Hitachi HT-500 opinions?

[gladiator335]

Anyone here has or ever had Hitachi HT-500?
Is it any good?
Have a shot at one bundled with about 80 LPs.
Is it worth $125?

 

[hakaplan]

Anyone here has or ever had Hitachi HT-500?
Is it any good?
Have a shot at one bundled with about 80 LPs.
Is it worth $125?

They're not common. Never had one, but just looking at it I'd say yes. Make sure he lets you operate it. It's ideal if he has an amp and at least headphones (or you can bring them if you have). If he doesn't, the most important thing is to make sure it operates correctly. Just put a record on, power it up, make sure the automation works, auto-return, cueing, and any other controls. Being DDQ it will have great specs and the straight arm will be a great match for light tracking carts.

 

[gladiator335]

Owner says it has "Omni 25" stylus. Never heard about such thing.

 

[hakaplan]

Owner says it has "Omni 25" stylus. Never heard about such thing.

Shure had a plain "Omni," but no 25. It's probably a clone of something--I don't know what, but it doesn't matter. You can't assume the stylus is any good, so you'll either end up having to buy a new stylus or new cart depending on what it turns out to be.

Incidentally I'm basing the value of the deal on the included albums. I don't know if I'd pay $125 for the tt by itself. I've never seen one up close. If it's looks high quality it might be worth it. But if you like the albums and they are in good condition, I'm thinking based on a value of a buck an album, the tt ends up at $45, which is a good deal IMO. In fact, I'd think $75 good for a nice looking deck like that.

 

[gladiator335]

Make sense. I'm waiting for seller's response to check it tomorrow.
I guess if I get it pictures will be here...

 

[Elfasto]

Well, if it's anything like my HT-460, it's a good sounding turntable. It's not a Oracle or anything, but it's pretty respectable. I have the basic Audio-Technica stylus on mine, and the tonearm keeps a pretty decent alignment across the face of the record.

I'd say go for it.

 

[golana]

HT-350 / MCS6500 Good table.

 

[gladiator335]

Ht-500

Got it today.
Great condition and it sounds really good! Also got two boxes of records.
Bunch of Rolling Stones, Santana, Queen, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Steely Dan, Steve Miller Band and so on. Very good condition as well.

 

[ARJohn]

Good score , nice looking table , plus the lp's , not too shabby :thmbsp:

 

[hakaplan]

Got it today.
Great condition and it sounds really good! Also got two boxes of records.
Bunch of Rolling Stones, Santana, Queen, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Steely Dan, Steve Miller Band and so on. Very good condition as well.

Congratulations--great deal! :thmbsp: I'm still curious about that cartridge. Can you post some close-up pics?

 

[gladiator335]

Shure cart

Here it is. Never was able to take decent pictures :sigh:
It seems it says "Shure 6x' or something like it.

 

[hakaplan]

Here it is. Never was able to take decent pictures :sigh:
It seems it says "Shure 6x' or something like it.

It's 5X, actually an R5X stylus, the equivalent of an N75ED Type 2. The Omni is one of the NPS series of carts. Good to know for the future that the 5X stylus fits it. .2 x .7 elliptical tracking at .75-1.5g. The seller thought the design on the front was a "25".

 

[gladiator335]

Is it any good? Sounds pretty decent.

 

[lini]

gladiator: Looks like a Shrure SPS series x cart (SPS = Shure Performance & Sound), but I'm not sure whether the needle on it was originally meant for that range of carts - iirc, the NPS-x-needles looked a bit different...

Oh, and I'd also consider 125 bucks for a HT-500 including 80 lps to be an extremely fair price, btw. It's a very nice direct drive that compares well with similar models from Denon, JVC, Technics et cetera, e.g. the Technics SL-M1. Congrats!

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

edit: Ah, I see Howard already identified the needle in the meantime....

 

[gladiator335]

I only listened to one record yesterday. Everything seems fine except one thing: at the end of the record tonearm swings back too fast even before it fully lifted. Does anyone know how to adjust lift or has a service manual?
Vinyl Engine doesn't have much on Hitachi TTs.