Slaw
Congratulations on obtaining your Rock 7 table. I purchased the Rock 7 2 years ago with Metlin motor upgrade and I continue to he stunned by its performance. Damping at cartridge makes sound so much cleaner with gery natural tight bass clear highs and excellent dynamics. Best TT setup i"ve experienced. Interested to hear your comments concerning VPI. Good luck
Nick
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slaw I own the latest model Townsend Rock 7w/the Merlin power supply. I have been periodically following this forum.My question for you is: the belt on my unit does scrape the bottom of the platter somewhat. I shimmed under the 3 feet of the base with thin pieces of cardboard and this helped although did not completely resolve problem.
Is there a better solution /have you worked with this problem?My dealer who set it up said changing the motor angle will solve the problem . But doesn't changing that angle also affect the speed of the turntable which is currently not a problem on my unit ? Would appreciate any feedback you can provide.
If you have addressed this in a previous section of this forum let me know where to find it.Nick
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slawThanks
I think I may have the manual. I will look for it and review it. My dealer my be coming over in a couple of weeks and I can enlist his help also.
BTW- I think there is a Rock 7 w/ Merlin power supply and a Helius tonearm which the owner wants to sell. If you know of anyone interested or anyone who reads this forum with interest PM me for info.
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bdp24You are correct I have heard the Rock 7 with the helius tonearm numerous times and was very impressed. In fact that combo help me decide to buy the Rock 7. But I opted for the triplanar tonearm for my setup.
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slawI couldn't find a manual for the Rock 7 on the vinyl engine website you listed. I was able to locate my TT manual and the first thing I plan to do over the weekend is check the height of the turntable motor housing compared to the top surface of the chassis which is supposed to be even according to the pictures and written diagram.I would think that if the belt is rubbing on the bottom of the platter that the motor housing should be lowered slightly to give it more space away from the platter?
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bdp24
The Zeta tonearm is not one that I am familiar with. If you spoke directly to Max then you got it from the source!! It's nice that he was honest enough to give his opinion and not try to sell you the newer model if there was not that big of a difference.
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slaw
yes I understand the belt goes around the sub platter/ motor pulley. What I referred to as the platter maybe what you call the plinth. The plinth is what the record is placed on top of. As Max says in his diagram the belt should never touch a platter or the chassis. in in my situation the top of the belt scrapes ever so slightly against the bottom of the plinth/ platter. I eyeballed and try to I I bald and try to measure the top of the motor housing to the top of the chassis. My motor housing top is significantly higher than the top of the chassis. It's not a half inch but maybe a quarter of an inch. I think this is the problem.On your setup are the top of the motor housing and the top of the chassis the same height?
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slawAlso Max indicates in writing and his diagram that the belt should run over the transition between the top cylindrical section of the motor pulley and the center tapered section. my belt does not do this it runs almost all the way towards the bottom the motor pulley.
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slaw
My rock7 is on top of the symposium Ultra platform. If you read my previous post bdp24 I explained that the top of my belt rubs slightly on the bottom of the white platter which holds the record.
I also mentioned that my motor housing which has three set screws is significantly higher then the top of the plinth and Max said in his guideline that these two should be even in heigth.
I was wondering if the top of your motor housing is level with the top of your plinth?
Also the belt position on my motor housing rides quite low which is another reason I believe the motor housing should be lowered on my system.
The three set screws on the motor housing seem to be a hexagonal configuration. Do you know the correct tool that fits the screw holes?
I have to screwdrivers that came with unit but I think they are for adjusting the angle of the motor .
Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate any help that you and bdp 24 or anyone else can give me as I plan to become more Hands-On and knowledgeable with this setup as I used to be with previous turntables and tone arms that I owned. |
slaw
I am going to read your previous post and try to absorb what you have mentioned. One thing you did say is your belt on the pulley is riding a little bit above Center whereas I I said my belt on the motor housing pulley is riding at the bottom. |
bdp24
Thanks for the clarification I have the terminology straight now. The top of the belt is what is rubbing slightly on the bottom of the white platter which holds the 12-inch record.
It's not a problem with the built hitting or rubbing against the plinth.
I think as I mentioned in my previous post the top of my motor housing is significantly higher then the top of the plinth. I think lowering the motor housing would help this problem.
I read with interest your comments about the London Decca cartridge. Is yours the London Decca reference? All of the attributes you described is what I'm looking for in a cartridge. You mentioned it's a good match with the zRock7's damping but you also mentioned a caveat concerning loading. My stand-alone tubed phono stage only has one moving magnet setting 47k. Is this a mismatched in your opinion? |
bdp24Thanks for the info on the London cartridges. Yes I do remember Harvey Rosenberg in fact I have his tube book published quite some time ago.I see your point about changing the loading resistors to change the value of the MM loading. I could probably easily do this as I have a technician close by I also have the schematics of my unit.But doing this might void my warranty not sure. I demoed the Zesto Andros phone stage which has the 15K setting you referred to. But I purchased the Hagerman trumpet reference tubed phono stage as it was significantly better than the Zesto but not much more money. It comes with a 10-year warranty and I'm about 6 years into it so I would have to check that out.Good advice on the decapod optional mount it's also something to consider. I'm going to have to read up on the London cartridges more and seek them out. Not sure who are the u.s. distributor is? Or if there is a dealer Network in the United States.
