The greatest tweak for a turntable........

[buzshaws]

Yes Celt, agreed. I won't belabor this but will make one last final comment out of respect as well as concern.

WayneN, I'm not taking a jab at you personally. Admittedly I was speaking freely but in no way was trying to insult as much as appeal to good sense. The micro few that might know what they're tampering with and proceed will already be taking a huge risk, the many that may try just to see if they're missing out on something will be doing so to arms that don't need it, and very, very seldom do. I'm thinking about those people, and those arms, and those resales because there's no right way back in almost every case.

I do appreciate what you mean when you say some people just want to keep everyone in a box. Sometimes something like this can be a good learning experience with a naft arm to begin with, but again many folks, especially the oh-so-many-younger-new-to-vinyl who will have no clue about that territory. If I come across an arm on a table I bought and found out after the fact someone tampered with it I would be in orbit. I know you have experience, you helped me out with info on refilling my cue mechanism for one of my PL-71 tables. I appreciate that. And I also don't mean to seem to others coming across as self-righteous and condescending. I have even created my own spanner and had my personal PL-71 arm apart, but I have three others and the one I opened up will never be sold. Audiokarma is a place where frontiers are expanded by experienced people sharing great knowledge. You have very good knowledge WayneR and I enjoy your posts. With that said, I have to stand firm that encouraging this is not good advice without very extreme cautionary disclaimers rather than an open invitation to explore. My only intent is to temper the notion it's something people should do to prevent many unhappy endings from happening to either just one or many who will think this is as basic as refilling oil in a cueing mechanism.

 

[WaynerN]

One of the biggest paradigms in our hobby centers around a concept that someone, or some company, was so integrated, that there wasn't such a thing as out of tolerance or failure mode. Our acceptance that the one before us did their job is a false state of mind. People that have read and thought about the concepts of this thread also fall into a bell curve configuration. Some are timid and fearful, some are with reckless abandon, some are cautious explorers.

The purpose of this thread was to stimulate some forward thinking. What you think you have may not be what it is. Because of my manufacturing experiences, I know many stories of how things were made (and made wrong). An exampl e I learned during my schooling years was about company A making precision parts, company B was also making precision parts. Company C was to assemble the precision parts from Companies A and B. The parts had problems. As the diagnostic team later found out, Company A had its manufacturing facility's temperature at a constant 70°F. However, Company B had their temperature at 72°F. The parts left each facility meeting the tolerance specifications, but in the end, they did not fit together unless one was at a minus extreme and the other was at a positive extreme.

When we think of the Technics turntables, especially the 1200MK2, I believe the numbers that were made were in the ballpark of 2 million units. 2 million units will wear out several die-casting dies, so during the course of this product's life span, all of the cast parts were retooled several times. It's unbelieveable! In the process of manufacturing, I'm sure that Technics developed a technique for final tonearm adjustment. It might have been some kind of clever tool, it might have been some gal that sat at the end of the assembly line, and she knew just how to set the arms, maybe by "feel".

To assume that each and every one of the 2 million turntable arms were all set exactly the same is absurd. We can assume that part tolerances came into play (some tooling new, some tooling middle age, some tooling old), we can also assume that the temperature at the assembly (and manufacturing plants) were not all identical). We can also safely assume that the temperatures and conditions varied from day to day, just like it does where we live. The result is that the setting of the pivots varied, and the variance is on a bell curve. Some left the factory too lose, some were too tight, some were just right.

There have been complaints regarding this condition with other tables. The Audio Technica tables come to mind. Many complaints of the arms pivots too lose. I will assume that they were all over the place.

We have people here at AK that are tweaking and modifying all kinds of things that most people would be afraid to do. Some guys have refoamed speakers. Some guys have replaced board components (capacitors, resistors, transistors) in their vintage stuff. Some people build their own interconnects (like me). People are tweaking and modifying things all of the time. I used to be afraid of touching tonearm pivots. One day I bought one that was obviously waaaay lose, so I had no choice but to correct the problem. After an attempt or 2, one discovers the ins and outs of the adjustment, the behavior of the arm as it relates to the condition its in. The sound of a lose arm, or a tight arm.

