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, I too would have to be considered old school (as well as somewhat old ;-), and our definitions of plinth are the same (see my post above): it is the "body" of the turntable (in a suspended sub-chassis table like the VPI HW-19, the Linn Sondek, the Oracles, AR’s, etc., the floating sub-chassis) that the platter’s bearing and (usually) the tonearm are mounted onto that I call the plinth. On a non-suspended table (the VPI Aries, the Regas), the plinth is usually one solid piece of either most often either MDF or acrylic, again onto which the platter bearing and arm are mounted.

On the Rock Elite, the motor is also mounted directly onto the plinth, same as the Regas. Whereas the Rega plinths are just a slab of MDF, the Elite’s is a shallow upside-down metal pan filled with damping pads and Plaster-of-Paris---very inert (non-resonant) and high mass. The motor height is not adjustable, nor does it need to be; both it’s and the sub-platter’s (the metal part that is attached to the bearing spindle, and upon which sits the 12" platter) height have been engineered so as to situate the belt in the center of the sub-platter, no adjustment necessary.

@nsp, the loading of the Londons (and older Deccas) is a matter of some opinion. The instruction manuals of some models recommend 47k, others 22k. The older Deccas were much more variable than are the current Londons, so no one figure was universal. Harvey Rosenberg (of New York Audio Labs fame, known for his love and knowledge of Deccas) told me he preferred 10k with his Deccas (this was back in the 1980’s). Zesto Audio provides a 15k setting on the MM input of their phono stage, specifically for Decca/Londons. The loading resistors in any phono stage can be easily changed by a technician; it takes only a few minutes. If you want to give a London a try, I recommend getting one with the optional Decapod mount; it provides a much firmer mechanical mating to the tonearm, and makes the cartridge body less resonant, less microphonic. The London Super Gold retails for around $1500, and may be the one to try first. The Reference is around $5300, a lot of $ to take a gamble on!

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.
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.
@nsp ,
When you screw the feet clockwise, that effectively lowers the plinth. The main reason I like to set mine up this way is that I know that this part of the set-up is now out of thought out of mind. In addition I believe having the feet all the way screwed in makes the tt just a little more stable. (This is just my opinion). To change the feet' position, you loosen the top allen screw the turn the feet, then tighten the screw.Off the top of my head I don't remember the size of all of the wrenches needed. If you have a Harbor Freight nearby or if not, you can mail order a pack each of American/Metric at very little cost. Everybody needs tools.The plinth is always the first part to level. Make sure when your plinth is level, your tonearm mounting plate is level as well. I had to shim mine.

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.