Looking for one of the best affordable tonearms? The Jelco SA-750D is a quality tonearm, at a sensible price, designed to fit a variety of turntables. UPDATE, 2018: The Jelco SA-750D is now superseded by the TK-850S. UPDATE 2020: I’m very sad to announce that, as of mid-2020, Jelco is no longer in business. A […]
A customer of mine recently acquired a new-old-stock (NOS) Sansui SR-929 direct-drive turntable, in the original box! Tim asked me to take this lovely deck out of the box for the first time and recommission her. Given that she had not been running for over 30 years, this was a really great for both of
NOS Sansui SR-929 DD Turntable Unboxing & Recommissioning! Read More »
As a surprise birthday gift, I was asked to restore this lovely old French ERA Mk6 belt-drive turntable. I was happy to assist and it allowed me to work on a deck I’d not worked on before. The ERA Mk6 is a belt-drive deck from the early seventies. It is slightly unusual in the actual
ERA Mk6 Belt-Drive Turntable Repair & Restoration Read More »
I recently overhauled this lovely old Pioneer PL-530 direct-drive turntable. Let’s take a closer look. This model is not especially common, but it has a great vintage look and some great features that I think make it one to keep an eye out for. Pioneer made some great belt-drive and direct-drive decks and many of
Pioneer PL-530 Direct-Drive Turntable Service & Repair Read More »
The Dual 1228 idler-drive turntable is a great entry-level deck that is just a little cooler than many others around. You do however need to be aware of a few of the problems that can occur with this and other Dual turntables from this era. A customer recently delivered his newly acquired Dual 1228 idler-drive
Dual 1228 Turntable Service & Headshell Problems Read More »
The phenomenal Fidelity Research XF-1 moving coil step-up transformer is the best way to get the most out of a good MC cartridge. Fidelity Research is one of the most iconic and revered names in vinyl. No other brand has quite the same status and FR cartridges and step-up transformers have become legendary in audio
Fidelity Research XF-1 Moving Coil Step-up Transformer Review Read More »
My friend recently had a little mishap with his beautiful Yamaha GT-2000 direct drive turntable. Naturally, I helped him sort it out… The mishap occurred when my friend was cleaning his beloved GT-2000. While using a cleaning cloth near the headshell, he must have brought the cloth too near to the stylus and just caught
Yamaha GT-2000 Direct Drive Turntable – Tweaking the Beast Read More »
Given the renewed interest in turntables, especially quality decks, I wanted to share some details about servicing the legendary Kenwood KD-600. The Kenwood KD-600 / 650 is a classic direct drive turntable from the late ’70s. The KD-600 is a superb deck, for a number of technical reasons: 20 pole, 30 slot brushless motor, synthetic concrete-composite
Kenwood KD-600 Turntable Motor & Bearing Service Read More »
I have been lucky enough to have a brand new Primare R32 Phono Preamplifier to audition over the last few weeks and I wanted to share my experiences in this review. The Primare R32 phono preamplifier is designed in Sweden and is a fully discrete, solid-state, DC-coupled, class-A phono preamplifier. The Primare R32 has three
One of my regular customers recently acquired a gorgeous new old stock (NOS) Sansui SR-929 direct-drive turntable from her original owner in the USA and asked me to check it out. This beautiful Sansui SR-929 also needed the voltage and set her up for Australia and a full set-up and naturally, I wanted to share
Sansui SR-929 NOS Turntable Unboxing and Set-Up! Read More »