As you know, a turntable has many, many adjustments, certainly not plug and play like a CD player. Learning and getting all of the perimeters adjusted correctly is the only way to achieve vinyl nirvana. That is where I am at. I sit in my vinyl room lsitening to records thru my JBL studio 530 speakers and I don't for a second, think about the source of the music, I just listen to music, its sound-stage, its emotion.

The only way to achieve this is to become experienced with all aspects of a turntable. We can be intimidated and frustrated at the machine and wish it would or could perform better, or we can unlock the shackles that bind us to our fears and go forward. That is how i learned to fix things, all kinds of things.

At least I am trying to promote a concept that everything is not as it seems. Free yourself.

 

[restorer-john]

To assume that each and every one of the 2 million turntable arms were all set exactly the same is absurd.

Have a look at the way Rega do it. Not a piece of precision measuring equipment for the bearing adjustments- just a bunch of ordinary people doing a mundane job. (jump to around the 16:30 minute mark) Check out the hipster with the headband at 17:10 with his 'precision' method..

And here's how Technics do it for the new SL-1200 arm (around the 1 min mark). It's clearly done by hand and I see no 'test equipment' at the arm assembly stage- just a dude with a screwdriver and a clamp.

Of particular interest is the 2:30 point. They are using a W&F meter and you can see the settings and the slightly fluctuating reading tested at 3KHz. The unit goes from 3.000KHz to 3.002KHz...

 

[Nat]

I read through most of this thread with some frustration. I think anyone who has dealt with many turntables knows that some arms have more play in their bearings than others, even of the same model. To me that goes without saying - all manufactured items,including bearings and pins, are made to set tolerances, but they can be at the top of the tolerance range, or the bottom. The idea that the difference wouldn't matter makes no sense - if so, than any tolerance should be fine. Correct tolerances are a judgement call - too tight, and the item is spectacularly expensive, but too loose, and it doesn't work properly. Anyone who thinks that engineers and bean counters have golden ears and are never mistaken is delightfully optimistic, and didn't believe CopyCode was audible.
And, of course that's before anything happens to the arm. Packing and transporting may have an effect, as may time - those bearings probably have some sort of lubricant on them, if only to keep from rusting, and that lubricant may dry up over time, as in the old new stock table with sticky bearings. Granted cleaning is not the same as adjusting, but it gets the owner into the act, and if the bearings have play, the owner may decide to try his or her hand at that also.

 

[restorer-john]

I think anyone who has dealt with many turntables knows that some arms have more play in their bearings than others, even of the same model.

Exactly. We've demonstrated that, but some people simply don't get it. I have no idea how many turntables I have, and have repaired and adjusted probably hundreds more. I've had turntables straight out the boxes with loose or tight bearings (Yamaha back in the day) that had to go next door to be 'serviced' before being sold.

Assembling and adjusting these arms is not rocket science- clearly it's done by hand, by ordinary people, and without sophisticated jigs other than a fat brute-looking bearing press (at Rega) and a masked dude at Technics with an offset vice.

Some audiophiles love to believe white coated, highly educated engineers build their turntables, arms and other bits of expensive esoteric audio, but that's simply not the case. Engineers design the things, but assembly line workers put them together- engineers are too expensive and too skilled to be wasting away on a production line.

 

[tnsilver]

We've demonstrated that, but some people simply don't get it.

The headband hipster in the Rega video is just tilting a tonearm back and forth after lubing it on let's-make-a-video-at-work day. He's got a lube kit on his desk. I don't see him anywhere near the bearings - do you? For all I know he's been told to quietly wear off the effects of last night's weed and try not to pick his nose on camera. Who cares about Rega anyway? Technics shows some bad ass tooling smack inside the vertical bearing of a tonearm at 1:23. Kinda looks like a sophisticated jig to me but yeah, promotional videos are definitely a good source for education. You think you demonstrated anything in this thread? I think not. Talk is cheap and there's lots of it here with definitive 'clearly' and 'obviously' while nothing was made clear nor obvious. If you think you've made a point so clear as to have earned the privilege of mocking your audiophile peers and their beliefs, it seems it's you who just don't get it. whatever... I can live with the bottom line of #158 though. Monkey with your arm at your own risk.

