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Seek Info. on my Elac Miracord Turntable

R

Rickitect

New Member
Recently I bought an Elac Miracord 770H turntable on E-bay & got lucky--it is in perfect working order & looks brand new (even the tone-arm drops gently like new in slow motion).

Questions:
1. Was the 770H the top of the line for the Elac Miracord (EM) brand?
2. I wish to replace the cartridge with an audiophile quality magnetic cartridge with stylus but I've read that because of the bulky tone-arms on EM turntables I should stick to a certain size or shape limit to be compatible. Assuming that a magnetic cartridge is the way to get the best sound from my Turntable, please advise me as to the best NEW magnetic cartridge with stylus for under $350 that is the right size & shape for my EM 770H.
3. Is cartridge installation into the slide-on head of my tone-arm something I could do with jewelers' tools (tiny screwdrivers) & magnifying glasses or would I need to take it to a turntable shop (I prefer to do it myself). THANKS for your Feedback!
Rickitect
 
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Got lucky!

Rickitect said:
Recently I bought an Elac Miracord 770H turntable on E-bay & got lucky--it is in perfect working order & looks brand new (even the tone-arm drops gently like new in slow motion).

Questions:
1. Was the 770H the top of the line for the Elac Miracord (EM) brand?
2. I wish to replace the cartridge with an audiophile quality magnetic cartridge with stylus but I've read that because of the bulky tone-arms on EM turntables I should stick to a certain size or shape limit to be compatible. Assuming that a magnetic cartridge is the way to get the best sound from my Turntable, please advise me as to the best NEW magnetic cartridge with stylus for under $350 that is the right size & shape for my EM 770H.
3. Is cartridge installation into the slide-on head of my tone-arm something I could do with jewelers' tools (tiny screwdrivers) & magnifying glasses or would I need to take it to a turntable shop (I prefer to do it myself). THANKS for your Feedback!
Rickitect
Click to expand...

Answers:

1. It was top of the line in its day.
2. I am married to Shure carts. My 50H had a Shure M91ED. Get one and get a JICO stylus. The $35 one works well.
3. You can install yourself. May need screws to mount it though. Available at True Value stores.

That's a nice table. Glad it arrived intact. Many Eprey sellers can't pack worth a damn...

Eric
 
I agree with everything said here. In it's era, was the finest changer ELAC made. And it is superb with Shure cartridges, the old M 91ED is ideal in the ELAC Miracord tonearms. ELAC Miracord is my favorite German changer made. They are reliable and well made, and are easier to keep running than most Dual offerings post the 1019.
 
What cartridge is on it now? Its possible that what you have already is a good cartridge that does not need to be replaced.
 
Elacs and old school Shures are definitely a winning combination.
Just for the record (clever? meh) I did run an Ortofon OM body with the Digitrac 200NE (somewhere between an OM 10 and OM 20 stylus) stylus on my 46 for quite awhile, and found that to be nice. May not have been technically the best match, but still ended up on the sublime side.
I'm running a Realistic/Shure R47XT on my 50HII with a Jico stylus as we speak.
 
Hi!
Congrats to the great Elac!
Just some background for you:
Elac is the name of the company (ELectro ACustic GmbH) coming from Kiel in northern Germany (only about 80km from my hometown!), close to the Baltic Sea.
The changer models were called "Miracord", the non-changers were called "Miraphon", except the last models, the PC 870, PC 900 and PC 910 (all non-changers).
The Miracord 770H is (like stated above) the top of the notch changer of the late 70s.

From my files I can see that the tonearm tube is made of plastic. Is that right? I personally have the older Miracord 50H (best changer ever built by Elac) and its non-changer brother Miraphon 22H (top model of Elac in the late 60s). Both have the square-shaped aluminum tube tonearm.
Don't let the looks fool you about the effective mass of the arms, they are all prette lightweight and like high-compliance carts.
Don't go lower than dyn. compliance of 20.
I use a Sonus Gold Blue cart (compliance 50, but stylus suspension is a little bit hardened, so I assume it to be ~25) and a Acutex 412 STR (compliance 25) with best results.
 
I have a number of Elac Miracord turntables. I just lucked out and got an Elac Miracord 770h off of Fleabay for 50 bucks plus shipping. It was missing the Strobe ring, but that was certainly no deal killer. I have a strobe disc and it does the trick. This 770h is so much smoother than my 50h and 50h ii. The idler wheel was in fine shape and the table runs smoothly and quietly. It had a hum, but as per a tip from one of the previous members, I was simply able to run a speaker wire strand from a screw on the metal turntable chasis to the ground connector on my amp. Doing this and cleaning the headshell contacts and the RCA connects on the table completely eliminated any hum that I had been hearing.
This is a wonderful turntable. I have a number of different Elac plinths, one of which will serve as the new home base for the 770h. I have two in mind in which this table will look absolutely stunning. Right now I am just trying out different cartridges on it. Luckily, it shares that same headshell sled as the 50h and 50h ii, so I have around 9 pre-mounted cartridges that I can swap in and out. The one thing that I wish this table had is the counterwieght setup that the 50h ii has. It is so much nicer than the one on the 770h and I am kind of puzzled as to why. I thought that the 50h ii was older than the 770h, but I might be wrong.
At any rate, I truly love the table and the sound that it produces. It's a keeper! Pic below in the garage workshop as I was fine tuning the table.

elac770h_spinning.jpg
 
Have the 770H and the 50H. Prefer the 50H due to the quality of the build. Both users and service manuals are available at Vinyl Engine. Free to join but you must be a member to download and use the database. Great tables. Run my 50H with a Elac STS-322. Have also run a Shure to allow me to play 78's as well.
 
Great thread. Just finishing cleaning up a 770h. Cleaning the old grease out was a chore. Noticed the front leg spring seem shorter and table sits canted forward a bit. I know one of them was supposed to be that way but makes me have to jack up the front legs to level? Normal?
 
Since I am brining this back from the dead might as well ask one more. Have a metal scraping sound on platter but only when arm drops and after. Figure it must have to do with the cam wheel or the arms that control that around the center hub. Can’t see or find it. Anyone else have this?
 
@Crany , the chassis springs should keep everything level, there should be foam inserts in them, check for rotting and replace all if needed.

The scraping sound may be the brake, it's a felt pad that raises at the end of the cycle and engages the underside of the platter. Not sure if the 770H has the brake but most models did. Unplug it and remove the platter, if the brake is present, you'll see it move down as you move the tonearm from the resting position..
 
The foam looks good but both front springs only have 2 windings vs the back which have 3. Maybe someone used 2 shorties in front? I checked the brake and seems ok since it does not make a sound until arm action takes arm to record so I thought it had to be one of the arm mechanism levers on top under platter rubbing once they act in some way.
 
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