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slawI have to agree that the Symposium Ultra platform is not exactly flat all the way around. The Rock seven is the second TT that I've used the Symposium with and it's such a good upgrade it's well worth it.Regarding the three feet of the base of the rock 7 the screws ARE above the level of the feets top surface right now.I'm not sure if the feet are screwed all the way in at this position. If I could screw the feet in More this should change the level of the plinth by raising it(correct?) I might solve my problem by aligning the motor housing to the top of the plinth. the feet position could be changed with an allen key I believe.
Do you know the correct size and Tool type for the three screws to adjust the motor height?Max lifted 3 hex keys on his inventory sheet they came with the table of 2, 5, and 6 mm. I have only two screwdriver pieces the came with my unit the do not fit those screws on the motor housing.I remember the dealer who set up the table using a t screwdriver but I don't recall the size.Based on your response I could decide which way to go first with the the leveling of the motor to the plinth.
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slaw thanks for your input all good advice. Yes Harbor Freight is a great idea I have a store it's fairly local and I plan to purchase a set of T handle metric hex and a regular set of metric hex tools. I also ordered 2 bubble levels as mine were no longer working properly. Hope to get this project started shortly. Will keep you posted.
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slaw
Is the Mark Baker belt you just mentioned the same as the origin live belt that you spoke about in the earlier part of this forum? |
roadwarrior75
Honestly I don't think I could be of much help as the Symposium Ultra was the first platform that I used with any piece of equipment. I have used it on 2 TT systems and will say that going from no platform to the symposium was a huge difference. The Symposium Ultra was quite expensive I MO but well worth it. |
slawI have purchased the tools that I need to do the work including a small spirit level to help with the leveling of the platter. I have been a little busy to get this project going and I'm waiting for a friend who is going to help with me and they should be coming over in about a week or two.Thanks for the interest if I have any questions I'll let you know and will keep you posted.
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slawBTW
I used a Moerch DP-6 ON A SOTA Star Sapphire TT for many years and loved it.
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slaw
I'm going with the Triplanar MK VII for now. |
slawThe work on my Townsend Rock7 TT is complete. The platter was leveled first by using the Outrigger. What's since my Symposium Ultra was not completely level are used shims in the two rear corners true level the planner in that plane. the the Merlin motor was lowered and the sub platter was raised using spacers which was added into the design by Max of later Rock7 models. The Merlin Motor was then raised to the point where it was level to the sub platter and then moved to a position to get the speed right. The speed 33 RPM and 45 RPM were checked using a strobe.
The belt now rides on the correct position in the middle of the sub platter and also correct on the motor housing. There are no issues concerning the platter rubbing against the top of the belt as before.
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slaw
Will report back. Regarding the Merlin motor have you ever experimented with different power cords? Since the motor change the AC to DC and then back to AC again I would think a different power cord would that make a difference. What say you?
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slaw
I will
Check my motor I don't think my unit says Merlin 3 on it.
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slawMy power supply is about 14 inches long and 2 inches wide. on the front it has the MERLIN name in large letters and underneath in small letters it says electronic turntable supply.
I understood your question concerning the connection to the motor but I cannot offer an opinion as to which TYPE of wire might be better.
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slaw I don't I don't really know if different wire types would make a difference with a DIN type connector. I'm just using the standard 15 amp power cord that comes stock with the power supply. For experimentation I think I'll try several different power cords I have for Source components in place of the stock cord to see if there is a difference.
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slaw
A remote that's interesting. It would seem Superfluous with a t t system. Yes I know Max changed Motors also. The Rock7 underwent changes as it developed. My dealer has commented he felt the rock 7 came to Market a little too soon. This coincides with comments on This Thread about lack of detail concerning tolerances of the turntable setup. Like the problem I just had did not have a solution until someone complained about the problem. |
slaw I guess if your turntable setup is far away from where you sit and you mistakenly select 33 RPM when it should be 45 r p.m. and you can easily use a remote to switch it it makes sense. Or vice versa if you selected 45 RPM and it's a 33 RPM record. Then you wouldn't have to get up. But I did this the other night chose 33rpm when it should have been 45 RPM but did not Discover it until I was several minutes into the record. So I had to get up anyway to put the tone on back to the beginning of the recording.I have tried switching power cables on the Merlin power supply going from a basic 15 amp power cord to an inexpensive power cord. So far it hasn't made a difference but it was only one session.
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