 

[NoTransistors]

I adjusted the horizontal bearing on my Victrola and no difference, as they used to say in the Blue Bonnet Margarine commercial.
Arm still resonates loud enough to hear across the street.

 

[JP]

I don't see him anywhere near the bearings - do you?

Aside from Fremer saying "...and this gentlemen is installing the bearings", the bearing tool at his station, the snippet below that shows he's taking the pillar and wand and assembling them, and the large green bin between him and his partner that says 'bearings' on it?

Dangling the wand and checking how freely it moves is one of my basic bearing checks, too.

Technics had a jig to hold the arm assembly. Handy, but not telling in the slightest. From the earlier line they had a jig too which looks a bit more complex, and may have a more sophisticated/consistent jig to test, though I can't see how. On the other hand, I've seen countless jigs made by engineers with the best of intentions where the majority of the jig isn't used because it just didn't work out. The existence of something doesn't necessarily mean much.





All the anecdotal evidences points toward these being done by hand. I understand you disagree. Fine. Regardless, some of us are having fruitful discovery and conversation on this subject matter, and I for one would really appreciate this thread not getting closed.

 

[John James]

I, for one, am not comfortable with the implication that I am too fumble-fingered and ignorant to make this kind of adjustment.

There are probably quite a few on this forum that do jobs like this every day.

 

[gusten]

How the bearing is assambled and tested by the workers really has nothing to do how we ourself can do it. Normally the skills from the workers are on a completely different level than the 'common tweaker'. If they do it by hand or in any other way doesn´t really mean much, we have no possible way to do it the same. Trust me, I have partly been responsible for these types of precision work.

Of that doesn´t mean that some tweakers aren´t able to do it good enough, I´m confident some are.

 

[JP]

Reminds me of a factory tour video Fremer did. He was (/appeared) astounded that they were hand soldering QFP, and kept making remarks about how amazing that was. In reality it doesn’t take much practive to solder those packages competently. On the other hand, I found watching the top 2-3 skilled workers at some factories in China hand soldering 0201 sized parts rather amazing.

When you’ve all decided how competent I am with Technics bearings and what the quality of my work is, let me know.

 

[WaynerN]

JP, I'm sure you know your way around a turntable!

When you have the table and all of its adjustments in a relatively excellent zone, it will tell you how happy it is. You forget about the machine making the music, and get into the music.

 

[buzshaws]

Isn't it always this way, you come back to so many posts since you were last here but with little or no time to read or address them! But I'll be late for work today because...yes, this has gotten the better of me. No idea who said what but that doesn't matter, just trying to attach responses to points being made (italics), not people.


...all manufactured items,including bearings and pins, are made to set tolerances, but they can be at the top of the tolerance range, or the bottom.

You said it, so what's that tolerance range? Do you think the control plans say "just adjust until you feel this and then back off a little"? Trying to make a point that "nothing is perfect" doesn't mean everything is up for desconstruction by anyone, and tolerance is just that, room to work in. If you think you've got what it takes to be in that range, more power to you but don't assume I, or anyone else here, should believe in those self-proclaimed credentials.

Have a look at the way Rega do it. Not a piece of precision measuring equipment for the bearing adjustments- just a bunch of ordinary people doing a mundane job. (jump to around the 16:30 minute mark) Check out the hipster with the headband at 17:10 with his 'precision' method..

Both guys in that video were not adjusting arm bearings. They were dressing lead wires and inserting a grommit to relieve wire tension and checking play for resistance. When you cite an example, don't call it something that it's not to make a point, it diminishes credibility. Nowhere in this video was anything shown about bearing adjustments.

Of particular interest is the 2:30 point. They are using a W&F meter and you can see the settings and the slightly fluctuating reading tested at 3KHz. The unit goes from 3.000KHz to 3.002KHz...

What does that even mean? You added your own interpretations to a free-form video. The arm was tracking a record with mild warp as seen in the video. You're trying to draw parallels to how arm bearings are not as closely tolerated as most believe and therefore a mere hipster is all that's required to do the work (just look at the video!) and Japanese engineering isn't all that precise because of whatever you were trying to prove with that one. And listening to Fremer speak was rather embarrassing. How some people luck into their profession is really amazing.

I, for one, am not comfortable with the implication that I am too fumble-fingered and ignorant to make this kind of adjustment.

