• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Monolith table

The 29 grams has to be a typo. The Elac tonearm is listed at 4 grams on the Elac website. It's the same arm, has to be. The other specs are the same - Static balanced, aluminum tube, 224 mm long.

I will say, I'm running mine at 1.25 g which is obviously quite a bit lower than the 1.8 the owners manual calls for, mostly because it looked like the cart was riding pretty low. I could probably even take the weight down a little more if my stand were a little more rigid. Either the specs are wrong, the numbers on the counterweight are inaccurate or that cart is supposed to ride really low, but I don't see any reason for the latter to be true. I need to get a force gauge and figure out what's actually going on there.
 
That arm mass looks like a typo. I think the arm is low mass (elac specs say 4g effective mass for same table) and the AT100 is a good match. Used to run AT95 on same arm (on a Teac) the 100E is better suited for it.
 
Roboturner91 said:
The 29 grams has to be a typo. The Elac tonearm is listed at 4 grams on the Elac website. It's the same arm, has to be. The other specs are the same - Static balanced, aluminum tube, 224 mm long.

I will say, I'm running mine at 1.25 g which is obviously quite a bit lower than the 1.8 the owners manual calls for, mostly because it looked like the cart was riding pretty low. I could probably even take the weight down a little more if my stand were a little more rigid. Either the specs are wrong, the numbers on the counterweight are inaccurate or that cart is supposed to ride really low, but I don't see any reason for the latter to be true. I need to get a force gauge and figure out what's actually going on there.
Click to expand...

I doubt if the 4g that Elac is claiming is accurate either. That would put it in Infinity Black Widow territory - one of the lightest tonearms ever made.

4g - 28.87g is quite the range. I think it's a safe bet to say it probably falls somewhere in between. Exactly where is the question.
 
Roboturner91 said:
This set of specs on the Elac website says 27.4 g, FWIW:

https://elac-content.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2018/08/Miracord-50-Turntable_8-8-18.pdf

and here is the one that says 4 g:

https://www.elac.com/product/miracord-50-turntable/

So, who the hell knows. Not even Elac knows, apparently. LOL
Click to expand...

It really sucks that's it's easier to find accurate specs on products that were discontinued 40 years ago than ones that are in current production. Of course back then, the company that put their name on the product was more likely to have also designed and built it. So, they usually knew, first hand, what they were selling.
 
lico said:
So who will disassemble this arm and weigh it :)
Click to expand...

That would only give us the mass, not the effective mass.

I'm a little out if my area of expertise here, but I think if you know your cartridge's compliance you can use a test record to determine resonance and then work backwards to calculate the effective mass of the tonearm. Basically, if you know any two of the three, you can calculate the third - no need to disassemble anything.
 
So, is it the consensus that the Elac and Monolith are indeed the same turntable with a radically different price tag?

If so, it's an interesting study between a $500 table that is generally seen a legit, and a $200 table that people look at and g'faw at it being just a cheap wanna-be.

:dunno:
 
hbucker said:
So, is it the consensus that the Elac and Monolith are indeed the same turntable with a radically different price tag?

If so, it's an interesting study between a $500 table that is generally seen a legit, and a $200 table that people look at and g'faw at it being just a cheap wanna-be.

:dunno:
Click to expand...

I think it's more likely the Elac is a $250ish table with a radically inflated price tag than the other way around, but yeah. They do look to be basically the exact same thing.

Here are some pics of the Elac in various stages of disassembly. I can tell you for sure the motor, the back panel circuit board and the speed control board are exactly the same. And obviously the arm is the same. So are the feet, the dustcover, the hinges, etc. The spindle assembly might be different underneath, but it's exactly the same on the top side, so I'm thinking the metal cover on the bottom of the Elac's spindle might just be a cosmetic thing.

https://www.on-mag.fr/index.php/top...rete-a-l-emploi-qui-fait-de-la-grande-musique
 
Last edited:
MCM_Fan said:
That would only give us the mass, not the effective mass.

I'm a little out if my area of expertise here, but I think if you know your cartridge's compliance you can use a test record to determine resonance and then work backwards to calculate the effective mass of the tonearm. Basically, if you know any two of the three, you can calculate the third - no need to disassemble anything.
Click to expand...

Sure, and would like to see somebody measure it.
 
Roboturner91 said:
I think it's more likely the Elac is a $250ish table with a radically inflated price tag than the other way around, but yeah. They do look to be basically the exact same thing.

