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Empire 208 Project Begins

MaxSeven

MaxSeven

Word Skeptic
I posted this in the Empire thread, but thought I'd post it in the main area as well...

Here is my first attempt at a sort of home-made turntable, using the Empire 208 chassis and an Audio Technica ATP-12 tonearm.

I sanded the deck plate and motor/pulley housing, then painted them with a textured satin black. The platter was cleaned, polished and re-brushed. The piece of corrugated is just a template for the actual cover-plate that will be made from zebra wood. This conceals the holes from the former tonearm mounting area. The plinth (24 x 18 x 3") is from michigan maple block - to be stained to a darker tone. The mat is from Herbies.

You'll notice that I rotated the entire tt assembly 90 degrees, to accomodate the length of the AT tonearm (which is around 11")

Everything is just set in place right now, still lots of finishing to do yet.

photo.jpg
 
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It's an Audio Technica cartridge - not sure which model. It came with another turntable I bought some time ago. The headshell is also an AT. :)
 
That is beautiful Max! I like it rotated with the motor/pulley cover in the back. Somehow, it just strikes me as a cleaner look. Can't wait to see it finished.

Dave
 
Gorgeous! Great work, keep us apprised. How did you hollow out the plinth?
 
dread31 said:
That is beautiful Max! I like it rotated with the motor/pulley cover in the back. Somehow, it just strikes me as a cleaner look. Can't wait to see it finished.

Dave
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I agree. Beautiful work. Rotating the table makes me wonder why it didn't come from Empire that way.
 
That looks beautiful! Completely different look from an original Empire, although the origin is still plainly to be seen.

The planned zebra-wood plate area in the front opens up various options, too. It could be left plain as a decorative accent, or controls could be put there, or an engraved brass plate detailing the creator, source of parts used, date of creation, etc... (whatever info you felt was important). Alternatively, the plate could be of polished "silver" to match the platter and tonearm.

Looking forward to reading soon about how this ends up. At this stage, it's already very nice. Congratulations! :thmbsp:
 
Isotonic said:
Gorgeous! Great work, keep us apprised. How did you hollow out the plinth?
Click to expand...

I used a Bosch 7 Amp Jigsaw with a long blade to cut through in the appropriate areas.

Arkay said:
That looks beautiful! Completely different look from an original Empire, although the origin is still plainly to be seen.

The planned zebra-wood plate area in the front opens up various options, too. It could be left plain as a decorative accent, or controls could be put there, or an engraved brass plate detailing the creator, source of parts used, date of creation, etc... (whatever info you felt was important). Alternatively, the plate could be of polished "silver" to match the platter and tonearm.

Looking forward to reading soon about how this ends up. At this stage, it's already very nice. Congratulations! :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

Good ideas, I think that would look awesome - the polished silver badge over the wood trim.

Stanton681EEES said:
Excellent work. the cartridge looks like an AT14SA in the AT arm?
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Correct!
 
Fantastic looking table...can't wait to see it come to life. It even has handles on the side...I really wish some of my tables had handles.
 
You have a spare tonearm hole, eh? Hmmm, what to do with it?

Maybe a ...second tonearm? :scratch2:
 
I never would have thought of painting an Empire top plate like that, but that's really striking.

I've read that the Pabst motor can throw a significant RF field so that may be why Empire placed the motor at the seven o'clock position. Serious grounding was recommended and you may want to put a shield around it.

I just got an Empire yesterday (my third, the damn things are addicting) and I've got an Ortofon arm someplace and it's raining here so . . .
 
I was considering powder-coating, but I didn't want to wait to have it done, so I painted it myself instead.

I finished the little cover board last night and glued it in place - I'll post a photo later.
 
dtut said:
I never would have thought of painting an Empire top plate like that, but that's really striking.

I've read that the Pabst motor can throw a significant RF field so that may be why Empire placed the motor at the seven o'clock position. Serious grounding was recommended and you may want to put a shield around it.

I just got an Empire yesterday (my third, the damn things are addicting) and I've got an Ortofon arm someplace and it's raining here so . . .
Click to expand...

Hmmm, Well, I guess I will find out when I give it a test run, although the motor is now further away from the cartridge, but indeed closer to the planned connection jacks on the back of the plinth. But, the plinth cut-outs encapsulate the motor, and the interconnect runs - so maybe it won't be a problem.
 
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