And there is a specific +/- target number and the central point is this...you don't know what it is and you will not "feel" your way there to MY satisfaction. None of us know that about you. It's shows little responsibility and lots of arrogance to suggest anyone can do this because you think you can sufficiently feel such an imprecise setting of which you know nothing about. If wrong and you know something that is truly significant in the adjustment specs, what is it? This isn't the work of faith-healers here. You do what you want with yours. My point is you can choose to do yourself harm, but quit encouraging others to be as foolhardy. This isn't about no guts no glory. This is about that if you continue to try to bulldoze your opinion you and anyone that wants to can do what the manufacturers have so neglectfully chosen not to do because its part of the margin of error you can improve upon, you and any such follower is a 110% fool and you're only now trying to save face defending such a claim. Who knows, this weekend I may take an arm down to the bearings and see what I can see but I won't be back hear telling anyone I discovered the greatest turntable tweak, nor mention it at all because any "improvement" would be either imagined or dead-luck at all if it still worked correctly.


Generally speaking, most with experience will set-up a turntable by the numbers only, they will adjust as best as possible the available parameters to dial in the sweet spot. Some arm bearings are designed with more play than others. Bearing material (steel, ceramic, etc.) and overall design (gimbal, knife-edge, uni-pivot, etc) will each consider all design criteria and materials to determine unique tolerances for best performance. Some will seem loose compared to others and others that will be seem tight by comparison. This is not a typical mistake waiting for my neighbor who thinks he's an aerospace engineer (that is when he's not fishing down at the quarry) to grace with his delusional salvation, then share his own testimony as though "I've done therefore I Am". One person's idea of musical magic is another guy's WTF, and here lies the ludicrous notion that a handful (maybe) of people's ideas that you're free to do anything you want to your arm. Sure go ahead and wrap it to see if you can dampen resonance. Sure, perhaps try an oil dampening trough. Sure, even change internal wiring. There are no control plans that state anything about those parameters and you will never be anywhere away from the control plan that you can't return to. Adjust the arm bearings when you have no freaking idea if the bearings should have some play or not (you don't know so don't pretend you do) and that's fine "in the privacy of your own bedroom". There are some things that should remain personal experiences and considered not for public consumption and your idea to go into an arm and monkey with the bearings and then share it as if this is just another tweak is audio immorality.

I've met Ivan Tiefenbraun and worked for Linn and have other experiences in audio facilities and if this topic was brought up they would either stop the question and say don't bother or snicker and say "might as well just go to customer service and order a new one now". Not because they're business people but because it gets set at the factory by people with the numbers, gauges, tools and INFORMATION to do it consistently and accurately. Why is the arm bearing the only part on a turntable that is secured the way it is? You need a "special" tool to access it. Why? The answer is NOT because it makes it less susceptible to coming loose, it's there because going into it is considered verboten unless you are willing to accept the consequences. Yes, you can get a spanner tool to undo settings a spanner tool was required to gain access to to undo. You can drink Drano, drive through a security gate, shoot the neighbor's cat and anything else you want. The good news is any pragmatic person understands what is going on here and has the brains to find middle ground between going rogue and the cautionary pleadings common sense has warned about. Weekend audio hacker looking for a new thrill? Why not take a look at dem dare bearings, looks like rain at the quarry anywho. Some say love all creatures and live and let live. Go recap your amp, that can be undone. You adjust your arm bearings you better keep it the rest of your life or throw it in the trash because if I ever pay money for it and find out later I'm going hunting for scumrat.

 

[John James]

Somebody has a bee in their bonnet.

No need to be so rude, dude.

 

[WaynerN]

Isn't it always this way, you come back to so many posts since you were last here but with little or no time to read or address them! But I'll be late for work today because...yes, this has gotten the better of me. No idea who said what but that doesn't matter, just trying to attach responses to points being made (italics), not people.


...all manufactured items,including bearings and pins, are made to set tolerances, but they can be at the top of the tolerance range, or the bottom.

You said it, so what's that tolerance range? Do you think the control plans say "just adjust until you feel this and then back off a little"? Trying to make a point that "nothing is perfect" doesn't mean everything is up for desconstruction by anyone, and tolerance is just that, room to work in. If you think you've got what it takes to be in that range, more power to you but don't assume I, or anyone else here, should believe in those self-proclaimed credentials.

