New Townshend Rock 7 owner

Great thread Slaw, your enthusiasm is contagious !
I have always loved the trough turntables. The best I have heard where the Rock reference and the Maplenoll Ariadne Signature.
I  played  mostly  cd's the last 20 years and was dying to get back into vinyl a couple of years ago. I knew it had to be a trough tt, only one still in production was the Rock 7. I went to a dealer here in Denmark and heard a pretty bad demo. The Rock had a Rega arm with a budget cartridge, and the dealer sayd it sounded great, I did not agree. He was trying to sell me on an more expensive table, trying to push a  Feickert, I ended  up not buying anything. I then startet looking for a Rock Reference or a Maplenoll. Rock Reference don't come up for sale often and I found a Ariadne Signature first!
The trough makes such a big difference, great bass definition and depth. My table also has the sub platter under a 50 lb lead platter, I am going to order a Origin belt on your recommendation.
Keep up the postings, great inspiration!
Greetings from Denmark!

kps25sc,

Your comments are really appreciated! I'd love to hear your impressions when you've heard the new belt.

Happy Listening.

I have been looking forward to this weekend for more great sounding tunes. I decided to try the recommended talc on the belt. I tried it this way on both sides of the belt and I was no longer connected to the music like I was last week.

I wiped off the talc and put on the same lp I had been listening to previously. There it is, I got it back... my connection to the music. The bass tightened up, the (energy) returned, my emotional connection to the music is back.

This, to me, is a substantial difference. So be forewarned.

Happy Listening.

BTW and FWIW, I'm finding myself listening with my latest metal clamp (and my older expandable metal washer) I bought a few weeks ago for 97% of recordings. The clamp has Rock 7 printed on it.

Setting up your Rock 7: (the relationship of motor to platter, IE: a starting point.

I write this based upon my experiences so far...

What I find, sounds the best, based upon my trying different motor heights vs, platter...

You may be wondering, WTF?  Well, this does make a big difference my friends.

I've tried several motor heights vs it's relationship to the platter. In every mode, there was A difference. (You may prefer one to another). I'm just reporting that a difference is to be had via these (two relationships).

For those of you who may want to ascribe to my personal best..here you go..

Once you've aligned the motor housing with the platter and the belt is riding in the center of the sub-platter, and the belt on the pulley seems to be slightly above the conical part of the pulley.. you've come (very far).

Now on to the best sounding setting:  Assuming you have a visual "sight line" in relationship to the underside of the platter to the top of the pulley...the top of the pulley should be ALMOST level with the underside of the platter. Maybe VERY slightly above or VERY slightly below.

If you've achieved this, you're going to hear THE best sound. Simple, right?

In theory yes, in practice, it takes a little more involvement. Some may think, that I'm not serious,...I ask those, this.... "You want me on that wall... you need me on that wall"..

Happy listening