Post by Chris on Apr 13, 2018 9:45:36 GMT -5
I like turntables!
I like to experiment with various things to see what effects the sound and how improvements can be made.
My current turntables that I use in my two main systems are a VPI Classic II with 3D arm and my recently purchased BLP-1 from Bryston. I also have a late model Technics SL-1200 Mk2 that was dislodged by the BLP-1. I have a bunch of other things but we won't go into that today.
I've been modding turntables since I first bought the updated model AR turntable in 1984. I proceeded down the path of upgrades as offered by turntable guru George Merrill. I installed his acrylic sub chassis along with all his other mods for springs and even motor tweaking. You can read about all this at this site. While this turntable is still running and sounds great it is essentially a finished item.
So, I have been casually looking for a turntable platform that would allow me to apply various teaks to satisfy my desire to tweak and explore. While always a dangerous thing, I was browsing Ebay and found a very nice VPI HW-19 MK II without a tonearm for $600. Ebay had a one day $100 rebate so the final price was $500! I paid my money and crossed my fingers that it would arrived as advertised.
Happily, it arrived about a week and half later packed very well. I even sent a thank you to the seller for packing the turntable so well.
I then began to assemble and examine the HW-19. It was clearly very well cared for but in needed a little bit of maintenance. The critical parts such as the bearings and the motor were in good condition but in need of lubrication. There was some old congealed oil in the bearing that I thoroughly cleaned and then lubricated with my preferred Super Lube. I added a drop of Super Lube to the motor and it is now running quite silently. I also installed a new black belt which I am sure helped get everything running up to speed as well. I did a quick check with a strobe disc and the speed appeared correct.
I lucked out because the arm board was drilled for tonearms using the Rega pivot to spindle distance of 222mm. I have a bunch of tonearms including a Jelco 370H (uses 222m distance) and various Moth Rega tonearms that will work with this cutout. You will see the Jelco 370H tonearm mounted in the picture. This is just a temporary measure to test everything is working. I have upgraded arm asspirations I will mention shortly. One thing that made me purchase the HW-19 is that it has a simple armboard that can be easily copied and made from various inexpensive materials. An armboard can even be used twice by simply turning it around and drilling a new cutout. I even found some black covers for the existing hole in the case I swap the board around. Currently with the Jelco arm installed and listening with headphones no less the HW-19 is running very quietly with no bearing or motor noise detected.
The HW-19 is a suspended design with the plinth sitting on four springs. These work well but this is an area ripe for experimentation.
The motor is attached to the wood frame of the turntable and is isolated in its own metal container. VPI used to sell something called a SAMA motor upgrade that essentially turned the HW-19 motor into a standalone motor assembly similar to what you see today in the Scout turntable. Unfortunately, the SAMA is no longer made so this is another area for DIY innovation.
My goals for this turntable is to take it as far as I can but on a reasonable budget. I could go crazy and spend thousands on upgrades which I could have more easily spent on a brand new turntable. I hope to spend only a few hundred at most (not including tonearm) to wring out the last bits of performance.
One of the motivations for this project was to be able to easily swap out tonearms as I desire. I have had my eye on the Audiomods UK line of moderately priced tonearms. Based on reviews and forum posts the Audiomods' tonearm seems to be very high in quality and very high in value. I have just placed and order for a new arm from Jeff of Audiomods for a brand new arm based on his Classic model. It will be ready in about a month and will cost with shipping from the UK about $900. I have high expectations!
In the meantime I am assembling parts for the upgrade side of the HW-19. In my research, I have determined that Herbie's Audio Lab are the experts in vibration and isolation control. I have placed an order for the following parts:
For approximately $109 with shipping I should have enough parts to banish any residual noise and vibration.
I have found that Elusive Disc has exactly one HW-19 spindle and platter upgrade left for $599. I understand this is a very good upgrade but right now I am resisting since its cost is outside the spirit of cost/value of this project.
I'll stop here and see what people think. I have a bunch of other tweaks that I will be exploring as well that I will try to document if there is interest.
I like to experiment with various things to see what effects the sound and how improvements can be made.