Have a look at the way Rega do it. Not a piece of precision measuring equipment for the bearing adjustments- just a bunch of ordinary people doing a mundane job. (jump to around the 16:30 minute mark) Check out the hipster with the headband at 17:10 with his 'precision' method..

Both guys in that video were not adjusting arm bearings. They were dressing lead wires and inserting a grommit to relieve wire tension and checking play for resistance. When you cite an example, don't call it something that it's not to make a point, it diminishes credibility. Nowhere in this video was anything shown about bearing adjustments.

Of particular interest is the 2:30 point. They are using a W&F meter and you can see the settings and the slightly fluctuating reading tested at 3KHz. The unit goes from 3.000KHz to 3.002KHz...

What does that even mean? You added your own interpretations to a free-form video. The arm was tracking a record with mild warp as seen in the video. You're trying to draw parallels to how arm bearings are not as closely tolerated as most believe and therefore a mere hipster is all that's required to do the work (just look at the video!) and Japanese engineering isn't all that precise because of whatever you were trying to prove with that one. And listening to Fremer speak was rather embarrassing. How some people luck into their profession is really amazing.

I, for one, am not comfortable with the implication that I am too fumble-fingered and ignorant to make this kind of adjustment.

And there is a specific +/- target number and the central point is this...you don't know what it is and you will not "feel" your way there to MY satisfaction. None of us know that about you. It's shows little responsibility and lots of arrogance to suggest anyone can do this because you think you can sufficiently feel such an imprecise setting of which you know nothing about. If wrong and you know something that is truly significant in the adjustment specs, what is it? This isn't the work of faith-healers here. You do what you want with yours. My point is you can choose to do yourself harm, but quit encouraging others to be as foolhardy. This isn't about no guts no glory. This is about that if you continue to try to bulldoze your opinion you and anyone that wants to can do what the manufacturers have so neglectfully chosen not to do because its part of the margin of error you can improve upon, you and any such follower is a 110% fool and you're only now trying to save face defending such a claim. Who knows, this weekend I may take an arm down to the bearings and see what I can see but I won't be back hear telling anyone I discovered the greatest turntable tweak, nor mention it at all because any "improvement" would be either imagined or dead-luck at all if it still worked correctly.


Generally speaking, most with experience will set-up a turntable by the numbers only, they will adjust as best as possible the available parameters to dial in the sweet spot. Some arm bearings are designed with more play than others. Bearing material (steel, ceramic, etc.) and overall design (gimbal, knife-edge, uni-pivot, etc) will each consider all design criteria and materials to determine unique tolerances for best performance. Some will seem loose compared to others and others that will be seem tight by comparison. This is not a typical mistake waiting for my neighbor who thinks he's an aerospace engineer (that is when he's not fishing down at the quarry) to grace with his delusional salvation, then share his own testimony as though "I've done therefore I Am". One person's idea of musical magic is another guy's WTF, and here lies the ludicrous notion that a handful (maybe) of people's ideas that you're free to do anything you want to your arm. Sure go ahead and wrap it to see if you can dampen resonance. Sure, perhaps try an oil dampening trough. Sure, even change internal wiring. There are no control plans that state anything about those parameters and you will never be anywhere away from the control plan that you can't return to. Adjust the arm bearings when you have no freaking idea if the bearings should have some play or not (you don't know so don't pretend you do) and that's fine "in the privacy of your own bedroom". There are some things that should remain personal experiences and considered not for public consumption and your idea to go into an arm and monkey with the bearings and then share it as if this is just another tweak is audio immorality.

