NightFox12
New Member
Hello
Several years ago now I was given a Revox B795 direct drive turntable from my father. He had originally bought it brand new in the early 80's and it never spun. He had brought it to a repair shop at some point and they were not able to fix it. 30+ years later I took it on as a project and with the help of someone from another forum we went through the circuitry replacing the old capacitors and what have you. Along the way I found that the issue the entire time was a printed circuit board defect where the solder never made it to the post. Once I scratched away the coating and applied a new line of solder, the motor spun up perfectly.
Some time has passed since then (2012) and now I am at the point where I would like to finish up this project. My last work I did was replacing the old long style RCA plugs with modern ones as the older ones were too long to fit in modern RCA ports.
Currently I have it hooked up to a DJ mixer Audio Technica Atus AM100 that I borrowed from a friend of mine who used to DJ and used this as his backup for his main AM300E I believe. I eventually might look into getting the Cambridge Audio 551P to match my Azur 640A integrated amp. Before that though I wanted to get some advice on the cartridge/stylus. I am guessing it is a no brainer that the 36+ year old stylus is probably dried up, and I'm not sure what happens to cartridges, weakened magnet?
To be clear the player has not spun a single record since the day it was manufactured, and the original Revox P20 MDR cartridge is still in it, and I do have the alignment kit still brand new in the box. The entire player sat in its original box for all those years and there is not a single scratch on it.
I have only played used but in decent condition records sparingly to test. Some records with high pitch brass make it through okay, while other records there is a lot of distortion on high notes. Lots of reverb/distortion on louder vocals and it doesn't handle bass very well on some 80's records. I listen to a wide range of music from 80s pop, 60-70s oldies, classical/orchestra, and probably my favorites are film scores like the bond movies scored by John Barry.
In my readings I am seeing that there are replacement styli for the MDR but at the price they are going for I am wondering if I am better off putting a new cartridge in. The Ortofon OM10 seemed like a decent choice, but I would like everyone's input. I don’t think I want to spend over $150. I am not an intense audiophile, but I would like to see a great improvement within my budget. I am pushing some JBL L100’s with my Azur 640A.
Thanks for your help!
Several years ago now I was given a Revox B795 direct drive turntable from my father. He had originally bought it brand new in the early 80's and it never spun. He had brought it to a repair shop at some point and they were not able to fix it. 30+ years later I took it on as a project and with the help of someone from another forum we went through the circuitry replacing the old capacitors and what have you. Along the way I found that the issue the entire time was a printed circuit board defect where the solder never made it to the post. Once I scratched away the coating and applied a new line of solder, the motor spun up perfectly.
Some time has passed since then (2012) and now I am at the point where I would like to finish up this project. My last work I did was replacing the old long style RCA plugs with modern ones as the older ones were too long to fit in modern RCA ports.
Currently I have it hooked up to a DJ mixer Audio Technica Atus AM100 that I borrowed from a friend of mine who used to DJ and used this as his backup for his main AM300E I believe. I eventually might look into getting the Cambridge Audio 551P to match my Azur 640A integrated amp. Before that though I wanted to get some advice on the cartridge/stylus. I am guessing it is a no brainer that the 36+ year old stylus is probably dried up, and I'm not sure what happens to cartridges, weakened magnet?
To be clear the player has not spun a single record since the day it was manufactured, and the original Revox P20 MDR cartridge is still in it, and I do have the alignment kit still brand new in the box. The entire player sat in its original box for all those years and there is not a single scratch on it.
I have only played used but in decent condition records sparingly to test. Some records with high pitch brass make it through okay, while other records there is a lot of distortion on high notes. Lots of reverb/distortion on louder vocals and it doesn't handle bass very well on some 80's records. I listen to a wide range of music from 80s pop, 60-70s oldies, classical/orchestra, and probably my favorites are film scores like the bond movies scored by John Barry.
In my readings I am seeing that there are replacement styli for the MDR but at the price they are going for I am wondering if I am better off putting a new cartridge in. The Ortofon OM10 seemed like a decent choice, but I would like everyone's input. I don’t think I want to spend over $150. I am not an intense audiophile, but I would like to see a great improvement within my budget. I am pushing some JBL L100’s with my Azur 640A.
Thanks for your help!
