Needledrop annoyances

[slartibartfast]

The capacitor I ordered on eBay turned up today two days after I phoned the sorting office to find it wasn't there. So ten days for a first class package. I should have waited longer before resorting to Amazon in desperation. 😀

[slartibartfast]

You are so right!
Maplins sold some great stuff.
I bought “Grandad’s Mini Disco” from Maplins a month or so before it shut down. A Bluetooth speaker with built in disco light which also has an Aux in. The light pulses to the beat. I’ve had it running many times fed from an iOS device running iPeng. Grandkids love it!

Big electronics retailers like RS and Farnell are great as long as you meet the minimum order value for free postage but hardly practical for a single component. STC used to have a similar service in Harlow with a collection counter but that has long gone.

[d6jg]

The simple capacitor repair I did was only £6.99 for two capacitors. It is surprisingly difficult to buy electronic components now Maplin and Tandy no longer exist 🤣. I first tried buying a single capacitor on eBay but after a week it still hadn't arrived first class so got a refund and got two from Amazon.

You are so right!
Maplins sold some great stuff.
I bought “Grandad’s Mini Disco” from Maplins a month or so before it shut down. A Bluetooth speaker with built in disco light which also has an Aux in. The light pulses to the beat. I’ve had it running many times fed from an iOS device running iPeng. Grandkids love it!

[slartibartfast]

Yes he got it repaired but I don’t think it was quite that much so maybe something slightly different.
He also had a dodgy speaker but he didn’t know.
I was there one day and he put something on and i immediately said “your left speaker is broken”. It had gradually deteriorated and he’d just not noticed. I swapped L for R and he immediately heard it. He wasn’t pleased as it was only a few months after the TT had needed work.

The simple capacitor repair I did was only £6.99 for two capacitors. It is surprisingly difficult to buy electronic components now Maplin and Tandy no longer exist 🤣. I first tried buying a single capacitor on eBay but after a week it still hadn't arrived first class so got a refund and got two from Amazon.

[d6jg]

I have never actually heard a direct drive turntable 😀. Mine actually seems.quieter now with the new capacitor although I hadn't really noticed any motor noise before. It would be even quieter with the upgrade motor and the external power supply but the total cost would be £410. The motor upgrade alone being £150. Anyway it should last another 20 years at least with the new capacitor and I have a spare so it will see me out 🤣.
Did your friend repair his Rega?

Yes he got it repaired but I don’t think it was quite that much so maybe something slightly different.
He also had a dodgy speaker but he didn’t know.
I was there one day and he put something on and i immediately said “your left speaker is broken”. It had gradually deteriorated and he’d just not noticed. I swapped L for R and he immediately heard it. He wasn’t pleased as it was only a few months after the TT had needed work.

[slartibartfast]

I think they are £500-£1000. They weren’t around a few years ago when I upgraded. I ended up getting an Onkyo CP1050 direct drive TT. It had good reviews but is no longer available except at silly money from Japan. I do like it though as the direct drive means it’s silent in operation. Obviously I’ve upgraded the cartridge initially to 2M Red then 2M Blue. Come winter I’ll take the next step up with either that AT you have or 2M Bronze.

I have never actually heard a direct drive turntable 😀. Mine actually seems.quieter now with the new capacitor although I hadn't really noticed any motor noise before. It would be even quieter with the upgrade motor and the external power supply but the total cost would be £410. The motor upgrade alone being £150. Anyway it should last another 20 years at least with the new capacitor and I have a spare so it will see me out 🤣.
Did your friend repair his Rega?

[d6jg]

How much do they cost? I feel an attachment to my Rega 🤣
I have mentioned before that I have heard needledrops made with much more expensive turntables than mine but they have relied on iZotope software for click and noise reduction and failed to notice that details have been removed making their needledrops inherently flawed regardless of all the costly gubbins they use to produce them 😀

I think they are £500-£1000. They weren’t around a few years ago when I upgraded. I ended up getting an Onkyo CP1050 direct drive TT. It had good reviews but is no longer available except at silly money from Japan. I do like it though as the direct drive means it’s silent in operation. Obviously I’ve upgraded the cartridge initially to 2M Red then 2M Blue. Come winter I’ll take the next step up with either that AT you have or 2M Bronze.

[slartibartfast]

TBH I’d be retiring the turntable probably in favour of a new Thorens.

How much do they cost? I feel an attachment to my Rega 🤣
I have mentioned before that I have heard needledrops made with much more expensive turntables than mine but they have relied on iZotope software for click and noise reduction and failed to notice that details have been removed making their needledrops inherently flawed regardless of all the costly gubbins they use to produce them 😀

[d6jg]

Yes you have to move the belt to another position on the pulley. You can buy an motor update kit which includes a 24V AC motor and a more sophisticated motor PCB with phase balance adjustment pots. If you are really keen you can also add a power supply which allows you change the speed without moving the belt and is more stable than the mains frequency.
If this capacitor change hadn't fixed mine I was considering the motor update kit.

TBH I’d be retiring the turntable probably in favour of a new Thorens.

[slartibartfast]

A friend has one of those. He had the same issue.
Am I correct that to swap to 45rpm and back to 33rpm you have to muck about with the belt?

Yes you have to move the belt to another position on the pulley. You can buy an motor update kit which includes a 24V AC motor and a more sophisticated motor PCB with phase balance adjustment pots. If you are really keen you can also add a power supply which allows you change the speed without moving the belt and is more stable than the mains frequency.
If this capacitor change hadn't fixed mine I was considering the motor update kit.

[d6jg]

A Rega Planar 3 from around the mid 1980s. Lots of belt drive turntables use the same Premotec motor rated at 110V. They use a resistor to drop the voltage and a capacitor to produce the phase shift between the windings.

A friend has one of those. He had the same issue.
Am I correct that to swap to 45rpm and back to 33rpm you have to muck about with the belt?

[slartibartfast]

What turntable do you use?

A Rega Planar 3 from around the mid 1980s. Lots of belt drive turntables use the same Premotec motor rated at 110V. They use a resistor to drop the voltage and a capacitor to produce the phase shift between the windings.

[d6jg]

Probably nobody is interested but a new capacitor fixed my speed issue. Still running at correct speed after an hour.
The motor phase voltages are better balanced and the phase angle between windings which ideally would be 90 degrees has been increased from 50 degrees to 104 degrees 😀

What turntable do you use?

[slartibartfast]

A new annoyance suddenly hit me. While processing my latest capture I had the feeling something was off. I checked my speed with an Android app and it was running about 3% slow. I checked the mains frequency and that was OK. I then found that it slowed down after 15-30 minutes and initially ran at the correct speed. Very strange. I ordered a replacement capacitor hoping that will fix it.

Probably nobody is interested but a new capacitor fixed my speed issue. Still running at correct speed after an hour.
The motor phase voltages are better balanced and the phase angle between windings which ideally would be 90 degrees has been increased from 50 degrees to 104 degrees 😀

[slartibartfast]

A new annoyance suddenly hit me. While processing my latest capture I had the feeling something was off. I checked my speed with an Android app and it was running about 3% slow. I checked the mains frequency and that was OK. I then found that it slowed down after 15-30 minutes and initially ran at the correct speed. Very strange. I ordered a replacement capacitor hoping that will fix it.