I've met Ivan Tiefenbraun and worked for Linn and have other experiences in audio facilities and if this topic was brought up they would either stop the question and say don't bother or snicker and say "might as well just go to customer service and order a new one now". Not because they're business people but because it gets set at the factory by people with the numbers, gauges, tools and INFORMATION to do it consistently and accurately. Why is the arm bearing the only part on a turntable that is secured the way it is? You need a "special" tool to access it. Why? The answer is NOT because it makes it less susceptible to coming loose, it's there because going into it is considered verboten unless you are willing to accept the consequences. Yes, you can get a spanner tool to undo settings a spanner tool was required to gain access to to undo. You can drink Drano, drive through a security gate, shoot the neighbor's cat and anything else you want. The good news is any pragmatic person understands what is going on here and has the brains to find middle ground between going rogue and the cautionary pleadings common sense has warned about. Weekend audio hacker looking for a new thrill? Why not take a look at dem dare bearings, looks like rain at the quarry anywho. Some say love all creatures and live and let live. Go recap your amp, that can be undone. You adjust your arm bearings you better keep it the rest of your life or throw it in the trash because if I ever pay money for it and find out later I'm going hunting for scumrat.

I'm sure in another life, I adjusted the wheel bearings of a Roman chariot............and won the race.

Dude, calm down. Its a damn set-screw with a locking collar.

 

[DavidTT]

Good God man, it's not a space ship taking humans to Mars. It's a goddamned turntable. It sounds like the Cult Of Linn Perfection has touched you. Bearings are everyday, user-adjustable technology. Get a grip, weirdo.

Isn't it always this way, you come back to so many posts since you were last here but with little or no time to read or address them! But I'll be late for work today because...yes, this has gotten the better of me. No idea who said what but that doesn't matter, just trying to attach responses to points being made (italics), not people.


...all manufactured items,including bearings and pins, are made to set tolerances, but they can be at the top of the tolerance range, or the bottom.

You said it, so what's that tolerance range? Do you think the control plans say "just adjust until you feel this and then back off a little"? Trying to make a point that "nothing is perfect" doesn't mean everything is up for desconstruction by anyone, and tolerance is just that, room to work in. If you think you've got what it takes to be in that range, more power to you but don't assume I, or anyone else here, should believe in those self-proclaimed credentials.

Have a look at the way Rega do it. Not a piece of precision measuring equipment for the bearing adjustments- just a bunch of ordinary people doing a mundane job. (jump to around the 16:30 minute mark) Check out the hipster with the headband at 17:10 with his 'precision' method..

Both guys in that video were not adjusting arm bearings. They were dressing lead wires and inserting a grommit to relieve wire tension and checking play for resistance. When you cite an example, don't call it something that it's not to make a point, it diminishes credibility. Nowhere in this video was anything shown about bearing adjustments.

Of particular interest is the 2:30 point. They are using a W&F meter and you can see the settings and the slightly fluctuating reading tested at 3KHz. The unit goes from 3.000KHz to 3.002KHz...

What does that even mean? You added your own interpretations to a free-form video. The arm was tracking a record with mild warp as seen in the video. You're trying to draw parallels to how arm bearings are not as closely tolerated as most believe and therefore a mere hipster is all that's required to do the work (just look at the video!) and Japanese engineering isn't all that precise because of whatever you were trying to prove with that one. And listening to Fremer speak was rather embarrassing. How some people luck into their profession is really amazing.

I, for one, am not comfortable with the implication that I am too fumble-fingered and ignorant to make this kind of adjustment.

And there is a specific +/- target number and the central point is this...you don't know what it is and you will not "feel" your way there to MY satisfaction. None of us know that about you. It's shows little responsibility and lots of arrogance to suggest anyone can do this because you think you can sufficiently feel such an imprecise setting of which you know nothing about. If wrong and you know something that is truly significant in the adjustment specs, what is it? This isn't the work of faith-healers here. You do what you want with yours. My point is you can choose to do yourself harm, but quit encouraging others to be as foolhardy. This isn't about no guts no glory. This is about that if you continue to try to bulldoze your opinion you and anyone that wants to can do what the manufacturers have so neglectfully chosen not to do because its part of the margin of error you can improve upon, you and any such follower is a 110% fool and you're only now trying to save face defending such a claim. Who knows, this weekend I may take an arm down to the bearings and see what I can see but I won't be back hear telling anyone I discovered the greatest turntable tweak, nor mention it at all because any "improvement" would be either imagined or dead-luck at all if it still worked correctly.


