Stanton T.50

[jaykoly]

I am searching for info and opinions on this turntable. I got this in a deal with other gear I wanted. It looks like a DJ type table. It works good, belt driven. Does anyone have or have had one of these?

 

[dnpainting]

Here is a link for the owners manual. http://www.vinylengine.com/library/stanton/t50.shtml I have the Stanton T.52 that I bought brand new at a Pawn Shop. Not the best investment I've made. The T52 looks identical to the T50. I ended up stripping it completely in case anyone ever mentioned needing parts, after I tried to sell on ebay with no luck. The T50 is a DJ table, with a very short straight tonearm. From what I understand, they are entry level tables and not really for HIFI use. Personally, I would try to sell it, part it out, as it was mentioned to me by folks here that this table, with the short tonearm, would be hard on your records, I don't know if that is true or not. Anyways, that's my 2 pennies.

 

[jrtrent]

Can't speak to the T50, but I had the Stanton STR8-80, which used the same, underhung arm design. The short arm lets you mount the cartridge with no offset angle, therefore minimum skating forces. This helps the stylus stay in the groove during scratching and other DJ techniques, and it was also recommended as a better tracker for worn 78's (my Stanton did easily track some records that a Dual with the same cartridge couldn't handle). However, there is considerably greater tracking angle error, and some articles recommend using conical styli for this type of arm since finer profiles can't be aligned to the groove very well:

from KAB: "Because of the excessive tracking error of 17 degrees, you must never use elliptical styli in a Scratch DJ straight arm. The fine edges of the elliptical profile depend on near perfect tangental alignment. With an error of 17 degrees, these fine edges become sharp cutting tools and will shave the surface of the vinyl groove. Stick with conical or spherical shaped styli when using a straight Scratch DJ tonearm."

I used inexpensive cartridges, sometimes DJ models (e.g., Stanton 500AL, 500.V3, 890SA, Goldring Elan, Shure M70BX, Audio Technica CN5625AL); they all worked fine and I had no record damage issues.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Not a good table. Limited to conical styli only.

 

[jaykoly]

Thanks for the responses and information. You have pretty much confirmed my suspicions from just looking at the design of this table. Not really much this will have to offer to me. I will keep it in case anybody ever needs parts.