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Can anyone tell me anything about this ITT turntable?

B

bennyfingerd

New Member
Hi, first post but I've reading AK for a few months now trying to learn a thing or two about turntables and I've found it to be an extraordinary resource - I'm hoping one of you will be able to help me with a turntable I just acquired.

It's an ITT HiFi 8014. My main issue is that I can find no reference to this model anywhere online. I can find a little info about 8012, 8013 and 8015 (which are all direct drive I think) but not one single solitary mention of an 8014 (which is a belt drive). I'd really like to know what it is under the rebadge!

Here's some pics, sorry for the quality:
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From what I know of ITT they rebadged a lot of other manufacturers stuff. I've googled some likely candidates but can't find anything that immediately looks similar to this machine. I'm hoping someone will recognise the hallmarks of another manufacturer.

It's big and seems heavy to me, although I've not exactly held a lot of turntables to compare it with. The only turntable I've ever had is an Aiwa off a 90s midi system - I don't play my vinyl much because I feel like I'm damaging it! I'm hoping this ITT will allow me to enjoy my music:music:

It has a 5-din output which I need to convert to RCAs. Am I better chopping the connector off and putting RCAs on, or getting a converter of some description? Can you get a converter that separates the earth?

It has a Philips 401 cartridge with no stylus. My instinct is to grab an AT95E and stick that on it rather than try to find a stylus for the Philips - unless someone wants to tell me that the Philips is worth holding on to?

In the event this turntable stays a mystery is there some way I can work out the correct belt length to use with it? It has one and it seems to hold speed but it looks a bit dry in places.

I'm probably going to have a bunch more questions when I come to setting up the cartridge - in the meantime can anyone point me towards some reliable information, I'm finding a lot of contradictory stuff.

Many thanks in advance,
James
 
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Well, it's interesting. Many of the other ITT tables were manufactured by Mitsubishi/Diatone, which you have already seen. The Diatones of this era have a distinctive appearance, particularly their counterweights, and this one has none of that appearance. My guess is that it may be CEC manufactured but that is only a guess.

If you are interested in comparing it to some of the Diatones here is a link to study some of their designs...

http://www.audio-heritage.jp/DIATONE/player/index2.html

Hopefully someone else can provide more insight as to the manufacturer.

Best regards.
 
The table looks to have a Technics flair. I have never heard of this brand before. You may find this website interesting. Looks to be of German origin.
 
The function control knobs are especially interesting and should give clue to someone familiar with this manufacturer.
 
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Pretty sure it's C.E.C. The arm is particularly evocative of C.E.C. They made some others for ITT, including a version of the Siemens 777/Sanyo Plus Q50. (Can't remember the model number for the ITT version.)

John
 
Belt drive with speed control

Not usual..it looks nice ..well made...setup right, right cart, probably be pretty cool ! Congrats
 
bennyfingerd said:
I've just noticed that it has a sticker on the back that says "Made in Great Britain" - that seems unlikely doesn't it?
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Unlikely that any of our guesses so far are correct, yes. Otherwise, no. Could have been Garrard (unlikely) or BSR (maybe:dunno:). Other British manufacturers that come to mind were more upscale.

John
 
Thankyou John, I'm now certain it's BSR. I just found some pics of an HMV 4000p made by BSR and it's almost identical, apart from being a belt drive.
 
Your tt looks a lot like an ADC 1700 I used to have, and that ADC was made in Great Britain by BSR.
 
bennyfingerd said:
Thankyou John, I'm now certain it's BSR. I just found some pics of an HMV 4000p made by BSR and it's almost identical, apart from being a belt drive.
Click to expand...

You're welcome! I'm glad my WAG led you to the HMV! ;)

John

PS: I wonder whether RCA has any claim to "HMV" (His Master's Voice). Maybe, given that BSR is British, it stands for "Her Majesty's Victrola" in this instance. :)
 
Okay so its a BSR Quanta 600. I didn't have to look to far to get the impression that BSR is almost universally reviled as a tt manufacturer with some people saying that their decks destroy vinyl.