Generally speaking, most with experience will set-up a turntable by the numbers only, they will adjust as best as possible the available parameters to dial in the sweet spot. Some arm bearings are designed with more play than others. Bearing material (steel, ceramic, etc.) and overall design (gimbal, knife-edge, uni-pivot, etc) will each consider all design criteria and materials to determine unique tolerances for best performance. Some will seem loose compared to others and others that will be seem tight by comparison. This is not a typical mistake waiting for my neighbor who thinks he's an aerospace engineer (that is when he's not fishing down at the quarry) to grace with his delusional salvation, then share his own testimony as though "I've done therefore I Am". One person's idea of musical magic is another guy's WTF, and here lies the ludicrous notion that a handful (maybe) of people's ideas that you're free to do anything you want to your arm. Sure go ahead and wrap it to see if you can dampen resonance. Sure, perhaps try an oil dampening trough. Sure, even change internal wiring. There are no control plans that state anything about those parameters and you will never be anywhere away from the control plan that you can't return to. Adjust the arm bearings when you have no freaking idea if the bearings should have some play or not (you don't know so don't pretend you do) and that's fine "in the privacy of your own bedroom". There are some things that should remain personal experiences and considered not for public consumption and your idea to go into an arm and monkey with the bearings and then share it as if this is just another tweak is audio immorality.

I've met Ivan Tiefenbraun and worked for Linn and have other experiences in audio facilities and if this topic was brought up they would either stop the question and say don't bother or snicker and say "might as well just go to customer service and order a new one now". Not because they're business people but because it gets set at the factory by people with the numbers, gauges, tools and INFORMATION to do it consistently and accurately. Why is the arm bearing the only part on a turntable that is secured the way it is? You need a "special" tool to access it. Why? The answer is NOT because it makes it less susceptible to coming loose, it's there because going into it is considered verboten unless you are willing to accept the consequences. Yes, you can get a spanner tool to undo settings a spanner tool was required to gain access to to undo. You can drink Drano, drive through a security gate, shoot the neighbor's cat and anything else you want. The good news is any pragmatic person understands what is going on here and has the brains to find middle ground between going rogue and the cautionary pleadings common sense has warned about. Weekend audio hacker looking for a new thrill? Why not take a look at dem dare bearings, looks like rain at the quarry anywho. Some say love all creatures and live and let live. Go recap your amp, that can be undone. You adjust your arm bearings you better keep it the rest of your life or throw it in the trash because if I ever pay money for it and find out later I'm going hunting for scumrat.

 

[tnsilver]

No need to be so rude, dude.

IMO It's passionate and informative as well as criticising, not rude, and it's quite appropriate given the context. Rude would be to suggest you were deemed 'ignorant' when you weren't.

Bearings are everyday, user-adjustable technology.

Not at 7mg static friction specs. No need for name calling. That's seriously uncalled for. I'd hate to disagree with you over real issues.

Dude, calm down. Its a damn set-screw with a locking collar.

mkay... How's educating the common masses going for you so far? Looks like we've got a posse practically organizing it self... Nice!

 

[WaynerN]

Who is the posse? You and buzshaws?

I'm afraid you guys are so hurt that someone can adjust pivots all by themselves. Not the great Oracle at Technics. While I am a fan boy of Technics, they are not the Supreme beings of manufacturing. You've created a religion out of it. Hopefully, you don't belong to any car or hot rod blogs, those guys would kill you.

I also like the fact that because you disagree with one topic from one person, that you must dismantle that person, or destroy them at all costs. It must be really tuff being you. You do need a posse to fight your battles for you.

 

[buzshaws]

If the comment about being rude was directed at me, I'd apologize given specifics on where you could cite this. I have, at worst, attacked a position not people. Weirdo?...ok, that's fine. I have not resorted to such Ad hominem argumentative tactics. Those backed into a corner who panic and react emotionally rather than intellectually do that by attacking people. And as far as "must dismantle that person, or destroy them at all costs", what? Again, it's the topic's subject and not the person at all. Look, what this has become isn't the kind of posts I like to see and most others either and I certainly don't want to perpetuate it any further. Yes, my comment started an offensive/defensive back & forth and I will remove myself from encouraging it any further. I'd rather be a positive part of the community than negative. To all, enjoy your audio systems and use your head as you expand your horizons. Peace.

 

[Gibsonian]

We can work on our cars that can kill, but nope, can't adjust bearings on a record player? Quite crazy way of thinking imo.