2. analog
  3. 127079-1975

New Townshend Rock 7 owner

The Townshend is in transit to it's new home. I purchased this one-owner table as a package, complete w/ Funk Firm FXR ll arm, dc motor upgrade, Discovery Balanced phono cable and Brinkman PI cartridge. It come with all original boxes, manuals.

If all goes well, I should be able to get it up and running with one exception, my phono stage is not balanced. Since the original owner bought this from a respected dealer as a package, I think my best route would be to get a pair of RCA to XLR adapters in order to hear the package as close as possible as was intended.

Any thoughts on that aspect? What brand adapters would be recommended? Also, any thing I might need to know from experienced users to help with set-up? Thanks.
128x128slaw
slaw's avatar
slaw OP
20,377 posts
 
bdp24,

I spoke with the US distributor today and I concur with your assessment. He did give me Mr. Townshend's # and did provide a willingness to help in any way he could. The trough fluid viscosity is 12,500 cs. According to him, my tt is a later model that does not use a separate ball bearing. I have lots of questions for MT. I'll report back when I get the answers.

Thank you for your description of the London/Decca. Sounds fantastic!

I appreciate your time and expertise in responding.  Thanks!
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,397 posts
 

Great Slaw, Max is a really nice guy, and a very talented designer. He also makes cables, loudspeakers, a ribbon super-tweeter, and State-Of-The-Art isolation feet named Seismic Pods. Townshend products aren’t common or well known in the U.S., the company having a low profile and few dealers (same with EAR-Yoshino, also of British origin and sharing the same U.S. distributor).

The Mk.7 Rock was made in two versions, the original in a gloss finish, and the revised (Mk.7.1?) in matte. A Google search will reveal that the Rock is a well-kept secret, considered by those who’ve heard it as an absolute bargain, one of the world’s best turntables, and in some regards THE best.

noromance's avatar
noromance
9,393 posts
 
Bdp24, Lovely description of the Decca sound. I love mine for all the reasons you mentioned. I met Max in London when he had just released the first Rock. He played Pinl Floyd The Wall and I barely recognosed it - the bass was unreal...utterly fast, clean, black between notes down to 30Hzwith no plumminess. My only criticism then was that the table sounded a little dark - like a dark-purple-black coloration.
I heard his newer deck at the NYC Audio show a few years ago and it was not good - sterile and waaaay too bright.
slaw's avatar
slaw OP
20,377 posts
 
bdp24,

I just spoke with Max. He told me the bearing does have a slight bit of play and mine should be fine. The power supply I have (Merlin) he said isn't a completely dc design. He went on to say he worked on a dc motor for three years and couldn't overcome a glitch that affected speed accuracy and dropped that project. The Merlin he says is his best design and 100% reliable a stable.

He said his new tt will come out in around 6 months and cost 4 times of my unit. He says my tt has bested 10k+ designs and says "I have gold dust".
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,397 posts
 

Yeah Slaw, consider yourself fortunate to have nabbed your Rock! They don’t come up for sale often, their owners often never finding another table they would rather own. I hope to someday find a Rock Reference, reportedly the best of all versions. Except perhaps the upcoming one!

Noromance, the darkness you heard in the original Rock is probably why some people use lighter gauge silicon in their trough, others filling the trough to a lower level, both done to achieve less damping. The over-damped sound is likely one reason the Rock works so well with Decca/London cartridges, which can sound brash (especially older Deccas, and even moreso if they aren't loaded at 15k to 22k resistance and some capacitance, to flatten the high frequency resonant peak the cartridge has). I've heard the Mk.7 Rock, but only at shows and with unfamiliar LP's. It's undamped acrylic platter may have something to do with a brightness, which is not the case with my Elite's platter. It has an acrylic coated top, but is a plaster-of-Paris filled metal disc. No ringing in it! 

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