My current turntables that I use in my two main systems are a VPI Classic II with 3D arm and my recently purchased BLP-1 from Bryston. I also have a late model Technics SL-1200 Mk2 that was dislodged by the BLP-1. I have a bunch of other things but we won't go into that today.
I've been modding turntables since I first bought the updated model AR turntable in 1984. I proceeded down the path of upgrades as offered by turntable guru George Merrill. I installed his acrylic sub chassis along with all his other mods for springs and even motor tweaking. You can read about all this at this site. While this turntable is still running and sounds great it is essentially a finished item.
So, I have been casually looking for a turntable platform that would allow me to apply various teaks to satisfy my desire to tweak and explore. While always a dangerous thing, I was browsing Ebay and found a very nice VPI HW-19 MK II without a tonearm for $600. Ebay had a one day $100 rebate so the final price was $500! I paid my money and crossed my fingers that it would arrived as advertised.
Happily, it arrived about a week and half later packed very well. I even sent a thank you to the seller for packing the turntable so well.
I then began to assemble and examine the HW-19. It was clearly very well cared for but in needed a little bit of maintenance. The critical parts such as the bearings and the motor were in good condition but in need of lubrication. There was some old congealed oil in the bearing that I thoroughly cleaned and then lubricated with my preferred Super Lube. I added a drop of Super Lube to the motor and it is now running quite silently. I also installed a new black belt which I am sure helped get everything running up to speed as well. I did a quick check with a strobe disc and the speed appeared correct.
I lucked out because the arm board was drilled for tonearms using the Rega pivot to spindle distance of 222mm. I have a bunch of tonearms including a Jelco 370H (uses 222m distance) and various Moth Rega tonearms that will work with this cutout. You will see the Jelco 370H tonearm mounted in the picture. This is just a temporary measure to test everything is working. I have upgraded arm asspirations I will mention shortly. One thing that made me purchase the HW-19 is that it has a simple armboard that can be easily copied and made from various inexpensive materials. An armboard can even be used twice by simply turning it around and drilling a new cutout. I even found some black covers for the existing hole in the case I swap the board around. Currently with the Jelco arm installed and listening with headphones no less the HW-19 is running very quietly with no bearing or motor noise detected.
The HW-19 is a suspended design with the plinth sitting on four springs. These work well but this is an area ripe for experimentation.
The motor is attached to the wood frame of the turntable and is isolated in its own metal container. VPI used to sell something called a SAMA motor upgrade that essentially turned the HW-19 motor into a standalone motor assembly similar to what you see today in the Scout turntable. Unfortunately, the SAMA is no longer made so this is another area for DIY innovation.
My goals for this turntable is to take it as far as I can but on a reasonable budget. I could go crazy and spend thousands on upgrades which I could have more easily spent on a brand new turntable. I hope to spend only a few hundred at most (not including tonearm) to wring out the last bits of performance.
One of the motivations for this project was to be able to easily swap out tonearms as I desire. I have had my eye on the Audiomods UK line of moderately priced tonearms. Based on reviews and forum posts the Audiomods' tonearm seems to be very high in quality and very high in value. I have just placed and order for a new arm from Jeff of Audiomods for a brand new arm based on his Classic model. It will be ready in about a month and will cost with shipping from the UK about $900. I have high expectations!
In the meantime I am assembling parts for the upgrade side of the HW-19. In my research, I have determined that Herbie's Audio Lab are the experts in vibration and isolation control. I have placed an order for the following parts:
- Big Tall Tenderfoot $16.49 X 4 = $65.96
- grungebuster Dots $2.65 X 4 = $12.00
- grungebuster Damping Sheet 5x8 $12.95 X 1 = $19.46
- grungebuster VPI Spindle Washer $5.49 X 1 = $5.49
For approximately $109 with shipping I should have enough parts to banish any residual noise and vibration.
I have found that Elusive Disc has exactly one HW-19 spindle and platter upgrade left for $599. I understand this is a very good upgrade but right now I am resisting since its cost is outside the spirit of cost/value of this project.
I'll stop here and see what people think. I have a bunch of other tweaks that I will be exploring as well that I will try to document if there is interest.
