Need a tonarm

[rowuk]

My wife has a lot of plants in our sitting room - where my hifi also is.

One of those plants was positioned about a meter above my turntable and slightly to the right. Over the years it kept getting bigger and while I was on a business trip, it toppled over and the pot hit my record deck taking the tonearm out.

As this is Christmas time, there are not alot of available funds for fixing this, so I am looking for something decent for <=150 Euro.

Does anyone have something laying around looking for a home? I can get a RB100 for that here in Germany but am not excited about it. I have various cartridges, so finding something for a heavy, medium or light arm is not an issue. The arm has to have a minimum length from pivot to groove of about 22cm.

My turntable is used primarily for digitizing my collection as I have time and an occasional HiFi fix.

If you have something, PM me with details.

[xerxes]

Having sold mine a few years ago, I'm a bit out of touch with the gramaphone scene, but back in the day, the Rega arms were the ones to beat amongst the more reasonably priced tonearms.

The Rega RB300 had a reputation as something of a giant killer that was able to keep up with arms costing much more and this lime green P3 makes me wish I still had some vinyl.

[PinkFloyd]

I know this may come across as a bit "weird" but did the plant survive the "drop"? I have become very "intune" with nature and would be quite upset if that "plant" ended it's life when it hit your tonearm.

You kinda put the blame on your "Wife" for putting the plant in that particular location...... she would have blamed YOU if your turntable had fallen onto the plant

My immediate concern is the health of the plant..... what is the prognosis? Will it survive? your inanimate "tonearm" can be replaced but your (your wife's?) over enthusiatic "top heavy" plant may require intensive care

I hope the plant is rallying.

Mike.

[mrarroyo]

I got new plants!

[rowuk]

she moved the plant elsewhere - before I did. The pot is fckt though. I thought this forum was audio friendly.

[XTRProf]

Maybe saved up and get something like the RB300 or 301. This way you don't have to upgrade anymore for a long long time. The Linn Akito is also very good. Still I prefer the Rega.

[rowuk]

I found this: www.flickr.com/photos/24475735@N06/4147425471/in/photostream/
There is a long thread at DIYAudio about it and I will build one for myself. Then I will have a DIY HA, DIY Record deck and arm, DIY tube amp, DIY media computer and probably a DIY divorce...........................

[rowuk]

Got all the bits now, hope to be up and running next week.

[mrarroyo]

Very nice looking tone arm, need to see your pictures after installation. Good luck.

[XTRProf]

Yeah, show us the mellons after. Oops, nope, show us the stuffs after .........

[rowuk]

The arm is built, now I just need to install the wiring. I have made my own by taking 50cm lengths of silver plated OFC speaker wire - just 4 single strands per wire and then painting them with polyurethane paint. Looks cool, is conductive and the OFC and silver plate make me feel good without having emptied my bank account for voodoo. Pictures to come. Mellons are reserved for private audiences, thank you.

[rowuk]

Well, I did it.
The present state of things is that I am using an aluminum tube because it was cheap and easy to maschine with a Dremel and carborundum cutting wheel.

I bought a 6mm outside diameter carbon fiber tube for the tone arm and had some rosewood kicking around in the cellar for the headshell, bearing support and counterweight. The 10mm o.d. ball bearings have ceramic balls and I cut some distance bolts from an old computer that I had. I flushed the greased bearings out with lighter fluid.

The wiring is also self made from OFC silver plated speaker wire. I used 4 strands per lead (twisted in my hand drill) and painted them with polyurethane paint (2 coats). I then colored them red, green and blue with a magic marker and twisted the left and right pairs together, then both of them. Very low capacitance and impedance. The heat from a soldering pen melts the polyurethane away, so there is no need to strip the very fine wires.

The tube assembly (15mm o.d./13mm i.d.) is held up with a stainless steel 8mm bolt 120mm long. All you have to do is make sure that the tube is absolutely parallel to the platter and that the turntable is level. This was MUCH easier to set up than the Keith Monks arm that my wifes plant trashed.


So, how does it sound? Incredible. Transparent, believable stage, wide bandwidth, good imaging. I play trumpet professionally and have a lot of exposure to orchestra instruments, this arm does a wonderful job with voices and strings as well as slam and pace with jazz band recordings. I am a happy camper. It is almost impossible to get this thing to skip. I have tried records with offset holes, warps and direct disc recordings with heavy dynamics. Pitch remains stable even with recorders, pianos and violins.

Next steps:

I will order the glass tube from Rauna as the next step. When it gets here I will also install a lift and probably an end of record auto lift. I am not 100% with one of the bearings (too much play and will order a couple of different models to try.

This project was so easy and sounds so good. I got everything done in one weekend including going to a hardware store to buy the parts. I give it a big thumbs up for DIYability.

Robin

I have some pictures at DIYAudio as soon as the mod approves the post. You should be able to find it here:
www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/34126-opus-3-cantus-parallel-tracking-arm-24.html

[Deleted]

You can only view those pics if you have an account there.

[Deleted]

Robin's remote controlled throne

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