Here are some pics of the Elac in various stages of disassembly. I can tell you for sure the motor, the back panel circuit board and the speed control board are exactly the same. And obviously the arm is the same. So are the feet, the dustcover, the hinges, etc. The spindle assembly might be different underneath, but it's exactly the same on the top side, so I'm thinking the metal cover on the bottom of the Elac's spindle might just be a cosmetic thing.

https://www.on-mag.fr/index.php/top...rete-a-l-emploi-qui-fait-de-la-grande-musique
Click to expand...

The base might be beefier on the Monolith, it weighs more that what Elac says the Miracord does (12 lbs). Better cartridge, beefier table, plus auto stop. What's not to like?
 
hbucker said:
So, is it the consensus that the Elac and Monolith are indeed the same turntable with a radically different price tag?

If so, it's an interesting study between a $500 table that is generally seen a legit, and a $200 table that people look at and g'faw at it being just a cheap wanna-be.

:dunno:
Click to expand...

I haven's seen/heard any g'fawing in this thread. Multiple forum members have bought them and are declaring them a good value for the money spent.

Elac is clearly trading on name recognition, and they seem to REALLY place a high value on their name. That may come back to bite them when word gets out that someone else is selling the same table with a better cartridge for 1/3 the price.
 
lico said:
The base might be beefier on the Monolith, it weighs more that what Elac says the Miracord does (12 lbs). Better cartridge, beefier table, plus auto stop. What's not to like?
Click to expand...

If you look at the pics in the above link, it looks like the Elac base is partly hollow, whereas the Monolith has cutouts for the various parts and trenches for the wiring routed directly into the base. I'll try and post a pic of the bottom of the Monolith in a minute.
 
MCM_Fan said:
I haven's seen/heard any g'fawing in this thread. Multiple forum members have bought them and are declaring them a good value for the money spent.

Elac is clearly trading on name recognition, and they seem to REALLY place a high value on their name. That may come back to bite them when word gets out that someone else is selling the same table with a better cartridge for 1/3 the price.
Click to expand...

Yeah. From what I can tell, the Miracord 70 and on up have nothing in common with the Miracord 50. Looks like they simply outsourced their entry level model to the Ya Horng plant.

The newer Yamaha tables seem to bear a strong resemblance to these as well, and those start at $450.
 
MCM_Fan said:
I haven's seen/heard any g'fawing in this thread. Multiple forum members have bought them and are declaring them a good value for the money spent.

Elac is clearly trading on name recognition, and they seem to REALLY place a high value on their name. That may come back to bite them when word gets out that someone else is selling the same table with a better cartridge for 1/3 the price.
Click to expand...

Agreed. But poke around the interweb at all and it isn't hard to find forum posts making negative comments. By comparison, I've seen no similar comments on the Elac.

People who paid $500 for the Elac seem to like it. There is much less flavor of, "Is this inexpensive thing any good."

If it is indeed the same product, it's kind of entertaining. That's all.
 
hbucker said:
Agreed. But poke around the interweb at all and it isn't hard to find forum posts making negative comments. By comparison, I've seen no similar comments on the Elac.

People who paid $500 for the Elac seem to like it. There is much less flavor of, "Is this inexpensive thing any good."

If it is indeed the same product, it's kind of entertaining. That's all.
Click to expand...

The negative comments you read about this table (and other low cost ones like it) are from those who have never owned or used one. Once people buy (whether it's $150 or $500) something and it works well, then you can believe the reviews.
 
hbucker said:
If it is indeed the same product, it's kind of entertaining. That's all.
Click to expand...

Yeah.

I bought a brand new Geo Prizm when I graduated from high school. Same exact car as the Toyota Corolla. My dad told me I was stupid, but the Geo was $1500 cheaper than the Toyota sitting right next to it. I ran that car into the ground. It had 400,000 miles on it when I sold it and in 10 years the only things that ever broke were the alternator and the clutch, which you'd expect on both accounts with that amount of years and miles. I'm sure anybody that bought the Corolla version was happy with theirs too, in the long run, but they paid $1500 extra for a logo.
 
Snooping on Panjiva is a great way to find out the actual manufacturer of electronic items. Unfortunately the information available without signing up for a $300/month account :eek: is quite limited, but I was able to confirm that the Fluance RT80 and RT81 turntables (very similar to the Monoprice) are definitely manufactured by Ya Horng:

fluanceyahorng.png
 
I've spun a lot of vinyl on this table in the last week, am enjoying it. Noticed price is back at full $249.

For different headshells you can use Denon DP-300F, or Teac TN-300 on it, but the overhang on the the Monolith headshell is longer (haven't measured). I've been having fun with a universal p mount adapter with an extra headshell, but the AT 100E is just fine.

Robo... you said in another thread you are getting a U Turn as well, will be interesting to hear what your throughts on Monolith vs. U Turn when you get it set up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom