyingly the one i sourced was from someone that put horrible wire in it and had mis-adjusted it.

Likewise the TSD15 I bought was when EMT carts were hard to get in the UK - i bought it with a view to getting it re-tipped - but it had been owned by total idiot (less said the better) The cost of a rebuild may be un-economic and as such i may get a new TSD15. That said Benjamin has a Thorens VDH tip TSD15 which may be worth getting. 

I have asked Benjamin if he'd do an interview to put onto my direct drive page which is on a well known social network site, or I may ask Jason Kennedy at 'the ear' if he'd post it there.

The interesting/sad thing with DD's is that the real brains that devised the Japanese superdecks are a very shy breed and I've never corresponded with one of them - it will be sad if such knowledge died/disappeared. Thankfully Benjamin took the reins from his father and as such EMT's the world over can be restored to original.

Hi guys 

I have a catch 22.

my options are:

a. Get a brand new tsd SFL with headshell

b. Get. Rebuilt tsd 15sfl

c. Get groove tickler to rebuild a horrible old one with any stylus/cantilever - will need adjustable headshell

What you think?

Benjamin thinks the SPH is better for pre '84 recordings. I have a lot of post '84 music (I was in the DJ vinyl revival) although I do buy a lot of second hand simply coz you get pre-digital mastering.

I was hoping someone with experience of the carts would pipe up. The problem with EMT owners and users they appear to operate in a bit of a parallel universe. We know they are out there - we know they exist - but they don't seem to post much and when they do it appears to be based or comes from a perspective that nothing else out there exists nor can compare without giving any objective or comparative description. I'm open minded enough to accept there are many ways to float our boats - it's why i have an unhealthy habit of accumulating turntables.

 

@dover I sat for a coffee with Van Den Hul himself. He did a few things to the cartridge and it was not simply a different stylus. He changed the rake angle from 15 to 25 degrees - then the headshell mount was changed to a solid piece to prevent a spring effect/resonance. Thanks for triggering that memory I had.

I’m no longer into the DJ revival so to speak - that said I started to buy vinyl in the 90’s - my music was funk/soul/rare groove - not BPM house. More a description of when I bought records. Sadly u can’t buy a Decca new - apparently Decca can re-tip and refurb but no new ones🥲

I am not minded to spent 2 1/2 times as much for a modified cartridge - sorry. I have spent money on exotics by Zyx and Transfiguration but even then i consider relative value. The very respected re-tipper in the UK explained an awful lot in terms of manufacturing and value and putting it bluntly many cartridges are a rip-off.