Is this thing truly going to damage my records (assuming I get it set up right) or is this snobbery?

I kind of like the looks of it and I can live with low-end sound for a bit - just to be clear the choice here for me is use the BSR or listen to no vinyl at all, I don't have the option to buy anything - it can't be any worse than my AIWA deck, surely? The only thing I care about is not trashing my records while waiting for the day I can afford something better than awful.

Hope someone can advise and thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

James
 
BSR made a lot of tables. Most were lower end units, that have earned it a reputation for low quality. They did market a few better than their norm tables. This looks to fall into that category. But I do agree it looks Japanese in it's make...
 
Reminds me most of the NAD 5020 I had, which was a rebandged ADC
362652-nad_5020_belt_driven_turntable.jpg


The arm is definitely of the same manufacture, the anti-skate assembly is identical.
 
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bennyfingerd said:
Okay so its a BSR Quanta 600. I didn't have to look to far to get the impression that BSR is almost universally reviled as a tt manufacturer with some people saying that their decks destroy vinyl.

Is this thing truly going to damage my records (assuming I get it set up right) or is this snobbery?

I kind of like the looks of it and I can live with low-end sound for a bit - just to be clear the choice here for me is use the BSR or listen to no vinyl at all, I don't have the option to buy anything - it can't be any worse than my AIWA deck, surely? The only thing I care about is not trashing my records while waiting for the day I can afford something better than awful.

Hope someone can advise and thanks to everyone who has helped so far.

James
Click to expand...

Its a little snobbery I guess.
I could be wrong, but basically, if it spins quietly with accurate speed, has a tonearm set up that is smooth from beginning to center and has adjustablity for vertical tracking force, and anti skate, plus holds a cartridge square to the record..then where does the wrecking part come in?
Of course there are nuances and details that seperate one machine from another sonically..but none of that is record wrecking and some is certainly subjective.
 
Thanks guys, there's really no question about the origin of this tt anymore.

I think BSR made it look like the popular Japanese decks on purpose - so they could price it the same probably - but its British and according to many, vastly inferior to the 70s/80s japanese models it apes so accurately.

I really just want to know now whether it's so bad its going to ruin my records (operator error aside). It needs a couple of things doing to it before I can even play an lp and if its pure trash I won't bother!
 
Yes Twanx, I've seen other ADC decks that look the same too, all made by BSR.

Aha, thankyou bobaloniny, that's what I couldn't really figure out and wanted to take advice from people more experienced than myself.
 
Just to finish this story, in case any one else ever runs in to one of these machines - here's what I've found:

The ITT HiFi 8014 is a rebadged BSR, it was also sold as:

BSR Quanta 600
NAD 5040 - different tonearm
ADC 1500-1700 (various models in this range look very similar, no exact match I can find)
HMV 4000 (same body and tonearm, direct drive)

I replaced the drive belt with a 210mm belt - this may be a little short but the measured length seemed to be in a black spot as far as replacement belts went so I went for the closest. In practise it works fine and holds speed well.

I cleaned the pots with contact cleaner, this corrected an issue with speed selection and smoothed out the variable speed adjustment.

I filled the base with plasticine (the benefits of having a gf who works in childrens entertainment - always plenty of plasticine!) to try and dampen it a bit, very plasticky and lots of air space. I never heard it without the plasticine so I can't comment on what effect that had, if any.

I replaced the cartridge with an AT95E and did the necessary alignments.

And...it sounds okay. To me at least. In fact, some lps sound perfectly lovely, acoustic instruments, guitars and pianos, and vocals sound very lifelike - the less going on the better it sounds. Other records don't sound very good at all, fuzzy and muddled with no clear separation but I'm in no way qualified to say whats a poor record and what's due to this machine/my set up.

All in all, I'm happy. It's better than my crappy AIWA and will do just fine until I can level up at some stage.

Thanks everyone who helped me.
 
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